Erik ten Hag is a frontrunner to be the permanent manager of Manchester United but Louis van Gal advises the Ajax manager to deny the opportunity. Van Gal has mentioned that Ten Hag should instead move to a football club and that Manchester United is a commercial club. The current manager of the Netherlands national team has spent two years as the manager of Manchester United.
In those two years, United had won the FA Cup under Van Gal in 2016. Shortly after, Van Gal was sacked for allowing Jose Mourinho to take place. Everyone regards Manchester United as one of the biggest clubs in the world. However, it has been nine years without winning the Premier League. They have changed many managers in the last decade but nothing has worked.
United have the second-highest revenue in the Premier League in 2021 just behind their local rivals Manchester City, according to Deloitte Money League. Departing executive chairman Ed Woodward did mention that their top priority is success on the pitch. However, there are no such signs of improvement on the pitch. Also, United have been one of the richest clubs in the last decade and they continue to be.
Louis van Gal had this to say to his fellow compatriot Erik ten Hag,
“Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United. But Manchester United are a commercial club, so it’s a difficult choice for a coach. He’d better go to a football club. I’m not going to advise him, he’ll call me himself. But he must choose a football club and not a commercial club.”
Why does Louis van Gal want Erik ten Hag to reject such a big opportunity?
It has been argued worldwide that the Manchester United board does not support its manager enough. After Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, many world-class managers have been a part of United. David Moyes was a successful coach at Everton. Louis van Gal was also very successful with Ajax and then Jose Mourinho who is considered one of the all-time greats.
However, all of these managers have failed to win the Premier League with United. Not only did they fail to do so but have also extensively degraded the quality of the pitch. United have spent money on signings but it is said that managers have not gotten what they were looking for. United’s recruitments and decisions have been sometimes more motivated towards earning more revenue.
Jose Mourinho demanded a defender from the board but did not get one until he was sacked. However, the next manager Solskjaer did get Harry Maguire for a whopping fee. Nevertheless, Maguire is now having a hard time at United because of his sloppy gameplay. There have been similar situations with other managers too and the board now lacks the patience to be with a manager for more than four years.
However, things could change after this season in the boardroom. Ralf Rangick is set to take a job upstairs after his interim job is done. He has done extremely well in recruiting players and other decisions for a club. He will have a say in United’s decisions going forward and could change a lot of things at the club. Ten Hag can be the manager that United needs and could succeed with the help of Rangnick.
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