Jadon Sancho strains Eric ten Hag's patience — Sir Alex Ferguson learned early on how to deal with Manchester United players who won't bend to their will Photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
The problems that Sir Alex Ferguson had at Manchester United since late 1986 have come to be seen as the great internal struggle that created the man, and now as problems. Prepare for Eric ten Hag to have echoes of those battles from years ago.
Ten Hag has never had to deal with two of his most famous players who gave TV interviews while drunk, as happened with Paul McGrath and Norman Whiteside in January 1989, although these issues are equally public. The idea that United are masters of dealing with difficult issues within the club was largely inspired by Ferguson's two decades of dominance since his first Premier League title in 1993. Up to this point, chaos could reign.
McGrath and Whiteside were his first rebels, but he didn't move them forward nearly three years after his time at United. Although in 1989 there was no social networking site that could offer offended football players a platform for revenge, there has always been News of the World. Ferguson sympathized with McGrath and his problems, though he never forgot the «bitterness» the player showed in an interview with the Sunday tabloid after his departure.
Gordon Strachan decided to leave. Bryan Robson could not be persuaded to completely give up drinking. Ferguson struggled with a rebellious dressing room during his three years at United, and possibly longer.
You could say it was then that Ferguson learned how to manage a United-sized club. Even his greatest predecessor, Sir Matt Busby, struggled in his final years as George Best's inexplicable absences dominated the news agenda. You could say that at Old Trafford it's a kind of rite of passage for great managers — if that's how Ten Hag is supposed to be.
Not much consolation for Ten Hag as we come to the end of day two of the Jadon Sancho saga and his pinned post on Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, continues to be one in which he accuses his manager of not tells the truth. The manager's problems of the 1980s were played out in pub gardens and occasionally on local television. The personal arguments of the modern manager are sent around the world in the blink of an eye, although the task is the same. This is where he should win.
As with Cristiano Ronaldo and, to a lesser extent, Marcus Rashford, in that missed team match, Ten Hag will have to win this battle with Sancho — and it looks like she won. As resentful as Sancho is, no coach can allow a player to gain leverage by being open about his problems. Otherwise, dissenters simply hide everywhere, which is a testament to the benefits of challenging the manager's authority.
Ten Hag rightfully wonders if Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp faced the same problems when they took over their Premier League giants. This was not the case, and whatever uprisings started, they were mostly kept secret. Both had experienced technical directors who had already begun to shape the club before the arrival of the coach. For comparison: Ten Hag arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm.
In the case of Mason Greenwood, he can rightly claim some distance — he was a player who never played under a new coach. Anthony's current problems are a bit more complicated given that he was selected by Ten Hag when United signed the Brazilian a year ago, as a known number for his manager. How United finally paid so much money for a player with one strong foot and no noticeable change in pace is a question for another day.
Last season, Ten Hag showed a high level of competence to bring about a change in what is happening. turned into a toxic club. What comes next is just as difficult. He can't play the same notes every season and expect the same effect on performance. There is another stage of ascent, and it requires a different approach. At the same time, he can expect the same level of hostility from those he leaves behind.
By the late 1980s, Ferguson was limping. Three of his best youth team players had their careers cut short due to injury or illness. He was outwitted by Terry Venables when signing a contract with Paul Gascoigne. He was so angry at the decision not to sign John Barnes in 1987 that he fired his chief scout. Brian Clough didn't even answer Stuart Pierce's calls. Newcastle turned down his £3m bid for Peter Beardsley before selling him to Liverpool for £1.9m.
For the Scot who was easily paranoid, that was enough to convince Ferguson that the world is against him. However, it can be said that he has gained valuable experience.
As Ten Hag's problems escalate, he may want to consider that the same thing often happens to United managers. The club often felt invincible. In Ferguson's last two decades, he's learned how to edge out players like David Beckham and Roy Keane, and how to appease Wayne Rooney by making it look like a manager's win. This requires experience and, of course, a successful track record.
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