Devils appoint unlikely saviour

 

Erik Ten Hag must love a challenge – brokering world peace and ending poverty would seem like pieces of cake to managing Manchester United.

You have to wonder if the 52-year-old Dutchman, who’s expected to be confirmed as the next recipient of the poisoned chalice any day, really knows what he’s letting himself in for.

To leave a well-run operation like Ajax, with a great football tradition but no grandiose ideas about being a financial powerhouse, for a team that has forgotten how to play is a huge risk.

It’s a slight surprise that the new man is coming from a football club at all and not from Goldman Sachs. Or JP Morgan. Or the UK treasury or US Federal Reserve.

For these are the places where United are still regarded as top dogs – of the Forbes league of richest clubs.

No matter that their fans are despairing, the players are revolting and the stadium is rotting.

And that they will – barring a miracle – be playing among Europe’s second-raters next season.

The state of disarray is such that the Manchester Evening News’s chief United reporter admits “this is the worst period watching and easily the worst covering in almost 30 years.”

He adds that only nine players even care and the first thing that should be done is to puncture “the inflated sense of entitlement some players have developed.”

This is exactly what most United fans – whether at home or across the great diaspora – are saying.

Rubbing salt into these festering wounds is that while United are sinking, their most bitter rivals – Liverpool and City – are soaring to new levels.

On the field they are making people gasp at their quality, while off it with the way the clubs are run and the astuteness of their signings.

Both have a plan and an identity whereas ever since Alex Ferguson left, United have been scattergun at everything – choosing managers, players, styles of play.

It may come as a shock but for all their reputation, United have only enjoyed sustained success under two men – Sir Matt Busby and Fergie.

After Busby retired, they fell apart so badly, they were relegated.

A brief renaissance under Tommy Docherty followed but nothing was sustained until Fergie.

And that was after three difficult seasons in which most fans wanted him out.

We know what it’s been like since he left.

So, the big question is: where to start?

The “inflated sense of entitlement” seems the most obvious.

Wayne Rooney singled out Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba as the most outstanding examples of overpaid underperformers – and few would disagree.

But it’s not that easy to shift these big names and who would want them anyway?

Pogba should be easier as he’s a free agent at the end of the season, but Ronaldo’s contract has another year to run.

Whether the Portuguese is up for it under Ten Hag is another matter. And where would he go if he left?

With only four clubs only ever under consideration at this rarified level – PSG, Juventus, Real and Barca – the options are limited.

And would a little-known Dutchman of modest achievement and speaking broken English, have the presence to influence a world superstar either way?

Ronaldo is said to have vetoed Antonio Conte’s appointment.

His power raises the question of whether Ten Hag could be out of his depth.

He has no Premier League experience and Ajax is the only club he’s managed.

Spurs rejected him and thought he was “weird”.

His record is good but not great and you wonder how he’s jumped to the head of the queue.

Mauricio Pochettino was thought to be in pole position for years and he’s still preferred by most players who are said to be “underwhelmed” by Ten Hag.

Pochettino has a great body of work in the EPL, both at Southampton and Spurs.

He’s not been able to sort out the basket case that is PSG but then who has?

It’s thought that the £20m needed to break his contract in Paris is why the Glazers have turned against him.

It’s the sort of “dividend” to which the Glazers have regularly helped themselves to from Old Trafford yet remain at heart penny pinchers.

It’s not hard to see why only 4% of fans approved of them in a recent survey.

United have spent more on the wrong players than either City or Liverpool who usually get theirs right, while their neglect of the stadium borders on criminal.

Ronaldo’s recent tantrums make you think he’s not happy and may regret returning to what is a big mess.

But he and Pogba, who has not got out of first gear in five years, are just the biggest names in what should be a mass clear-out.

You could name an entire team of misfits: Henderson, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, Bailly, Matic, Jones, Mata,Tuanzebe, Amad, Martial and Cavani who should be taken off the payroll.

Whether Ten Hag plans to wield the axe will be as fascinating as who he wants to bring in.

Two big names mentioned will surely be out of reach: Harry Kane and Declan Rice, both of whom are priced at £150m by their clubs.

If Kane has bought into Conte’s philosophy, he’ll stay at Spurs while Rice prefers a move to Chelsea.

United are not in the running for Haaland as he doesn’t think they’ll win the trophies he wants.

Ten Hag also has to sort out his backroom staff but his liking for attacking football could at least give him breathing space.

As could his encouragement of youngsters. But Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did both.

What he didn’t do was tackle the egos.

Ten Hag does not look like the saviour of a great club but if he lasts long enough to at least restore some pride, it will be one of the great managerial achievements of all time. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.