Reporting note: this article draws on Sky Sports; LodiScore provides the summary and editorial framing.
The Ten Hag interview and the promises he says were broken
Erik ten Hag had stayed silent on Manchester United for two years, since his dismissal in October 2024. In the Ten Hag interview published by The Athletic, the first of two parts, he describes a club he still says he supports and a set of commitments he believes were abandoned. He speaks of "wonderful memories" and insists he wants United to win again.
The specific grievance centres on the summer of 2024. Ten Hag had been close to losing his job before the FA Cup final against Manchester City at Wembley, with United's talks with prospective successors made public. A 2-1 win over Pep Guardiola's side reversed the decision, and two weeks later, during a holiday in Ibiza, a clause adding a year to his contract was triggered.
His condition, as he describes it, was a joint project. "I wouldn't go on with only one year left," he says, adding that the club promised loyalty, backing, communication and alignment. "But the promises, they didn't keep."
Scott McTominay and the transfer window
The clearest example Ten Hag gives is Scott McTominay, who scored 10 goals in that campaign and was sold to Napoli later in the summer for €30.5m as United raised funds for Manuel Ugarte. Ten Hag says the sale was explicitly ruled out in Ibiza. He argued that United lacked goalscorers and that McTominay carried both a scoring threat and a mentality the squad needed.
"I got, of course, very embarrassed and disappointed," he says. He did receive Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, two former Ajax players, but had only two months with them before his dismissal on 28 October 2024, the day after a 2-1 defeat at West Ham. United were 14th in the Premier League on 11 points from nine games.
Ten Hag disputes the timing. He notes United remained in every cup competition and points to two 3-0 home defeats by Liverpool and Tottenham as the poor run that skewed the picture. He also says he believed the dressing room was still with him, and that his final match was probably one of the team's best performances of the spell.
Cristiano Ronaldo and the limits of player power
On Ronaldo, Ten Hag is unusually direct. He says he flew to Portugal before taking the job to explain his plans, and that he respected a player he calls one of the best in the game's history. But he argues Ronaldo "let the team down" by not preparing himself physically.
His account includes Ronaldo pulling out of training sessions, failing to reach the required intensity when he did train, and completing two of three scheduled laps after the 4-0 defeat at Brentford in August 2022. Ten Hag says he confronted him repeatedly, and that the issue was not pressing but a base level of fitness. The Athletic put the comments to Ronaldo's representative and had not received a reply at publication.
Ten Hag extends the point to discipline more broadly, naming Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford among cases where he felt unsupported in sanctions. He argues that inconsistency "fuels" a culture in which players hold power. United's position, as reported, is that behaviour in the squad did improve and that Ruben Amorim was backed by the hierarchy in moving players on.
The takeover, the structure and what comes next
Ten Hag describes Sir Jim Ratcliffe's investment, announced on 24 December 2023, as a source of "noise, uncertainty and disruptions". He lists the arrivals — Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth, Christopher Vivell, Jason Wilcox — and says he was never told how the new structure would affect his role, despite raising it after an early meeting at Carrington.
He also defends Michael Carrick, the current manager, arguing that dismissal "is not the solution". Ten Hag's reasoning is that emotional demands from supporters must give way to rational decisions, and that Carrick showed good coaching ability at Middlesbrough and last season.
The interview is less a verdict on his own record than a case about governance and time. Part two, published on Wednesday, covers his offer to help United's data department, the development of Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, and why Sevilla marked a turning point in his reign. The open question is whether the club responds, and whether any of this changes how the current regime is judged.
The original report is by skysports.com.
