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Erik ten Hag became the latest in a growing list of managers to leave Manchester United when he was sacked on Monday. This reflects a period of instability that has defined the club since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement from management eleven years ago.
Ferguson’s unprecedented 26-year spell in charge transformed United into a powerhouse, winning 13 Premier League titles and two UEFA Champions League trophies. Succeeding him was always going to be a big ask, but United found it difficult to come close to Ferguson’s achievements and have chewed up and spit out a string of managers since then. While some managers have had more success than others over the past decade, most left Old Trafford after some historic lows in the club’s history, meaning the club’s winding road back to the top is likely to take a few more twists and turns before they reach the top. there.
As the search for Ten Hag’s successor begins, here is a ranking of the managers who have held the position since Ferguson’s retirement.
6. Erik ten Hag
Record: 128 games in charge; 70 wins, 23 draws, 53 losses
Trophies: EFL Cup (2022-23), FA Cup (2023-24)
The preference for recency may sink Ten Hag’s ranking here, but the optimism about his first season in charge feels like a long time ago. Things moved quickly in his second season, when United suffered from poor squad building, something in which he played a major role. His on-field tactics didn’t produce a winning strategy either; last season they leaked goals and conceded an exorbitant number of goals. shots and shortly before his departure he struggled to score goals. Although he collected two trophies during his spell, he also recorded the club’s lowest ever Premier League result last season and ensured they would have their worst start to the season for 35 years with three wins in their opening nine games this season.
5. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Record: 168 games in charge; 91 wins, 37 draws, 40 losses
Trophies: none
In the post-Ferguson era, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has surprisingly lasted the longest as United manager, but even then he constantly felt like he was a stopgap measure. The club bounced in and out of the Premier League’s top four and his tenure always seemed to be hanging by a thread, meaning there were few sustained moments of success during his tenure. This includes the fact that he has not won a single trophy in three years, the only coach to have lasted more than a season at United without doing so.
4. David Moyes
Record: 51 games in charge; 27 wins, nine draws, 15 losses
Trophies: none
History may be kinder to David Moyes than when he was sacked in April 2014, less than a year after becoming Ferguson’s hand-picked successor. He was clearly unable to acclimate to the track, recording the lowest points total and finishing until he was surpassed by Ralf Rangnick and ten Hag respectively. That said, he was also the first in a line of managers to suffer the consequences of a poorly structured club, one that had relied almost exclusively on Ferguson’s talents to keep them at the top of the game.
3. Ralf Rangnick
Record: 29 games in charge; 11 wins, 10 draws, eight losses
Trophies: none
Rangnick was United’s only interim manager in the past decade to have played more than four games. The role was essentially his soft-launch consultancy role that he planned to serve for another two years. However, things did not go according to plan at all. Under him, United finished sixth and recorded the worst ever points total in Premier League history. He identified that the club’s problems were related to squad building, but his five-month stay was enough for both sides to relinquish advisory roles at the end of the season. Rangnick’s time at United does not define his career as a manager, especially considering he was right about the team’s selection. However, it only extended the instability that had long hung over United.
2. Louis van Gaal
Record: 103 games in charge; 54 wins, 25 draws, 24 losses
Trophies: FA Cup (2015–16)
Louis van Gaal, the first manager to win a trophy at United since Ferguson, steadied the ship somewhat after Moyes’ tenure ended badly. Even then, his two years at Old Trafford were not particularly notable: the team finished fourth and then fifth in the Premier League during his time there, never progressing beyond the round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League. In his second season, United also recorded their lowest goal total since the 1990–91 season, scoring just 49 times in 38 league games. Like Rangnick, this is not an indictment of Van Gaal’s reputation, but it was certainly not his crowning achievement either.
1. Jose Mourinho
Record: 144 games in charge; 84 wins, 32 draws, 28 losses
Trophies: UEFA Europa League (2016-17), EFL Cup (2-16-17)
Someone has to finish first by default, and so Jose Mourinho ends up here after winning the club’s biggest trophy in the post-Ferguson era: the 2016/17 Europa League title. He followed this up with a second-place finish in the Premier League a year later, but like many of the managers who came before and after him, the good times were fleeting. He was sacked in December 2018 after overseeing the team’s worst start since the 1990-91 season, producing a repeat of Mourinho’s infamous third season syndrome and perhaps signaling that his days as an elite manager were behind him. While the mandate at United did not undo his previous achievements, Mourinho’s first-place win is an indictment of the club’s post-Ferguson strategy. The highs weren’t nearly high enough, the lows were sometimes record-breaking and the period ended on a toxic note that left a sour taste in the mouth in a way that sometimes defines the post-Ferguson period at United.