Erik ten Hag sacked by Manchester United: news and reaction – live

Nicholas Ridgman gets in touch: “Of all the post-Fergie management faragos, this is the hardest to understand.

“To finish third, 14pts of the top, with a trophy, in his first season, was a pretty impressive achievement. This was largely with a squad he inherited. Then the more of his preferred players came in, the more incomprehensible the tactics became.

“What’s also odd is the general togetherness of the squad seems fine. None of the poor body language / dressing-room leaks we saw in other managers’ endgames. How did he seemingly manage to keep this unity while utterly tanking the team’s fortunes?”

Rio Ferdinand, a backer of Ole Gunnar Solksjær you may recall, has his man already.

OK, here’s the first runner and rider to shake off the list.

Not sure he’d be a popular candidate.

All eyes on Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The big decision is made, now for an even bigger decision.

Though was it Big Sir Jim’s call?

Should Ten Hag have been sacked despite this famous victory? Hindsight suggests it absolutely should have done.

At Wembley that day:

Asked if he thinks he’s been treated unfairly by the media, Ten Hag said to Gary Lineker: “I think so, the team as well. It was not right.”

Alan Shearer interjected to say that United have rarely been as good as they were today and often deserved whatever criticism came their way. “You are right but we didn’t have the players,” came the riposte. “It was not always good football, definitely not, but if you don’t have the players you can’t play the football you want to play.”

Was it his last game in charge of United? “I don’t know,” he said. “The only thing I am doing is training my team, preparing my team, developing my team because this is for me a project. When I came in, I can say it was a mess and we are now better but we are by far not where we want to be.”

The United brains trust kept him on, and spent even more money. A fateful decision.

Complaints made in vain after that defeat at West Ham. It probably wasn’t a penalty but then again, Ten Hag was not much of a Manchester United manager.

It seems quite a while already since the “bald is best” campaign.

Will Unwin has the story so far.

Here’s that official club statement: short but sweet. Seen shorter.

Erik ten Hag has left his role as Manchester United men’s first-team manager.

Erik was appointed in April 2022 and led the club to two domestic trophies, winning the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024.

We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will take charge of the team as interim head coach, supported by the current coaching team, whilst a permanent head coach is recruited.

Well, it wasn’t a shock, was it? It had been coming. Even if VAR delivered the felling blow at West Ham, Ten Hag has been on a sticky wicket from the start of the season. He departs as a League Cup winner, an FA Cup winner but he becomes the sixth manager since Sir Alex Ferguson, if you include Ralf Rangnick.

What next? Ruud van Nistelrooy is the caretaker, and has looked likely to fulfil that role since he arrived in the summer as assistant coach. The Ineos regime has taken down its first manager, to follow the many staff who have departed the club.

Right, a day ahead of reaction and further news. Join us.