Back in 1987/88, Manchester United had a good year in Alex Ferguson’s first full season in charge. They club finished second in the old First Division, nine points behind Liverpool.
At the time, the club had been in a rut, and were struggling to live up to expectations following the retirement of Sir Matt Busby 16 years before.
The early days of Fergie’s reign looked like a new, exciting era was on the horizon, and a first league title since the late 1960s was on the horizon.
The following, Fergie’s second full season at the helm, was not so good. United struggled for results as poop had hit the fan. In the end, they could only manage 11th place.
Fans were not happy, and there were calls for Ferguson to get the boot. Fortunately, the board resisted those calls, and the Scot got another year. The following year was even worse as they finished 13th. Again, the club resisted calls to end Ferguson’s reign.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Fast forward to 2022/23. Manchester United finished Erik ten Hag’s first season in charge strongly as they secured third place in the Premier League behind Manchester City and Arsenal.
Like Ferguson’s first season in charge, it looked like United were back. They weren’t. Ten Hag’s second season, which finished on Sunday, was horrible.
The club had bad result, after bad result, after bad result and limped to an eighth place finish, their lowest in the Premier League era. Naturally, so called fans on social media want the Dutchman to be sacked.
But can you imagine what the game would look like today if Ferguson was sacked after a poor second, or even third season? The club’s Premier League dominance might not have happened as it did. There would be no Treble in 1999, Cristiano Ronaldo would not have become the player he did.
This is not to suggest Ten Hag is the next Alex Ferguson, but it would be unwise to pull the plug on his reign when there were signs that he knows what he is doing.
The 2023/24 season was bad, but there have been reasons why the club failed to reach the heights of the previous campaign.
Other clubs have struggled with injuries, but not to the extent of United. Not once during the season did Ten Hag have all four of his first choice defenders available at the same time. Give the man a break and judge him when he has a full squad available.
Ending Ten Hag’s tenure will only set the club back a few years, and all the positives from the last two seasons.
Looking at the history books again, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta needed time to get going. Why then does everyone expect Ten Hag to get it right so soon?
Klopp, whose Liverpool finished in the top two just three times in his nine years in charge, didn’t really get going until his fourth season. United should take lessons from that.
IOL Sport
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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