Defiance proved no match for a bizarre brand of chaos

Erik ten Hag has a class of defiance that sometimes made him sound a man apart.

- RICHARD JOLLY

An unexpected taste of glory empowered him. “If they don’t want me, I go somewhere else to win trophies,” he said after defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final. Manchester United initially decided – albeit after speaking to a host of other managers – that they still did want him. Now, four months on, comes the decision they do not.

The FA Cup final was the extraordinary anomaly, the silverware in a slump that has lasted 14 months. Ten Hag can leave Old Trafford arguing he ended United’s six-year wait for honours, that only Pep Guardiola won more during his time in England. True as that is, his reign dragged them to historic lows. Ten Hag, who shaped up during his debut season as United’s finest manager since Sir Alex Ferguson, instead became another who was chewed up and spat out. A reputation initially enhanced instead became diminished with every pratfall. It became ever harder to believe he steered Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals.

Since then, he has overseen United’s worst ever Champions League campaign. Their record currently stands at one win in their last 11 European games; they could not even defeat Ten Hag’s former club Twente. Last season was their poorest in the Premier League: with a lowest finish of eighth, their most defeats and the ignominy of a negative goal difference. Now they have made their worst ever start to a Premier League campaign.

While a series of supposed inferiors – Brighton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Fulham – won at Old Trafford, sometimes emphatically, Ten Hag tended to fail the toughest tests. United’s away record against the best was wretched: one win from 15 attempts against the big eight, seven points from a possible 45. If a 7-0 defeat at Anfield was a nadir in one respect, it at least came in a season when much else went right.