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Why were many Manchester United players in tears after they won the FA Cup final against Manchester City yesterday?
Releasing some emotion after a frustrating season full of brutal criticism of team – and individual – performances might be a simple answer to that question.
Still, it’s natural to suspect that the sadness was due to the fact that they knew they had delivered Erik ten Hague, their manager, the biggest send-off he could have asked for. Tears of pity for the man about to be fired. Tears, perhaps, from guilt that they couldn’t do better earlier and that he paid the price.
There are two very strong lines of reporting, one claiming that the decision to fire Ten Hag was made weeks ago and that yesterday’s win will not affect that decision. Transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio, The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg and Viaplay expert Jan-Aage Fjortoft were among the reputable sources to make the claim.
On the other hand, other reputable sources – David Ornstein and Laurie Whitwell of Athletic, Simon Stone of the BBC and United themselves insist that no decision has been made, with the former saying it will be made this week.
Another transfer guru, Fabricio Romano, insisted that the outcome of yesterday’s game and how the players behaved on that occasion will decide the outcome.
Then there’s Ten Haag himself, who informed reporters that he was told he was staying, and that he didn’t know if he was staying or not. At yesterday’s press conference after the match, he seemed to be contradicting himself. Persistent “they don’t have to tell me every week. When they don’t want me anymore, then I’ll hear it, but I’ve been told many times (to stay)” was contrasted with a defiant “if they don’t want me here, I’ll go somewhere else to win trophies because that’s what I’ve done my whole career”, and not what you say if you’ve been told your job is secure.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe was asked after yesterday’s match if the manager was staying and he simply shrugged the question off and walked away. Of course, if INEOS had told Ten Hague “many times” that he was staying, it would have been easy for Sir Jim to say so at the time.
Even the photo of Ten Hag at the top of this article tells the story. There is sadness on his face, although it could also be interpreted as anger because of the way he feels he is being treated by the media and social networks. Or just plain uncertainty about what INEOS might have in store for him.
One thing seems clear – the decision to Ten Haag will stay not made at United, at least not yet.
Regardless of whether the decision has already been made fire him is less clear, but the weight of the evidence suggests that it is.
If Athletic and the BBC get their information from the club then they will surely be told that a decision has not yet been made. Why? Because the club would not want Ten Haag an already convicted man leading his team to the cup final; because the timing of the announcement had to take into account the impact of stock prices on the NYSE; and because Sir Jim, sitting in the stands, would have looked like “a villain on a par with the invisible hunter who killed Bambi’s mother,” to quote The Telegraphis Oliver Brown.
Likewise, Ten Haag’s confusion over the matter could be explained by the fact that he has a non-disclosure agreement with the club and has been told not to say anything.
The biggest reason to doubt that the decision has already been made is simply, why wouldn’t it be? Why would INEOS wait a week after the end of the season to start a process that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible? The new manager needs to start and plan his new season as soon as the old one ends, if not sooner.
INEOS must have gotten to where it is in the world by thinking three steps ahead. Surely they will already know. With all due respect to Roman, these are the world’s leading businessmen, would they simply roll the dice based on the score of a 90-minute football match?
The obvious affection of the players for the Dutchman, as well as the fans on the back of yesterday’s victory, does not diminish some brutal facts of this season. It was United’s worst finish in the Premier League. Record number of losses. Record number of goals conceded. Football was crude and naive.
After yesterday’s game, Jonny Evans said in an interview that “in the last month (Ten Haag) has shown incredible technical flexibility to be able to sit on the counter-attack, a style he doesn’t see himself coaching, but he has done that over the last month as well we achieved much better performance.”
You have to wonder, why did Ten Hag take until the last month of the season to show that flexibility? Is Evans suggesting that he wasn’t flexible until the last few weeks? And as it was around the time new technical director Jason Wilcox joined, perhaps the rumors that Ten Hag adopted this “no-see-to-coach style” at the behest of his new boss are true?
“Why did United leave until the last game of the home calendar to produce the kind of sumptuous one-touch football that produced Kobi Mainoo’s decisive second goal?” Brown continues in his Telegraph article. “Where has this electrified version of Marcus Rashford, previously prone to indolence, been for the last nine months? Why did Sofyan Amrabat wait for maybe his farewell appearance to show that he can be effective in front of the defense?”
Ten Haag’s answer is simple: that all this was impossible before because the team was so disorganized due to injury. Now he’s got Lich and Raph back, even though they weren’t fit, he’s proven what he can do without injuries.
Those of us who watch every press conference Ten Hag holds have heard countless times how he blames injuries this season for a poor campaign. We’ve heard him say over and over again that you don’t understand football if you think he could have done better with that disorder. This was met with childish defiance and blind stubbornness.
Of course the injuries were terrible. But Ten Hag ignores the fact that some of United’s rivals have had similar problems and still finished above them in the league – Newcastle being a good example. He also doesn’t take responsibility for what caused so many injuries, he hasn’t shown a willingness to change training methods that clearly (at best) weren’t helping, and he’s no longer turning sides to avoid stress injuries and burnout.
Almost a full season of flogging a dead horse trying to impose tactics that don’t work in itself can be grounds for dismissal.
Brown says Ratcliffe will wonder “how a team with 14 defeats in one league campaign can still reach dizzying heights when the mood takes them” and this question of motivation is surely as important as the tactical one. Of course, it’s only natural that players can find an extra 1% effort in an important game like this final. But is it harsh to say that if this was a 100% effort, the rest of the season we only witnessed 70% or less? Playing for Manchester United requires much, much more.
With INEOS’s new structure in place, hiring and renewal will not be in the hands of managers (apart from veto power). The overall game ethos and style of play will also be decided by the Director of Football and Technical Director. With these elements no longer part of his remit, the Manchester United manager’s job will simply be tactics, training and motivation. Unfortunately for Ten Hag, these are the three areas that have failed miserably this season.
As Brown concludes, “On the surface, this cheerful spring day offers nothing but the balm of vindication for Ten Hague. However, Ratcliffe’s failure to explicitly recognize him hints at the ill wind blowing his way.” As harsh as it may seem, this was probably Erik ten Hag’s last game as Manchester United manager.
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