Erik ten Hag is on the brink ahead of Man Utd’s trip to Aston VillaCredit: Rex
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Sir Alex Ferguson almost met his end at Villa ParkCredit: Alamy
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Man Utd kept faith with Fergie after the defeat, with the Scot going on to make historyCredit: Getty
Except, almost miraculously given the clamour for him to be sacked, Fergie time kicked in and he survived.
Steve Bruce, one of those who walked off to Holte End chants of “Fergie, Fergie on the dole!” believes, no matter today’s result, Ten Hag should be shown the same patience.
Now Blackpool boss, with two years in charge of Aston Villa on his CV, Bruce said: “Alex got time to turn things around and look what happened next.
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“The same should go for Ten Hag. Of course fans are desperate for success — but so were they then, too.
“United this summer decided to stick with Erik. They made their decision and should stick to it now because, as we found under Fergie, things can and do turn around. Just give the guy a bit of time.”
Whether the club listen is open to question, with Ten Hag’s side — like United were 25 years ago — wallowing in the bottom half of the table.
Thursday’s Europa League failure to hold on to a two–goal lead, with Harry Maguire grabbing an equaliser in a 3–3 draw in Porto, only underlined how lost Ten Hag’s team are.
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It came on the back of a 3–0 thumping at the hands of Spurs and the inability to beat FC Twente and Crystal Palace.
Indeed, some United fans might say Ten Hag should not even get the chance to have a quick drink before getting the boot should his side succumb to Unai Emery’s Villa.
Yet 35 years ago it was grim indeed for Ferguson as he left the place.
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Sir Alex Ferguson, 82, admits dementia fears as legendary Man Utd boss opens up on tragic death of wife Cathy
Nine managers Man Utd considered before keeping Erik ten Hag
ERIK TEN HAG appears to be safe as Man Utd manager, but the Dutchman edged dangerously close to the sack.
Here are nine managers Red Devils chiefs are reported to have considered for the job and what allegedly happened with each.
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Gareth Southgate
Enjoys plenty of support among Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos chiefs but made clear he wouldn’t talk to any clubs until after Euro 2024. There is yet to be any suggestion that contact was made with the England boss.
Kieran McKenna
Talks were opened with McKenna’s representatives before the FA Cup final, but the former Man Utd coach opted to sign a new deal with Ipswich after Ten Hag’s Wembley win.
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Roberto De Zerbi
Allegedly sounded out before the FA Cup final with salary expectations discussed. But Ineos chiefs concluded ex-Brighton boss was not the right fit for the project.
Thomas Frank
Brentford boss met Man Utd representatives the day before the FA Cup final. The Dane also dined with Ratcliffe, Roy Hodgson and Frank Lampard at the launch of a new Ineos car in February.
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Marco Silva
Fulham boss reportedly met Man Utd representatives face-to-face two days before the FA Cup final, around the same time as Ten Hag was conducting his press conference.
Mauricio Pochettino
Fell out of Man Utd’s thinking in the first week of June, despite being a favourite of Sir Alex Ferguson.
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Thomas Tuchel
Made a very strong impression and came across well during a Monaco meeting. Personal terms were discussed before the ex-Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss decided to step back from the process.
Ruben Amorim
Sporting boss was discussed by the Man Utd hierarchy but did not make the final reckoning.
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Roberto Martinez
Portugal manager was considered in the early stages.
Two weeks before that debacle there had been a shocking 2–1 home loss to Crystal Palace. And one United fan’s banner read: “Three years of excuses and it’s still c**p. Ta-ra Fergie.”
After that Villa loss, Sir Alex kept his players in the dressing room for a 40-minute hairdryer special.
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Bruce, 63, said: “What took place in that dressing room was normal at the time. The defeat came at the end of two very tough years at the club when nothing seemed to be going right.
“The fans were up in arms, the gaffer was under big pressure.
“To say things were difficult would be a real understatement. At the time there seemed no way out.”
“Three years of excuses and it’s still c**p. Ta-ra Fergie.”
United fan’s banner
Ex-England full-back Viv Anderson, 68, Ferguson’s first signing after he arrived from Aberdeen in November 1986, also played against Villa in ’89.
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He said: “The year before, we went to Hartlepool for a pre–season friendly and were 5–0 down at half-time.
