With Mourinho, Solskjaer and Ten Hag sacked in one week, what remains of their Manchester United legacy?

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On August 28, Besiktas decided to part ways with their head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following their elimination from the Conference League at the play-off stage. A day later, Fenerbahce dismissed Jose Mourinho, in part due to the defeat to Benfica in the Champions League play-offs. Two days after that, Bayer Leverkusen sacked Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman had only been in place for three competitive matches.

So, in the space of a week, three former Manchester United managers were dismissed from their jobs. All the while, speculation swirled around Ruben Amorim’s position as the current head coach.

To be a United manager is to become one of the most scrutinised people in world football. The 12 years following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement have seen six permanent managers/head coaches and one interim attempt to secure long-term success in one of the sport’s most challenging roles.

But does hindsight — and the recent trials of Amorim — allow us to view Mourinho, Solskjaer and Ten Hag’s time at Old Trafford differently?

Jose Mourinho: May 2016 — December 2018

What happened?

Mourinho’s arrival at United was a response to some of the criticisms directed at his predecessor, Louis van Gaal. The Portuguese manager had been bruised by his dismissals at Real Madrid and his second stint at Chelsea, but there was hope that he had the correct blend of tactical acumen and ego for the job.

In 2016, Mourinho was viewed as the closest modern-day analogue to Ferguson in world football. While his three years in Spain yielded just one La Liga title, he was deemed one of the few managers who could match Pep Guardiola’s tactical tinkerings. As a result, the 2016-17 Premier League season was sold as a box-office event: United and Mourinho in the red corner, Guardiola and City in the blue. The two managers were supposed to have multiple title races against each other for years.

Why were they sacked?

Mourinho’s first season at United was his most successful, marked by winning the Community Shield, League Cup, and Europa League. However, he found it hard to close the gap on Guardiola’s City, and much of his time at United would be dominated by a strange cold war with Paul Pogba. The more time went on, the more Mourinho grew visibly frustrated with his role at United. Over time, he talked more about his successes at other clubs rather than how he sought to bring further success to Old Trafford.

The relationship between Mourinho and Pogba was loaded with friction (Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images)

The best way to sum up his time as United manager is his decision to live in a luxury suite at The Lowry Hotel, rather than a more permanent home in the area. When he was later asked about his choice of abode, Mourinho said he would have been unhappy living in a house by himself, explaining: “I would have to clean, I don’t want (to do that). I would have to iron, but I don’t know how to. I would have to cook, so I would cook fried eggs and sausages. That’s the only thing I can do.”

One of the world’s greatest-ever managers, who didn’t want to clean up after himself.

What has happened to them after their time at Old Trafford?

There are three pronounced phases to Mourinho’s time in charge of a club.

There’s an initial period of success where he develops an “us against the world” relationship with his players and the fanbase. There’s a “we special few” phase where his most trusted lieutenants and most diehard fans power through. Then there is a final “Mourinho against the world” phase, which often sees him publicly criticising referees, questioning the attitude of his injured players, and asking for more backing with transfers.

Tottenham Hotspur, Roma, and now Fenerbahce have experienced these phases in some shape or form. Mourinho’s stint in Rome yielded his most recent successes, winning the 2022 Conference League and getting to the 2023 Europa League Final.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: December 2018 — November 2021

What happened at United?

Solskjaer brought the feel-good factor back to Old Trafford after the dour final months of Mourinho. First hired on an interim basis, he won six out of his first seven matches in charge and looked to have rejuvenated the likes of Pogba and Anthony Martial.

Senior executives at the club initially envisioned hiring a director of football and a new permanent manager at the end of the 2018-19 season, but such was Solskjaer’s strength of connection with the fans and his players, he became the standout candidate. His side’s 3-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in March 2019 made for a bit of modern footballing folklore, and he was permanently given the managerial position a few weeks later.

United’s late win over PSG in 2019 was the high point of Solskjaer’s reign (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Solskjaer was the first former United player to become manager since Wilf McGuinness in 1969. It was hoped his working knowledge of the club’s glory days would see him bring back some of the old winning methods and processes from Ferguson’s time.

It nearly worked: Solskjaer was the first post-Ferguson manager to finish in the Champions League places in back-to-back seasons, and he reached League Cup and FA Cup semi-finals on his journey for silverware.

Why were they sacked?

Defeat on penalties in the 2021 Europa League final to Villarreal caused a ripple effect on Solskjaer’s tenure. The manager was said to have been broken by the loss, and understandably wanted new additions to his squad ahead of the 2021-22 season. Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane arrived at different points that summer before United made the shock deadline-day signing of Cristiano Ronaldo. The returning club legend was meant to be the goalscoring game-changer for Solskjaer’s squad. Unfortunately, it exacerbated pre-existing tactical issues that his coaching staff were unable to solve.

