The Dutchman arrived at the club on a mission to put an end to player power, but one man alone can't fix a culture that has been brewing for a decade
It began with Alejandro Garnacho turning up late for breakfast during Erik ten Hag's first pre-season tour as Manchester United manager. Then Cristiano Ronaldo started leaving matches early, even when he was supposed to come on as a substitute. The Portuguese later gave an unauthorised and explosive interview to Piers Morgan, firing shots in all directions, including at his manager. Then Marcus Rashford was late for a team meeting and dropped from the starting line-up.
A blissfully quiet few months with little to report on in the form of dressing room politics then passed, only to be followed by one negative story after another to greet the new season. First Jadon Sancho didn't train hard enough and when he was bluntly told so, fired back in an angry social media post. Days later, Antony was accused of violence against women and took a leave of absence to deal with the allegations – which he denies.
Anthony Martial turned up at training at the wrong time before Rashford visited a nightclub after the humiliating defeat in the derby by Manchester City in October. Three months later, Rashford missed training after a wild drunken night out in Belfast and lied to the club about his whereabouts. Then, on the lower end of the scale, last Saturday, Garnacho liked a tweet criticising Ten Hag after the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.
Exhausted just reading the long list of misdemeanours committed by United players in the last two years? Then imagine how Ten Hag must feel having to deal with them…
Getty Only Ferguson had control
When Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge of United, dressing room leaks to the media were extremely rare, and any dissent was quickly and brutally stamped out. Ruud van Nistelrooy was forced out after disagreeing with being benched for the League Cup final; Roy Keane was hounded out for a critical piece of analysis on David Beckham was sold to Real Madrid once Ferguson had concluded he had lost his focus due to his celebrity lifestyle.
No player, no matter how talented or influential, was above the manager or the club, and the team continued to be successful after each high-profile departure. The show went on, with Ferguson the only star who could not be disposed of. To the ruthless Glaswegian, making sure he, and not the players, ruled the club was a non-negotiable.
"If the day came that the manager of Manchester United was controlled by the players – in other words, if the players decided how the training should be, what days they should have off, what the discipline should be, and what the tactics should be – then Manchester United would not be the Manchester United we know," he told the . "It creates power for the players – that is very dangerous. If the coach has no control, he will not last."
AdvertisementGetty Revolt began with Moyes
When Ferguson retired in 2013, United not only lost the mind that had won them 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues, they lost that sense of control. His first successor David Moyes, for example, got on the wrong side of players just weeks into the job. According to Rio Ferdinand, it all stemmed from him banning them from eating chips the night before games. Ferdinand said Moyes' reactive tactics had also rubbed the players up the wrong way.
Moyes had never taken on a club of United's size and was ill-equipped to cope with big-name players and the constant scrutiny he was under. His successors, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, should have been much better prepared given the enormous institutions they had worked, at including Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter and Chelsea.
Getty Mourinho's toxic atmosphere
However, both the Dutchman and the Portuguese struggled to impose their authority on United. Van Gaal's rigorous training regime meant he got off on the wrong foot with many players and his larger-than-life personality, coupled with his habit of saying exactly what he thought and never biting his tongue, alienated them too.
Mourinho's old-school methods and dictatorial personality won over some players such as Ander Herrera, but severely annoyed others, none more than Paul Pogba. The Portuguese would also call out players who he felt had underperformed, especially Luke Shaw and Martial.
When Mourinho was eventually sacked and replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, there was a notable difference in the vibe around the training ground. The toxic atmosphere Mourinho had forged had vanished, and the positive vibes between manager and squad led to a massive upswing in results in the Norwegian's first few months in charge.
GettyRefusing the armband
But Solskjaer eventually fell victim to United's lawless dressing room, and when the positive early results began to dry up, it dawned on him that there was a dearth of big characters who could help galvanise the other players.
He has revealed that several players refused to be captain in certain games and did not even have the courage to inform the manager themselves, getting their message across through intermediaries instead. The Norwegian also complained of the group splintering off.
"When you have a group you need everyone to pull in the same direction. When things didn't go right, you could see certain players and egos came out," Solskjaer told last year.
"Some players felt they should’ve played more and weren’t constructive to the environment. That’s a huge sin for me. When I didn’t start games, I wanted to prove to the manager he’d made the wrong decision. Now, a lot of players aren’t like that. Agents and family members get into their heads and tell them they’re better than they are because they have a vested interest. It’s a disease of modern football."