Erik ten Hag breezed into a conference room in the basement of the UCLA’s JD Morgan Center carrying the air of a man at ease in himself and his circumstances. Having finished training and walked past the Bruins Bear, a bronze statue of the university’s mascot, he could have been forgiven for having a sore head instead.
He has lost his new centre-back signing for three months to a metatarsal fracture and his main striker is out for six weeks with a hamstring pull. This all after a period around May’s FA Cup win where his time in charge appeared to be over.
Despite the tumult, Ten Hag is buoyant, shaking hands with assembled journalists and cracking a joke about the attire of the Guardian’s Jamie Jackson, who is known to bring colour to Carrington press conferences with his Hawaiian shirts. “Where is your shirt?” Ten Hag asks. “You are in Manchester and it’s raining, and now you’re coming over here it’s a white shirt?”
There are of course more serious matters to discuss, namely how Ten Hag plans to turn Manchester United into title contenders, and in that regard the setting seems fitting. The building houses UCLA’s Athletics Hall of Fame and is stocked with trophies and reminders of past glories. Ten Hag speaks in a room where the words “Champions Made Here” and images of “Bruin pioneers” such as Arthur Ashe and Jackie Joyner-Kersee can be seen on the wall.
Ten Hag has won two pieces of silverware. The last against Manchester City will live long in the memory of fans, but he has not got close to the biggest prizes. Despite the previous uncertainty over his job, he retains confidence to change that. “What I feel is, so many people advised negatively when I started in this club, and I could have gone into projects with much better conditions, with much better structures,” he says. “But I choose this: Man United. I feel this is my club. And I want to go for this challenge, although I knew this is very tough, this is very hard.
“But you only know when you are in. Already, we overcame many obstacles and we have to beat even more, but I feel we are in the right direction. Even in the summer, I think many positives happened that mean we can accelerate this process.”
Here, The Athletic details what else Ten Hag said and what he might have meant.
On… his relationship with the football executive
“At that time I felt very comfortable because I believe in myself. But, of course, it will help if there is very good communication and it’s helpful when you feel the backing from the leadership group because then you know where you’re building to, that you do it together.
“When you are in a very good, very strong bond that gives you confidence, gives you belief. Also the dressing room, they will feel this, they will feel this strong belief that will bed into the dressing room and they bed it into the pitch.”
Ten Hag shakes Ratcliffe’s hand at the FA Cup final (Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
Ten Hag faced the sack before and after lifting the FA Cup, as those newly in charge at United held a series of talks with prospective managerial candidates, but he sounded convincing when he said he was “comfortable” at that moment. Not necessarily comfort that he would stay in his role, but a sense of peace in his abilities. The reference to “communication” is a nod to how the dialogue dried up as those at the top assessed their options.
But now Ten Hag has daily conversations with INEOS director of sport Sir Dave Brailsford, chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth, and technical director Jason Wilcox, who are all out in Los Angeles with the team. This has given him the belief that they are making good on their words spoken during that crucial meeting in Ibiza when all parties agreed to continue.
His mention of the players is also relevant. It would be easy for members of his squad to view his authority as weakened by the doubt over his position, but the public show of support from United executives — with their presence and alignment to Ten Hag visible here at the UCLA, SoFi Stadium and Snapdragon Stadium — moves the conversation on from what happened before.
Ten Hag was asked whether he has faith that backing will remain through choppy waters. “Yes. I feel that we are building something and that the people around me, we are in the same boat,” he said. “But of course, it’s always a proven point when the case is there, but what I hope is that we avoid this.”
Asked what he thought of United looking at replacements, Ten Hag said: “What I think is I want to collaborate. So togetherness, because when you are together you achieve more success. We have good people. Highly competent people, they will contribute to more success. So regarding your question, I don’t think negatively. I feel positive and very aligned, they are here in Los Angeles, we are building those relationships and we have to prove this point during the season and the next coming years, how strong we are.”
On… the contract extension over a new deal
“I wanted this. I think two years in football is already a long time and in two years we will see what we have built on top of what we have achieved now.”
The sense after the summit in Ibiza, when Brailsford and others informed Ten Hag of the outcome of their season review, was that the manager would get fresh terms.
That United ended up triggering the clause already in his contract — agreed by the previous regime — struck as something slightly less than full commitment. The reality is that it was the simpler mechanism for clarifying the situation. This way there was no need to carry through on negotiations over a new contract that may have got complicated and delayed the process.
Ten Hag had no concerns over a contract extension instead of a new deal (Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Pressed on whether he wanted more years to get reassurance, Ten Hag replied: “No, I don’t need that. I don’t need that security.”
