Erik ten Hag’s last act as Man Utd manager shows how badly Ineos fumbled their inevitable decision

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Manchester United ripped their band-aid off at an unexpected time as they sacked Erik ten Hag as manager after a dismal start to the season.

Fans would hardly be shocked by the nature of the news but the timing of it certainly comes as a surprise considering what Erik ten Hag survived in the past.

The second international break was rife with speculation that a decision could arrive but it didn’t and it took three more stuttering games to reach a conclusion.

Man Utd fans argue the sacking should have come earlier and there’s clear truth in the fact that Ineos fell into the sunk cost fallacy.

If anything, Ten Hag’s last act as Man Utd manager proves how badly Ineos fumbled this inevitable decision and how it leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

Erik ten Hag’s last act as Man Utd manager

This decision came a day after the Dutchman lost to West Ham United away from home in contentious circumstances.

After the game, he did his usual rhetoric of frustration at missing chances, calling out the referee and the promise of the team going again to rectify the results.

However, that was not his last act as United manager. In a cruel turn of events, due to the next game being in less than 72 hours, Ten Hag also did the pre-match conference for the Leicester game.

The Carabao Cup game is now one he won’t be in charge of, so his last act as manager was answering questions about a game he won’t even manage.

It has already been reported that that part of the press conference will never see the light of day and Van Nistelrooy won’t speak before the game either.

It leaves a sour taste in the mouth and echoes the situation of Louis van Gaal, who learned from reporters after winning the FA Cup that he was being sacked.

Ineos badly fumbled it

The fact that this decision comes a week after the international break, when Ineos had two full weeks to get another man in, or even let Van Nistelrooy work on the training ground beggars belief.

Not only does the new manager only get less than 48 hours to prepare for the game, he does so in a whirlwind of media coverage entirely unrelated to the game itself.

Furthermore, if they were such big believers in Thomas Tuchel, he literally just came off the job market in that international break when Ineos kept blindly backing Ten Hag.

The combination of all these factors points to a clear conclusion that the new ownership team badly fumbled their biggest decision to date.

In fact, with the benefit of hindsight, they fumbled both their big decision- extending Ten Hag and then getting rid of him later than it warranted.

The hope is that they don’t fumble the third, and with Ruben Amorim ‘verbally agreeing’ to become the new Man Utd manager, there is no hiding place anymore as the lat remnant of the Glazer era will be replaced by their own man.