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’…
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