Erik ten Hag reached a significant milestone as Manchester United manager at the end of Sunday’s fairly comprehensive 3-0 Premier League victory over West Ham United at Old Trafford – his 50th home game in his 95th overall since being appointed boss in May 2022.
It hasn’t been plain sailing for Ten Hag, tasked with restoring the glory days for United but in the midst of an ongoing squad rebuild and now major changes at the very top of the club.
The Dutchman still delivered in 2023 United’s first trophy in six years and showed signs of overseeing development on the disastrous previous campaign in which Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked and interim Ralf Rangnick spoke damningly about “open heart surgery” required on the squad.
The first half of 2023/24 appeared to be a step back on the surface due to an alarming number of losses across all competitions – including early elimination from a favourable Champions League group. But a considerable number of injuries didn’t help matters, with results and performances clearly improved once key players began returning to fitness.
Ten Hag’s influence, with his past record of developing young talent a key selling point, on the likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo has also been clear to see.
United in 2024 are still very much a work in progress. Even so, at this juncture, Ten Hag actually has the best win percentage of any manager in the club’s storied 146-year history. The Dutchman has won 60% of his 95 matches to date, putting him marginally ahead of club legend Sir Alex Ferguson (59.67%), although the latter obviously draws from a way larger sample size of 1,500 games.
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Such is the benchmark for success in the 21st century, every United manager since Ferguson, despite the club’s general decline in competitiveness, has won more than half of their games in charge. Jose Mourinho, who arguably came closest to restoring the United to genuine challengers for major honours, is third on the all-time list, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, David Moyes and Louis van Gaal all in the top seven alongside Edwardian era boss Ernest Mangnall.
Mangnall was at United when the term ‘manager’ wasn’t generally used – instead, those in charge of held the job title of club secretary. He took the team into the top flight for the only second time ever in 1906 and two years later delivered a maiden First Division, followed the next season by a first FA Cup and then another league championship two years after that.
United struggled in the wake of Mangnall’s 1912 departure and, with league football initially continuing after the outbreak of the First World War until being halted in 1915, John Robson, in charge from 1914 until 1921, has the dubious honour of recording the lowest win percentage (29.5%) of any permanent boss. Robson was the club’s first full-time manager, rather than an overarching secretary, and his reign, which lasted seven years but only took in just over three seasons due to the conflict across Europe, ended primarily as a result of ill health. Due to ongoing poor results, United did suffer a first relegation since 1894 just months later. Robson, by that point, had already died.
Sir Matt Busby had a reign almost as long as Ferguson, coming in at 25 years over two spells. His win percentage just tops 50%, having built United up from a struggling side that had almost gone out of business (for the second time) shortly before the Second World War, and again in the aftermath of the tragedy that was the Munich air disaster. English football was also much more competitive in those days and Busby experienced a lull when dismantling his first great team in the early 1950s to make way for the iconic ‘Babes’ and again after European Cup glory in 1968. But his legacy is of course far greater than a win percentage alone as the architect of the modern Manchester United.
In terms of trophies, Ten Hag’s United tenure is only in its infancy. But, as far as winning games alone is concerns, he’s actually done a better job than most are prepared to give him credit for.
|
Manager |
Reign |
Games |
Win % |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Erik ten Hag |
2022 – present |
95 |
60% |
|
Sir Alex Ferguson |
1986 – 2013 |
1,500 |
59.67% |
|
Jose Mourinho |
2016 – 2018 |
144 |
58.33% |
|
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer |
2018 – 2021 |
168 |
54.17% |
|
Ernest Mangnall |
1903 – 1912 |
373 |
54.16% |
|
David Moyes |
2013 – 2014 |
51 |
52.94% |
|
Louis van Gaal |
2014 – 2016 |
103 |
52.43% |
|
Sir Matt Busby |
1945 – 1969; 1970 – 1971 |
1,141 |
50.48% |
|
Ron Atkinson |
1981 – 1986 |
292 |
50% |
|
Tommy Docherty |
1972 – 1977 |
228 |
46.93% |
|
A.H. Albut |
1889 – 1900 |
351 |
44.44% |
|
John Bentley |
1912 – 1914 |
82 |
43.9% |
|
James West |
1900 – 1903 |
113 |
40.71% |
|
Dave Sexton |
1977 – 1981 |
201 |
40.3% |
|
Walter Crickmer |
1931 – 1932; 1937 – 1945 |
119 |
39.5% |
|
Scott Duncan |
1932 – 1937 |
235 |
39.15% |
|
John Chapman |
1921 – 1926 |
221 |
38.91% |
|
Frank O’Farrell |
1971 – 1972 |
81 |
37.04% |
|
Wilf McGuinness |
1969 – 1970 |
87 |
36.78% |
|
Herbert Bamlett |
1927 – 1931 |
183 |
31.15% |
|
Clarence Hilditch |
1926 – 1927 |
33 |
30.3% |
|
John Robson |
1914 – 1921 |
139 |
29.5% |
Not including interim or caretaker appointments; accurate as of 8 February 2024
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