“Sir Alex was trying to pull a team together, struggling like Ten Hag is now. So there were plenty of rants, yet THAT one really was a bit special.
“I remember Paul McGrath saying to him as he screamed in his face, ‘It’s OK, I’m just here, you know gaffer’.
“Well, it really kicked off then. The veins were sticking out of his neck as he went for us and, strangely enough, Paul was off to Villa the next season — and played in that 3–0.
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“Mind you, we did better in the second half against Hartlepool. We only lost that 1–0!”
Welsh midfielder Clayton Blackmore, 60, another of the Villa Park culprits, said: “I’ve a good idea how hard it is for Ten Hag and the players as there’s no hiding place at Old Trafford.
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Steve Bruce admits it felt like the walls were caving in following Villa’s wniCredit: Getty
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Viv Anderson opened up on Fergie’s famous rantsCredit: Action Images
“With Sir Alex in his first years it was always a bumpy ride. We were hit and miss, like United are now.
“For instance, before we got battered at Villa Park, we left Anfield with a 0–0 draw that everybody — including the gaffer — was pleased about.
“It’s how you handle the strain as a player, it’s not just about the manager. Sir Alex often went ballistic back then, even after we were winning.
“All we could do was keep trying to believe in ourselves. But those days were hard, just as they are for the current lot.
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“It’s how you react that counts in the end — whether you pull yourself and your team-mates together that makes or breaks you.”
Sir Alex was trying to pull a team together, struggling like Ten Hag is now. So there were plenty of rants, yet THAT one really was a bit special.
Viv Anderson
United had looked broken after that Villa Park defeat.
Ian Ormondroyd, 60, one of the stars of that victory, revealed: “Our manager, Graham Taylor, was a good motivator. And he said to us, ‘They’re struggling, they’re a poor team’.
“We felt pumped up, went out with our shoulders back and full of confidence.
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“We believed that we could beat anybody — it’s a very similar situation for Villa ahead of this game.”
That Ferguson did survive was still a close-run thing. After Villa, Alan Cork grabbed a last-minute equaliser for Wimbledon at Plough Lane to deny United in a 2–2 draw.
Then another miserable performance allowed QPR to leave Old Trafford with a goalless draw.
Red Devils fans were by now clamouring for the head of Ferguson — and chairman Martin Edwards was preparing to give it to them.
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Clayton Blackmore admits it was always a ‘bumpy ride’ under FergieCredit: Getty
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The rest is history with Sir Alex going on to win 13 titlesCredit: Getty
But 15 days after Fergie’s 40–minute dressing-room rant, Mark Robins scored to give him a 1–0 FA Cup third-round win at Nottingham Forest.
And Bruce added: “The rest, as they say, is history. We went on to win the Cup that season and everything began to change.
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“The most important thing about that period was that Sir Alex WAS given time — and the same should apply now.
“It was six years ago last Tuesday that Villa sacked me and that was a tough time, too.
“There was no money in the club. Me and some of the office staff were basically running it on our own.
“Now look at them — and I’m delighted for them. Beating Bayern Munich the other night was fantastic.
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“The way Villa are back shows how fortunes can change in this game.
“Things got a whole lot better for Sir Alex and us. They can still get better for Ten Hag, too.”
Former Villa full-back Kevin Gage remembers that Boxing Day win — and his goal — with great pride.
Ian Olney and David Platt also netted that day for the hosts.
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And Gage, 60, said: “It does seem amazing Fergie might well have been on the brink after this game and yet went on to win 13 top-flight titles.
“You could never have imagined it after this defeat.”
Taylor’s reputation was tarnished — in many ways unfairly — by his disastrous spell as England manager.
But Taylor, who sadly died in 2017, aged 72, was arguably at the peak of his powers that season before taking the Three Lions job in 1990.
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Ormondroyd said: “He got slaughtered because of the TV documentary but he was the best manager I had. Graham was just tactically brilliant.”
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.
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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.
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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.
Emery may well deliver the coup de grace to Ten Hag on Sunday — especially with Bruno Fernandes suspended and Kobbie Mainoo an injury doubt.
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.
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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.
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Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would be a popular and gettable option but, despite being a fine coach and a very engaging man, he is considered something of a loose cannon.