“‘How are we going to defend ourselves?’ That’s the first thing he (assistant manager Kieran McKenna) says,” recalled Solskjaer of Ronaldo’s signing to Norwegian outlet NRK. “It was probably a wrong choice for all of us. But we felt it was the right decision then and there.”

An injury to Varane saw him miss out on a critical set of fixtures for Solskjaer in the autumn, and his team entered a troubling run of form that saw him dismissed following a 4-1 defeat to Watford.

Solskjaer following United’s critical 4-1 defeat to Watford in November 2021 (Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

What has happened to them after their time at Old Trafford?

Solskjaer spent more than three years out of the managerial spotlight before taking the Besiktas coaching role in January 2025. He led the Turkish club to a fourth-place finish to close the campaign before his dismissal late last month.

History will be kind to Solskjaer’s time at United, as more fans and commentators — this writer included — come to appreciate the work he did to improve the club’s standards rather than focus on difficulties pushing past the Liverpool-City duopoly at the Premier League’s ceiling.

“Man-management is my passion,” said the Norwegian to Sky Sports in April 2021. “I’ve got other skills, of course, but you’ve got to look at what other people can bring to the table that you can’t. For me, to get the best out of every single player, by hook or by crook, by praise or by stick, that’s an art and a science.”

Might Solskjaer have had greater success if United had been able to provide him with greater talents?

Erik ten Hag: May 2022 — October 2024

What happened at United?

The most recent managerial stint needs the shortest recap. Ten Hag, as he repeatedly reminded people in summer 2024, won two trophies in two years in charge of United. The 2023 League Cup win broke a six-year trophy drought at the club, and the 2024 FA Cup win over Guardiola’s City likely earned him a stay of execution after a dismal eighth-place league finish.

Ten Hag and Mourinho embrace ahead of United’s Europa League match against Fenerbahce last October (Ozan Kose)

Why were they sacked?

Ten Hag won silverware at a football club that defines itself by its ability to win silverware. He also authorised an £86million spend on a right-winger who had struggled to use his right foot, lost 7-0 to Liverpool, and had struggled to adequately explain what he wanted from his players.

When Ten Hag first arrived at United, there was plenty of talk around his brilliant Ajax team of 2018-19, which reached the Champions League semi-final and beat Real Madrid and Juventus on the way. In hindsight, we could have asked stronger questions of a coach who let a 3-0 aggregate lead slip to a Tottenham team who were without Harry Kane.

Ten Hag’s first season at United yielded silverware and a third-place league finish, but also had bouts of concerning away form, with tactical weaknesses that would eventually spread and critically undermine his plans for the future.

What has happened to them after their time at Old Trafford?

Two months, one competitive win, one draw and one defeat in charge of Leverkusen. The dust is yet to settle around his quick dismissal, with the coach releasing a statement via his agency SEG Football saying he never felt the full backing from his latest employer.

Leverkusen’s managing director for sport, Simon Rolfes, explained the club’s decision was made after coming to the conclusion “building a new and successful team with this setup is not feasible.”

Expect this story to run and run over the following weeks.

Why the shadow of Ferguson remains

When David Moyes was dismissed in April 2014, the common thinking was that he was out of his depth at United, and the club needed a manager with more experience at an elite club. When Van Gaal was dismissed in 2016 after winning the FA Cup, the conversation centred on him being yesterday’s man.

Moyes was labelled the ‘Chosen One’ following the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013 (John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)

United needed someone who’d be sharp to what was needed in the current day. The United dressing room was said to be toxic and fractured when Mourinho departed, with Solskjaer would be the man to repair it. The most common critique of Solskjaer regarded his tactics. And Ten Hag’s training ground shrewdness was meant to correct that.

But Ten Hag was deemed a bad communicator. Amorim has been clearer and more consistent in explaining his tactical ideas and vision for the future.

Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  United’s decade-plus of footballing dysfunction owes a partial debt to hiring processes that can make sense in the moment, but leave head coaches overexposed. This pattern was expertly observed by Amorim during his first press conference. If he is one day replaced at Old Trafford, the pattern suggests he’ll be followed by someone with Premier League experience, who plays in a back four but doesn’t mind using a variety of formations.

Would any of the newly dismissed trio have performed better if they had been given more time in charge of United? Perhaps. One of the more troubling root issues with the club manifests in how the Glazers — and now INEOS — make frequent attempts to allow their head coach/manager to operate in a role similar to Ferguson, without giving the managerial figure the proper structure and consistent provisions to perform at their best.

It could be argued that this trio of managers followed each other at United because their strengths answered the previous manager’s weaknesses. However, United as a club struggle to minimise the weaknesses of its manager when they are in situ.

The United job is one of the hardest jobs in world football. Mourinho, Solskjaer and Ten Hag all embraced the challenge, to varying degrees of success.

(Top photo: Solskjaer and Mourinho on the touchline in 2019; Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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