Manchester United fell from dominating the Premier League at the turn of the 21st century, to settling for a six-year trophy drought. While analysts agreed the club needed drastic overhaul to reposition and relaunch itself into the elite cadre, the extent of the rot and the level of restructuring needed, was more of a matter of controversy.
Back in 2019, the club’s caretaker manager, Ralf Rangnick, dropped a famous line, encapsulating the level of deterioration at the club and the level of attention it needs to arrest the malaise.
In Rangnick’s famous lines, ”the club needed an open surgery to get things right.” The German would later lead the club to finish sixth on the Premier League table in the 2020/21 season, before leaving to take up a national team coaching role with Austria.
Now, current Manchester United manager, Erik ten Hag, has corroborated Rangnick’s comment, saying the club actually needed an ‘open heart surgery’ to get things right.
“Rangnick was absolutely right,” Ten Hag said in an interview with Dutch newspaper AD Sportwereld.
“We have been working very hard on this for two years, but he said it exactly right: it is a thorough, very complex operation. And I knew when I started that it was going to be a tough job.”
Manchester United started slipping off the perking order in 2013 when Sir Alex Ferguson left as manager after he won his 20th league title with the club. He was replaced by David Moyes, who joined the club from Everton. Moyes won Manchester United’s 20th Community Shield but was sacked at the end of his first season after he failed to lead United to Champions League qualification.
United’s former player, Ryan Giggs, took charge of the club’s remaining four games in the season after the sack of David Moyes. Former Dutch national team manager, Louis Van Gaal, was appointed the next manager, replacing Moyes
Van Gaal returned United to Champions League football in his first season as manager but failed in his second season, leading the club to a 5th place finish in 2016. He, however, won the FA Cup, but that was not enough to keep his job. He was sacked at the end of the 2016 campaign.
Jose Mourinho replaced Van Gaal. He won the EFL and Europa League in his first season in 2016/17 season, won nothing in 2017/18, and was sacked midway into the 2018/19 campaign when United won only 7 of their first 17 matches.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Mourinho and started off well, winning 7 of his first seven matches. Originally contracted in an interim role, he was appointed permanently afterwards.
Despite his brilliant start, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would quit his role at the club without a single trophy. He was replaced by Ralf Rangnick in 2021, who took charge of the team till the end of the season. Again, United failed to qualify for the Champions League under Ralf Rangnick. The German would leave to pave the way for the current manager Erik ten Hag.
After a disappointing start to the campaign, ten Hag turned United’s fortune around, returning the club to Champions League football and winning the EFL Cup to end a dragging six-year trophy drought in his first season.
However, the Dutch’s second season ended on a disappointing note with United missing out on Champions League football but consoled with FA Cup win.
Can Erik ten Hag solve Manchester United problems?
The end of the 2023-24 Premier League season found Ten Hag struggling to ascertain his future at the club. It took the club’s hierarchy time before reaching a decision to retain him for the next campaign after a disappointing season. It would have been easy to assert the Dutch is the right man to get the team back to the top if he had built on his gains in the last campaign. So, only time will tell whether the 54-year-old will get the team back to its glory days.
