Erik the red is the wheel deal
BOSS DRIVER IN FOR LONG HAUL
DON’T expect Erik ten Hag to revel in his own success tonight should he win his first silverware as Manchester United boss.
If someone deserves to celebrate it is Ten Hag, because landing the Carabao Cup in his first season in one of the most demanding jobs in football would or could prove to be a watershed moment.
But dancing on the famous Wembley turf swigging from a bottle of champagne just isn’t in his makeup. Quite the opposite, in fact. Earlier this week a laughable tale emerged from United’s opponents this afternoon Newcastle, which stated the club would not hold an open-top bus parade if Eddie Howe’s men lost the final. What?
That’s a bit like saying I won’t go down the pub to have a few pints this weekend if I fail to win the Euro Millions jackpot.
Now we all know how starved of success Newcastle have been down the decades, but finishing second is nothing to be celebrated in elite sport.
Nobody remembers a runner-up in football.
Newcastle will hit the Toon on Tuesday, apparently, should Howe’s heroes return with the trophy. Fair enough.
But the notion that Ten Hag and his United squad would do the same thing around the streets of Manchester was met with derision when the idea was put to the club. A United spokesman said: “Come the final whistle on Sunday, no matter what the result, Erik’s focus will immediately switch to preparing for the visit of West Ham in the FA Cup next week. He will just move on. Because he wants to win that competition as well.”
Anecdotes like this one are what have made English football sit up and realise that after almost a decade of trying, United are finally in safe managerial hands when it comes to the dedicated Dutchman. Not to mention the thumping Europa League win over Barcelona.
Remember when Ten Hag had become a figure of fun after opening his account with two league defeats to Brighton and Brentford?
No, me neither, because it now feels like a lifetime ago.
But for the record, Ten Hag was mocked and renamed ‘Ten Months’ – a direct reference to how long David Moyes lasted at Old Trafford after becoming Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor in 2013.
Since August, Ten Hag has stamped such an indelible impression on his team that United remain the only one in Europe’s top five leagues still capable of winning a Quadruple.
He hasn’t shirked tough decisions. He’s introduced an identity, discipline, work rate and attitude that didn’t exist before – while signing the right players for the right positions to transform a group of serial underachievers into potential serial winners. And he doesn’t need to stand on the top deck of the bus to crow about it.
In the build-up to the season’s first showpiece game, Ten Hag shared dinner with Fergie because he wanted to pick the brains of someone who turned winning into an art form.
And 48 hours later he had dinner with Robin van Persie at the club’s Carrington training ground. Not because the duo happen to share the same agent, but because Ten Hag wanted to speak with someone else who knew a thing or two about winning.
That’s the thing about Ten Hag, he’s obsessive to the point of it being an illness.
And once he starts winning at United – which he will – then he won’t want to stop, so the rest of the Premier League have been warned.