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Erik ten Hag reminds Manchester United of what could have been
Erik ten Hag: the manager Manchester United are poised to sack despite the same record of two trophies in two seasons as Pep Guardiola had at the start of his Manchester City tenure.
Football, bloody hell, or football, the quaintest of old games, because with a squad near to full fitness for the first time in an age, Ten Hag showed what he can do, which was a Roy of the Rovers-esque 2-1 victory that broke City hearts, claimed the FA Cup for United, and was the sweetest of ripostes to the 54-year-old’s naysayers.
Related: Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United: FA Cup final player ratings
At the close he walked to the United end of Wembley and bowed as he was regaled by the jubilant support with simple volleys of “Ten Hag, Ten Hag, Ten Hag”. This 13th FA Cup triumph ensured Europa League football next season and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who plans to remove the manager, would not be human if he did not doubt his own wisdom.
As the account Ten Hag Gambit tweeted at the break: “Win or lose from here, they’re mad to sack him. Only one half, but he has yet again shown what he can do with a fit squad. I’m so sad.”
At this juncture United were in the dreamland of a 2-0 lead but the final began with the loneliness of Ten Hag at pitchside stark, chewing gum and pensive, robed in a suit with trademark ankle-hugging trousers. The first relief was to pass 13 seconds without City scoring, as they did against his men in the final of 12 months ago.
If the Dutchman does feel the stab of bitter disappointment of being culled by Ratcliffe he may, in time, experience some solace, as the incessant scrutiny of fans, media and the pundit class will switch to the next guy, a sixth permanent manager in 11 years and the latest patsy in the line of fire unless the club does, at last, reset.
Ten Hag had written in the Wembley programme notes: “This afternoon’s game gives us an opportunity to get another taste of the winning habit and give ourselves something more to build on.” Defiant to the end, Ten Hag remained cool in the face of a relentless inquisition. From social media platforms to fan forums to the radio and TV airwaves came copious and mixed opinion on the man from Haaksbergen.
“5 years backwards we go!! @manchesterunited no loyalty!! Shambles of a club. Owners and board have killed everything United was” wrote justinduque on Instagram, underneath the Guardian’s exclusive of the 53‑year‑old’s planned sacking.
“I’ve been Ten Hag out for a while now but I’m actually quite gutted to see him go,” wrote Vedder on a United message board.
Below, Believe posited: “So we’re going into a cup final against the best team in the country, with a manager who knows he’s out of a job and half a team who probably know they’re leaving. Should be a walk in the park.”
“Erik will stay, most of United fans know he deserves to stay,” wrote farja frank on Instagram.
After half an hour a loose Josko Gvardiol header played in Alejandro Garnacho, who gave United a 1-0 lead. Then, even better. In the kind of back-to-front hypnotic sequence United have lacked under Ten Hag, Marcus Rashford hit Garnacho with a left-right diagonal; he crossed, Bruno Fernandes slickly relayed the ball on, and Kobbie Mainoo stroked home.
Cue the in-stadium United congregation, the hardcore support, going delirious, as Ten Hag was a picture of fist-pumping delight that could be read as: “Sack me now, Sir Jim, if you dare.”
United had ended their season with two wins – over Newcastle at Old Trafford and at Brighton – yet still finished eighth, a record low position in the Premier League era. Yet on taking his seat in the Jimmy Murphy Centre for Thursday’s media conference to preview the final, there was a Ten Hag smile and an acknowledgement for one reporter as his perma‑calm endured.
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Then his latest grilling started, with more questions about his job security before, 24 hours later, the Guardian broke the story of the intention to removed him as the club’s fifth manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013, the axe to fall as it previously did on David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, José Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Ten Hag’s predecessors had all swept into the club teeming with optimism before being disabused of their dreams of reviving a slumbering leviathan.
Against this City team for the ages, managers of all stripes have struggled, of course. And when Jérémy Doku scored towards the end and seven added minutes were signalled, Ten Hag stared down the barrel of the bitterest of disappointments.
But no. That is expected to come in the coming days. Except, after a triumph unreal even by schoolboy comic-book fantasy stuff, Ratcliffe could not have a rethink, could he?
