Erik ten Hag was warned before he took the Manchester United job that he was joining a ‘commercial club’ by former boss Louis van Gaal, instead of a football club, via ESPN.
Ten Hag thanked Van Gaal for his advice and took the job anyway, explaining in his opening press conference that he will ‘draw his own lines’.
After a strong start in pre-season, winning both games and scoring eight goals, Ten Hag wants to keep the focus on football and has kicked out one potential distraction.
Ten Hag has already ‘drawn one line’ in the sand and shut down a commercial proposal while in Australia on pre-season tour, keeping the focus on football.
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Ten Hag rejects United visit to Neighbours set
The Telegraph report: “An idea was apparently floated for MUTV, the club’s official television station, to film the players on the set of the popular Australian soap opera, Neighbours, just outside Melbourne, but Ten Hag put red pen through that one.”
United’s players are not in Australia to sight-see, instead they have a big job to do, to prepare for the 2022/23 season.
Perhaps if last season had been a successful one, there could be some leeway. But United are coming off the back of the club’s worst ever Premier League season.
The 2021/22 campaign was enough of a soap opera as it was. United didn’t need to visit the set of another one, and doing so could have left the players open to ridicule.
This decision is an important one for Ten Hag to make, to lay down his rules early on.
Louis van Gaal expressed in his first pre-season that the commercial demands from United were just too much, telling The Guardian: “Maybe it is too big a club. Not only in a sporting sense but also commercially. We have to do a lot of things that normally I don’t allow.
“We have to prepare the season and when you have commercial activities and dreadful distances, having to fly a lot and the jet lag, it is not positive for a good preparation.”
United had a strong pre-season in 2014, but by time the club returned to England, it took it’s toll, with a poor start to the campaign.
Erik ten Hag is keen to avoid a repeat, and has made clear to his players they are in Australia ‘to work’ and nothing else.
The best part, is that United listened to the manager, and let his decision stand. It’s a new regime, and Ten Hag clearly has power. With Ed Woodward gone, United fans hope there will be a greater football focus. Van Gaal even said last month he left Woodward’s exit would make a positive difference for Ten Hag. The early signs look good.
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