Former Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal is set to be proven correct after brutally dubbing the Red Devils a ‘commercial club’ and not a ‘football club’. The Dutch boss warned countryman Erik ten Hag about moving to Old Trafford when he left Ajax in the summer of 2022.
At the time, Ten Hag had won a lengthy recruitment process that saw United also consider appointing Mauricio Pochettino. The then-Ajax head coach was viewed as the best man for the job.
Eighteen months on, the 53-year-old is struggling in his second season at United. Chaos behind the scenes appears to have had a negative impact on United’s performances on the pitch, although Ten Hag must also take the blame for eight defeats in 15 matches.
Van Gaal endured an ill-fated reign at United between 2014 and 2016, despite winning the FA Cup in his final game. And he tore into his old club after reports emerged in May 2022 that Ten Hag was set to take his former job.
“Erik ten Hag is a great coach, but Manchester United are a commercial club, so it’s a difficult choice for a coach,” Van Gaal bluntly observed. “He’d better go to a football club.”
Ten Hag went against the advice of his former mentor and initially achieved success. Although periods of his first campaign saw poor runs of form, he came out the other side having qualified for the Champions League, won the Carabao Cup and reached the FA Cup final.
However, a £150million spending spree has not seen Ten Hag build on that momentum. The United boss is now under extreme pressure to turn the club’s season around.
There was little evidence of him succeeding in United’s 3-0 defeat by Newcastle on Wednesday. A near-full-strength team lumbered to successive Old Trafford losses by that same scoreline.
Ten Hag has vowed to fight on, though. He boldly insisted: “I am a fighter and I know it is not always going to go up and we have a lot of setbacks this season. But also you have to deal with it and that is never an excuse.
“I have said that before. I know when there are setbacks but even then you have to get results. Sunday [and] tonight was far from that so we have to do things right at a certain level, the minimum level to win games.”
He added: “I see it as a challenge. I am a fighter and I am in that fight and I have to make sure that I share the responsibility with my players and that we stick together and fight together, and get better results.”