He added: “For me, it’s important that we are working together and when you work together you are in good moments together, but also in bad moments. When it’s being questioned in the surroundings, then that will flow into a team and that is not helpful in achieving success.
“For myself, I don’t need this because I have security enough in my life and in my career and I have enough belief that I know when I have a team I will achieve success.”
On… new coaches
“First it was individual, that people made the choices to want to go into different roles, and then also I think it was good to create a new dynamic. We are in a process and when you go to the next step in the process, it’s good to bring new energy and new dynamics and a requirement also for different skills. We reviewed it and we decided to bring in some different profiles.”
The individual Ten Hag is referring to is Mitchell van der Gaag, who was hugely important in setting the schedule and writing the sessions. Van der Gaag wants to pursue a career as a No 1. But there was also a proposal from the new football leadership that the environment at Carrington be changed, with Van der Gaag identified.
Ten Hag always evaluates his staff at the end of a campaign and acknowledged that his team could use a freshening-up. Benni McCarthy left and Steve McClaren’s role was also reshaped before he took the job in charge of Jamaica. In came Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rene Hake, two names put forward by Ten Hag, illustrating his empowerment. Jelle ten Rouwelaar replacing Richard Hartis as goalkeeper coach was also Ten Hag’s call. Andreas Georgson, arriving as first-team coach, with an emphasis on set pieces, is another change. Georgson worked with Wilcox at Southampton.
“I think in the summer, many positives are there, with the new leadership group who will help give us a better foundation, a structure, that will help our team,” Ten Hag said. “We have some new coaches which gives us, not a better dynamic, but a different dynamic, innovations, new ideas, new energy, and I think then we can make progress to get to the next level.”
On… transfers after injuries
“No, this will not change anything. We have a plan and we stick to the plan.”
The idea that United might respond to the absences of Yoro and Hojlund by dipping into the market for another centre-back or striker was given short shrift by Ten Hag. INEOS sticks to established processes, it is something Ashworth strongly advocates also, and Ten Hag was singing from the same hymnsheet.
Ten Hag said United would not change their plans despite Yoro’s injury (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
He is not saying United will keep the squad as it is — a second centre-back was already on the agenda before Yoro’s issue — but he clearly wanted to emphasise how the club will not react in knee-jerk fashion.
He reiterated: “We have a plan and we will execute the plan, how we have that in our minds. So we will continue this.”
“He should fight for it, but we are not robots. We are dealing with human beings. And everyone, you are not always on your best. But he has to prove this point. We will set the conditions and he is very capable of doing this. The season before last he scored 30 goals, so when he is in the right vibe, then he has such a high potential.”
Rashford’s off-field issues were well-documented last season and Ten Hag argued again that improvement has to come from within. The emotion we saw from Rashford after the FA Cup final win, possibly coupled with his absence from England’s Euros squad, has appeared to fuel a determination on this tour. Sustaining the form that took him to his scoring heights will require a prolonged dedication on and off the pitch. He was forced off in the friendly against Real Betis, but Ten Hag said it was a minor knock.
On… patience in younger players
“We have to build. I think also they are really Man United players. They have an X factor but they are young. They already have the experience of how to win a trophy but with young players, it will go with ups and downs and we have to realise that. Sometimes they will have a drop off and then it’s about: do they have the character to bounce back and to achieve against high levels?”
Ten Hag has consistently pleaded for calm from the outside world when it comes to exciting young players, knowing United is a club under scrutiny like few others and the public might not see the blemishes he does.
“We left this behind us and we said everything about this, we know from each other what the standards are and how we want to work. When I took over you need good players to construct a good team and he’s definitely a very good player.”
Ten Hag spoke about working with Sancho this season (Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)
A truce has been called between Ten Hag and Sancho. He is available for £40million ($50.8m), but Ten Hag has also acquiesced to using the player in the meantime. He would not be drawn on whether Sancho apologised, which hints at a different path to this resolution of sorts. “I think we said everything about it,” Ten Hag added.
“He is a very important player. He is a leader and he can make a difference for our team. All the players who are there, if they want to play for us, want to play for the badge and they have the quality, then I hope they keep contributing to our team. We have seen that Casemiro in his career is so successful.
“In the previous season, he was so important to achieve all the success we had there. When he is on this level, he is a very impactful player for us.”
Casemiro’s future has been up in the air since he reported an injury after the FA Cup final teamsheets had been handed in at Wembley. But the Saudi Arabia bids have not materialised and Ten Hag seems resolved to keeping him.
On… replicating Sir Alex Ferguson
“History but I don’t dream. We have to live today and build a future, but don’t look too far ahead.”
Ten Hag brought realism to the suggestion he might follow Ferguson, going from surviving to thriving through an FA Cup win.
(Top photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
