How Erik ten Hag’s record compared to every Man Utd manager since Sir Alex Ferguson

The Erik ten Hag era at Manchester United is no more. INEOS have opted to part ways with the Dutchman following an insipid start to the 2024/25 campaign.

United’s new owners decided to hand the former Ajax boss another chance after he guided the club to FA Cup glory in May, but Ten Hag’s woes permeated into the new season despite yet another busy summer at Old Trafford.

If a porous defensive structure was the primary issue for their issues last season, a distinct inability to put the ball in the back of the net has proven to be Ten Hag’s undoing in 2024/25.

It was a reign that initially offered so much promise, but that’s often been the case for United managers in a post-Sir Alex Ferguson landscape. We’ve seen ideologues, pragmatists and gegenpressing pioneers arrive from all corners of the continent in a bid to return the Red Devils to the promised land.

There have been glimmers from some, but ultimately all, including Ten Hag, have failed. How bad, though, does the Dutchman’s tenure compare to those who’ve also been swallowed up by the Old Trafford entorno since 2013?

A 2-1 defeat at West Ham was Ten Hag’s 128th and last in charge of Manchester United. The loss was his 36th at the helm in all competitions and 27th in the Premier League.

He won just 51.8% of his Premier League matches, with a bulk of those victories arriving during his impressive debut season in 2022/23 which saw United finish third with 75 points. Ten Hag’s maiden campaign at the helm also returned Carabao Cup success, with the Red Devils beating Newcastle in the final at Wembley.

His record in the domestic cups was excellent. Ten Hag may have benefitted from fairly kind draws, but he oversaw wins in 19 of 22 games and United’s triumph over Manchester City in the 2024 FA Cup final will be remembered as the highlight of the Dutchman’s reign.

The club’s sole Champions League campaign with Ten Hag in charge was an unmitigated disaster as they failed to get out of a pretty tame group containing Bayern Munich, Galatasaray, and Copenhagen. United lost four of their six group games.

His side didn’t fare too much better in the Europa League as they crashed out of the competition two years ago following a humbling 5-2 aggregate defeat to Sevilla in the quarter-finals. United started the all-new league phase this season with three consecutive draws under Ten Hag’s watch.

Ten Hag’s overall record in Manchester is salvaged by United’s FA Cup and Carabao Cup records given their struggles in Europe and indifference in the Premier League. The Dutchman departs with a 56.25% win rate from 128 games.

Erik ten Hag’s record per competition

All stats provided by transfermarkt.com.

The fact that Ten Hag has escaped Old Trafford with the second highest win rate out of all the post-Fergie incumbents shows just how poorly those that came before the Dutchman performed.

Ten Hag’s 56.25% win rate in all competitions is only bettered by Jose Mourinho (58.3%), who guided United to a second-place finish in 2017/18 and two pieces of silverware the season prior. Ten Hag and Mourinho are two of three managers to win trophies with the Red Devils over the past decade, with Louis van Gaal concluding his pretty dire two-year stint with FA Cup final glory over Crystal Palace in 2016.

Van Gaal’s 52.4% win rate ranks fourth out of the six managers who have overseen more than five games at the helm since 2013. David Moyes (50.9%) was chosen by Ferguson himself to take the reins following his retirement but was completely overwhelmed by the task at hand and failed to see out his debut campaign. The Scotsman has since rebuilt his reputation in a big way following a hugely successful second spell at West Ham.

The same goes for the worst Manchester United manager post-Fergie: Ralf Rangnick. The club had grand plans for the German, whom they wanted to move into a consultancy role from the start of the 2022/23 season, but Rangnick’s interim spell in charge during the second half of 2021/22 was so dire that an alternate direction was taken. Gegenpressing’s godfather then took the Austria job and is largely responsible for rejuvenating the humble Central Europeans as a footballing force.

No post-Fergie Man Utd boss has overseen more games than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (168), who got the permanent job off the back of an excellent interim spell in the aftermath of Mourinho’s departure at the end of 2018. The Norwegian lacked managerial experience at the highest level, although he did enjoy two spells with Molde, but his exuberance contrasted Mourinho’s melancholy by the end of his reign and the players responded to the former super sub.

Early promise did eventually fade and he failed to win any silverware during his three-year stay, but he did guide the club to back-to-back top four finishes and a second-place berth in 2020/21.

READ THE LATEST MAN UTD NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP