Sport
Man Utd job has become the toughest in football with Erik ten Hag the latest hyped-up boss to flop at Old Trafford
MANCHESTER UNITED is now the toughest job in football after Erik ten Hag became their latest big-name casualty.
The Dutchman was dismissed after just more than two seasons following Sunday’s disastrous defeat at West Ham.
Ten Hag, who led the club to success in the Carabao and FA Cups, had won just four of his 14 games at the helm this term.
And with United also struggling to impress in Europe, Sir Jim Ratcliffe felt the time was right to wield the axe for real change.
Ruud van Nistelrooy is now interim boss at Old Trafford.
While the likes of Gareth Southgate and Xavi Hernandez have been tipped as candidates for the role.
But Ten Hag is not the first hyped-up manager to fail at United.
Following Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit in 2013, the Red Devils have now worked their way through SIX big-name bosses.
The first to follow in Fergie’s steps was David Moyes, who was widely heralded as his ideal successor after 11 years at Everton.
However, the Scot lasted just 10 months into his six-year deal as United missed out on Champions League football for the first time since 1995.
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Next up was Dutch master Louis van Gaal, once a top name in European dugouts.
He led United to FA Cup glory in his second season but was immediately sacked after the final due to his dull style and fifth-place finish in the league.
Jose Mourinho then took charge before bagging a Carabao Cup and Europa League double, as well as second spot in the table.
Yet his abrasive style led to clashes with stars like Paul Pogba, and the Special One was given his marching orders after two-and-a-half seasons.
A softer approach with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was then favoured, with the former United striker initially getting off to a flyer.
But with results souring following a Europa League final defeat to Sevilla, Solskjaer received the boot after three years.
All Manchester United bosses since Sir Alex Ferguson
- David Moyes (June 2013-April 2014): P51 W27 D9 L15, 0 Trophies
- Louis van Gaal (May 2014-May 2016): P103 W54 D25 L24, 1 Trophy
- Jose Mourinho (May 2016-Dec 2018): P144 W84 D32 L28, 2 Trophies
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Dec 2018-Nov 2021): P168 W91 D37 L40, 0 Trophies
- Ralf Rangnick (Dec 2021-May 2022): P29 W11 D10 L8, 0 Trophies
- Erik ten Hag (July 2022-Oct 2024): P128 W70 D23 L35, 2 Trophies
Ralf Rangnick was quickly drafted in as interim boss with the view to a permanent consultancy role.
Yet his tenure resulted in just 11 wins, leading him to reject his future position and become Austria boss.
It now remains to be seen who comes in for Ten Hag, with Van Nistelrooy in the dugout for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Leicester.
There is also the small matter of the weekend league clash against a resurgent Chelsea.
But the Premier League title winner has had some managerial experience in his homeland with PSV Eindhoven.
And should Van Nistelrooy enjoy some success as interim, he could yet end up getting the gig on a full-time basis.
Why NOBODY is the right man to replace Erik ten Hag at Man Utd
SunSport’s DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag’s time at Man Utd is up… and explains what’s wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.
And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.
If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.
The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.
He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.
None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.
Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.
And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.
Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.
Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.
Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.
Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.
Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would also have been a popular and gettable option – but England got in there first.
Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.
Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.
Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.
Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.
So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.
Sport
Ballon d’Or 2024: Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe share top scorer award
Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe won the Ballon d’Or’s Gerd Muller award for scoring the most goals in Europe, though Real Madrid forward Mbappe did not attend the ceremony in Paris.
England captain Kane, who joined Bayern Munich from Tottenham last summer, scored 44 goals in 45 competitive games in his first season with the German club.
Mbappe netted 44 goals in 48 appearances in his final season with Paris St-Germain.
The France forward was not at the ceremony at Paris’ Theatre du Chatelet along with the rest of his Real Madrid representatives.
According to AFP and several Spanish news outlets, Real Madrid cancelled plans to attend after hearing that Vinicius Junior would not win the men’s award.
The European champions told AFP that its delegation would not go “where it is not respected” after learning Vinicius, favourite to win the award, would not be crowned the world’s best male player.
“Thank you to my club Bayern Munich, all my staff, teammates, for helping me score all the goals I scored,” Kane said.
“It’s an honour to take this award from a club legend [Karl-Heinz Rummenigge]. It was a new chapter for me. Going to Germany, taking my family with me was a new experience, I didn’t know what to expect.
“To get off to the start I did, credit to my teammates. I went along for the ride and we had a good season.”
When ceremony co-host Didier Drogba asked Kane what area of his game he would like to improve, the England captain replied: “My speed. Although age might be catching up with me.”
Sport
Ballon d’Or 2024 LIVE RESULTS: Rodri crowned winner as Real Madrid BOYCOTT show after Vinicius Jr SNUB – latest updates
Ballon d’Or
It is now time for the Lev Yashin award.
Lautaro Martinez will be presenting the award, why?
No goalkeeping legends available for the Ballon d’Or? Not all of them played for Real Madrid…
Ballon d’Or
England captain Harry Kane and Real Madrid superstar Kylian Mbappe win the Gerd Muller trophy.
They both scored 52 goals apiece last season, but only one of them will be accepting the award on stage.
Mbappe is not there as there is absolutely no representative from Real tonight.
Los Blancos are boycotting this year’s award ceremony as they understand Vinicius Jr won’t be winning the award.
Ballon d’Or
The legendary Franz Beckenbauer is being honoured after his passing last January.
Beckenbauer’s wife, son and long-time friend Karl-Heinz Rummenigge take to the stage.
Best Men’s Football Clup
Real Madrid win the award for Best Men’s Football Club!
No surprise there…
Football
Ballon d’Or 2024: Carlo Ancelotti and Emma Hayes win Coach of the Year awards
Carlo Ancelotti and Emma Hayes have won the inaugural Johan Cruyff Awards, given to the best coaches in the men’s and women’s games at the 2024 Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Ancelotti guided Real Madrid to a record-extending 15th Champions League crown last season as well as the La Liga title.
Hayes guided Chelsea to a fifth consecutive Women’s Super League (WSL) title last season, as well as the final of the Women’s League Cup and the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League and Women’s FA Cup.
At the end of last season Hayes left Chelsea to become head coach of the United States Women’s National Team.
Neither were in Paris to collect their awards as Hayes is in the United States before a game against Argentina, and Real Madrid did not send any representatives the ceremony.
More to follow.
Sport
Women’s Ballon d’Or 2024: Aitana Bonmati wins award for second successive year
Spain and Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati has won the women’s Ballon d’Or for the second year in a row.
Bonmati won every possible trophy at club level last season as Barcelona secured a historic quadruple – winning Liga F, the Champions League, Supercopa and Copa de la Reina.
The 26-year-old scored a career-best tally of 19 goals across all four competitions.
Bonmati also spearheaded Spain’s charge to the inaugural Women’s Nations League title in February with four goals, including one in their 2-0 win over France in the final.
England’s Lauren James achieved a 13th-place finish, while her Lionesses team-mates Lucy Bronze and Lauren Hemp finished 20th and 28th in the voting, respectively.
Emma Hayes became the first winner of the women’s coach of the year award after leading Chelsea to a fifth straight Women’s Super League title before guiding the United States to Olympic gold at Paris 2024.
MMA
Aljamain Sterling likes his chances against Ilia Topuria: ‘I have a great style to neutralize his offense’
Aljamain Sterling likes his chances against Ilia Topuria.
This past Saturday, Topuria secured the first defense of his featherweight title, stopping former champion Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 308. Topuria is now the first person to finish Holloway with strikes and given his second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year, “El Matador” has established himself as one of the most devastating strikers in the sport currently, so much so that even his possible future opponent was impressed.
“I ain’t standing with that guy. I would never stand and trade with that guy!” Sterling said on his YouTube channel. “I saw comments from the reaction, ‘You should change weight classes.’ I thought that was so funny… I made a joke, ‘I want to go back to 135.’ [Laughs] …
“I’ll point to the ground but I’ll do my running man dance instead.”
All kidding aside, Sterling may soon be in a position to face Topuria.
Volkanovski appears to be next up for Topuria, with Diego Lopes waiting in the wings, but the former bantamweight champion faces Movsar Evloev at UFC 310 and the winner could also be in the mix for a shot at the champion. And should that happen, “The Funkmaster” believes he can give Topuria a run for his money.
“If I were to fight him, god willing, I beat Movsar and I do get the crack, I do think I have a great style to neutralize his offense,” Sterling said. “Bro, most of these guys are striking with him. I ain’t doing that, bro! I ain’t doing that. We’re sitting there looking for a takedown. I have to make it a grappling match. I’m trying to the the W, I’m not trying to get my brain and my head sent to the next dimension again. I’m cool on that.”
Sterling notably lost his UFC bantamweight when he was knocked out by Sean O’Malley last year at UFC 292. Following that loss, Sterling moved up to featherweight where he defeated Calvin Kattar in his debut.
After he left bantamweight, his longtime friend and teammate Merab Dvalishvili dethroned O’Malley to become the 135-pound champion. And for Sterling, that might be the only downside to a matchup with Topuria: making Merab choose sides.
“Merab and I are boys. Merab is also boys with Ilia, so I don’t know what that turns into,” Sterling said. “… Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that anytime soon. I’ve got one other tough opponent in front of me and then we kind of go from there.”
UFC 310 takes place on on Dec. 7 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Motorsports
Blaney in disbelief after Reddick’s mad charge to the win
The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, was seconds away from securing his place in the Championship 4 when ‘The Beast’, Tyler Reddick, ripped around the outside of his No. 12 Team Penske Ford — taking the win and leaving Blaney to deal with his bitter emotions from such a brutal loss.
“I had a good shot to win it and I didn’t have a very good last lap,” admitted Blaney. “I thought I got into three hard and the 45 [Reddick] just went in there and it stuck for him, which is really impressive. I hate to give one away there like that.”
Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing, The Beast Killer Sunrise Toyota Camry
Photo by: Gavin Baker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Setting up the final dash to the finish — Blaney managed to hold Kyle Larson back until the Hendrick Motorsports driver spun. This put Blaney in a position to aggressively defend against Chase Elliott after getting put three-wide on the restart. He successfully ran down Denny Hamlin as well, but Blaney couldn’t stop Reddick, who was running third with slightly older tires. Reddick didn’t appear to be a real threat. but in the course of a single lap, he stole the show.
As Reddick pulled alongside him, Blaney had the opportunity to get physical, but he chose not to. The 2023 Cup champ believed he could still get the run off the corner and clear the 23XI Racing driver. In truth, Reddick was already clear of him before he could possibly respond.
“I kind of thought I could slide up and be good and I sent it in there and he sent it in there miles further than me, which I cannot believe that it stuck,” admitted Blaney. “The Toyotas could do that really good all day. Their entry speed was crazy fast and it benefitted him there. It stinks. It was an up and down day and it was a shame to lose one on the last lap like that.”
“We got the lead back after losing it on the restart and just that last lap didn’t play out for us,” Blaney said. “I appreciate everybody on the 12 team for bringing a really fast race car. I had a really great shot to go to Phoenix and I still have one more chance, so we still have to look forward to that … . It is a shame. I will be thinking through it all night of what I should have done different, probably. That is just the way it goes but I am really proud of the effort and hopefully we can bring it to them next week.”
Moving forward, Blaney noted that he tries ‘not to stew over’ moments like this, regrouping and looking ahead to the next battle at Martinsville Speedway. It will be his last shot to advance into the Championship 4 and looking at the points situation, he’s going to have to win. But there is some good news: Blaney is the defending winner of that event.
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