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.
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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.
Head coach Warren Gatland says he is trying to work out where he will fit the “best back in Wales” into his side for November’s autumn internationals.
That is what Gatland has labelled Ben Thomas, with the Cardiff centre having started at fly-half for Wales’ two summer international defeats in Australia in July.
Gatland has recalled Gloucester fly-half Gareth Anscombe, alongside fellow specialist number 10 Sam Costelow, in his 35-man squad.
Wales begin against Fiji on Sunday, 10 November at Principality Stadium, before playing Australia (17 November) and South Africa (23 November) in Cardiff.
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“I think Ben’s been the best back in Wales,” said Gatland. “You look at the way he’s been playing and some of his statistics.
“We’ve got options, that’s why we’ve got two specialist 10s in terms of Anscombe and Costelow.
“We’ve tried Ben there and he can cover us, but it’s whether we look at him as an option or in his 12 position, where he’s played exceptionally well.”
UFC 308: Make your predictions for Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 308 event in Abu Dhabi.
MMA Junkie reader predictions: Make your picks for UFC 308
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 308 event in Abu Dhabi.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).
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Those reader consensus picks will be part of the main card staff predictions we release ahead of UFC 308 (ESPN+), which takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.
According to Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, Totti also recently said: “Given the current level of Serie A, I could easily make an impact on the field.”
However, he would not entertain a move to Roma‘s rivals, Lazio.
Inside stunning future stadium of football giants that includes impressive feature that will be the largest in Europe
The Italian continued: “Lazio? I wouldn’t have even considered it.
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“I’d be ready in two to three months. I’m still playing at 48. Half an hour, twenty minutes. If I had to do something crazy, I’d do it in Italy, not abroad, but it’s crazy.
“When you turn the page you never know what awaits you. It wasn’t my choice, but in that moment it has to be experienced differently from the context.
“Maybe that’s also why I’ve had that thing inside me. It’s true that there’s a beginning and an end to everything.”
Kamaru Usman is teasing the release of his interview with Belal Muhammad, as long as the UFC champion holds up his end of the bargain.
Muhammad, on his own podcast, recently said that an appearance on Usman and Henry Cejudo’s Pound 4 Pound show went off the rails and that he “verbally broke down Usman” before Usman “tried to get physical.”
According to Usman, Muhammad was one of several guests on that episode, which was recorded in Las Vegas, and he wanted to show respect to the current welterweight titleholder by having him on. He didn’t explain exactly what Muhammad meant by his comments, but said there are plans to release the footage if Muhammad still holds the belt after he fights Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 310 on Dec. 7.
“In typical Belal fashion, of course, Belal did Belal,” Usman said on his podcast. “So the interview didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t that great of an interview anyways, it wasn’t even that long, but it went the way that it went. That was the biggest moment of his life because that’s all that he seems to want to talk about. I haven’t mentioned it all, because it wasn’t that eventful, but that’s all he seems to want to talk about all the time.
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“We hear you, fans, and we will definitely drop the interview if we get really, really low on content, I mean, why not? To be honest, it’s the biggest moment of his life, that’s why he talks about it every second. And if we do drop the interview, it will be the second-biggest moment of his life because it gives him relevance, it gives him a little bit of clout. ‘Look, I was able to maybe tangle with the champ a little bit,’ which wasn’t that eventful. But if he’s able to get through Shavkat Rakhmonov, and we run super, super low on content, why not?”
MMA Fighting’s Damon Martin recently spoke to Muhammad, who said he enjoyed meeting Usman face to face, though he didn’t reveal exactly what went down between them.
“I love anybody that I’m going to get a rise out of because you can tell he takes it personally,” Muhammad said. “He takes everything personally. You’re a champion and you lost your belt, now you’re on a losing streak, now you’ve got that guy that’s better than you, the guy that has the belt, the guy that’s in your division on top and he’s on your podcast that you invited him to.
“Some people, their egos are too big. They can’t sit there and be a professional about it. I think with him, it’s like he’s so used to going back and forth with Colby [Covington], who’s not really good at talking. He’s just stupid, he’s not clever with anything. So when you’ve got somebody that’s intelligent that can treat you and make you look dumb, it’s like, ‘Dang, he got the belt and he got me with words?’ I need to do something to change the rhythm of this whole thing.”
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Muhammad and Usman are no strangers to conflict, with Muhammad naming Usman as a potential challenger after defeating Leon Edwards for the welterweight title at UFC 304. Though Usman has lost three straight—including a pair of title fight losses to Edwards—he was a decorated champion in his own right, having successfully defended the 170-pound belt five consecutive times.
However, the UFC eventually announced that the undefeated Rakhmonov would be Muhammad’s first challenger, and it’s a matchup that has Usman intrigued—and ready to face the winner.
“It’s a tremendous fight and I guess rightfully so that’s the fight to make because Shavkat’s a new face,” Usman said. “A guy that’s 18-0, 18 finishes, and has really done the work that you need him to do with the opponents that you put in front of him. So that fight makes sense. We’ve been waiting just for an announcement, just so we can get some movement in that welterweight division and now it seems like we’re finally going to be able to get some clarity.
“As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got my eye on them. Either one of them, I’ve got my eye on them. Because at some point, either one of them is going to have to come have a conversation with me and I won’t be doing the talking. I’ll be doing the talking in a different way.”
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As far as Muhammad is concerned, he still looks forward to the possibility of fighting Usman in the future.
“I hope he does go out there and he fights one of these guys and gets a win because he is a big name in the division, he is a former champion that people look up to and think he’s one of the best to ever do it at welterweight,” Muhammad told MMA Fighting. “For sure, I love fights with build-up like that where I can go back and forth with somebody, making fun of them. There is something there, right?”
Regarding the podcast controversy, Muhammad added, “I think Usman buried it in his backyard or something like that. Somebody needs to dig it up and post it, I don’t know where they’re going with it.”
Lando Norris labelled his United States Grand Prix weekend a “momentum killer” for his Formula 1 title hopes after losing ground to Max Verstappen.
The McLaren driver had gone into the Austin event 52 points behind his Red Bull rival and well aware that, with time running out, he needed to start cutting the deficit dramatically.
But rather than continuing to close down the margin, Norris actually lost five more points after being classified behind Verstappen in both the sprint and the grand prix.
His efforts on Sunday though were not helped by a controversial five-second penalty for overtaking off the track that dropped him from third on the road ahead of Verstappen to behind his rival.
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Asked how much the weekend had impacted his title prospect, Norris said: “I mean, quite a bit. It’s a momentum killer.
“But we came in here with our mind open, not expecting to dominate or just win or anything. The fact that Ferrari was so quick showed they’re just as competitive.
“Even if I had come around Turn 1 in first, I would never have finished first or second and only could have finished third.
“The one guy I needed to beat was Max, and that’s the guy I didn’t beat. So, it was an unsuccessful weekend all in all.
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“But we gave it a good shot. I tried. It wasn’t good enough, and we have work to do, and I’ve work to do on myself.”
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
While McLaren’s form in the United States was not as good as it has been in recent race weekends, team boss Andrea Stella said he was not surprised that things were more difficult this time out.
He said that the contrast in pace, between dominating in Singapore in the last race and being on the back foot a little in Austin, was down to track characteristics.
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“Compared to Singapore here, there’s quite a lot more low-speed braking into low-speed corners, plus wind, and we know that in these conditions, not necessarily our car performs at the best.
“It is not as good as in some medium speed corners, low wind conditions, which we had in Singapore, we had in Zandvoort, and we had in Hungary.
“We know that these three venues that I’ve just mentioned do suit our car, but here I would have expected this event to be the most difficult of the remaining six events.”
Stella also thinks it important to understand that Ferrari’s dominant form in Austin was not a big shock, because analysis of recent races shows that perhaps the Italian squad had not maximised its chances before.
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“They have been quick over the previous races pretty consistently,” he added. “If anything, they have not been capable of maximising their potential.
“In Baku, Leclerc, in fairness, was definitely in condition to win the race. In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be competitive for pole position and the same in the race. So, we are not surprised that Ferrari is so close.
“I think the next circuits should be more suitable to the characteristics of our car. We also have to keep developing the car.
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“Here, we took some developments to the front of the car, but they were nothing too large in terms of potential lap time impact. We have a couple more things that are coming in the next two races, and we will see if we are in a condition to alter the competitiveness of the car.”
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