’s interview with former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, now the technical director of FC Twente in the Netherlands By Laurie Whitwell, The Athletic Wednesday 21 October 2026 08:37, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Following the first of a two-part interview with The Athletic, journalist Laurie Whitwell explains Erik ten Hag’s concerns about his relationship with Manchester United after the Dutchman’s time in charge at Old Trafford came to an end in 2024 Soon after, he pulls up in a silver Range Rover and gets out to exchange a handshake. He has finished a day’s work at FC Twente’s stadium, De Grolsch Veste, where he is technical director. A short while later, he is driving us through picturesque Dutch countryside on the way to Ros van Twente, the hotel he co-owns with his brothers, Michel and Rico, and John Berghaan and Anita Stappenbeld, who run it. “They got married two weeks ago as a surprise,” says Ten Hag, grinning.
Read The Athletic with Sky VIP Ad Content: Sky Sports customers can get a complimentary 12-month subscription to The Athletic, the chance to win sports tickets and much more through Sky Sports Rewards. T&Cs and eligibility details apply. Two years on from the end of his time in charge of Manchester United, Ten Hag is in a relaxed mood. As we weave through the flat fields, he provides a history of the place.
“The Germans were here in the Second World War, but also the English and Americans afterwards – they lived here on the base of the military airport,” he says.Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle comes out of the speakers as his car stereo goes through a 1980s playlist. “In this period it was real music; now everything is computer,” he adds. He moves on to a devastating event in the year 2000 that affected him while playing for FC Twente. A fireworks depot that supplied pop concerts exploded, killing 23 people, including four firefighters, injuring 950, and destroying 400 homes.
Ten Hag says it was lucky the blast didn’t hit the propane drums at the Grolsch brewing factory on the outskirts of town; otherwise, the damage would have been even more severe. Ten Hag on broken promises, wanting Kane and Ronaldo tensionMan Utd news & transfers🔴 | FREE Man Utd highlights▶️Got Sky? Watch Premier League games LIVE on your phone📱Not got Sky? Latest Sky Sports deals or stream PL games with no contract📺Twente’s training ground was close by and players’ families and friends were hurt, but the club ordered the squad to complete their final match of the season the next day, a trip to Feyenoord.
Afterwards, Ten Hag gave an interview to broadcast media and criticised the executives.”The leadership of the club were mad at me, but they had made the decision to play,” explains Ten Hag. “Everyone is agreeing now: you can’t play football when your city is burning.”Ten Hag speaking his mind is a theme that comes up repeatedly as we talk in a private dining room at the hotel. He opens up like never before on many key aspects of his time in charge of Manchester United and his career since, including:The use of data at United and his offer to INEOSWhy a 2-2 draw with Sevilla in April 2023 was a turning point in his reignHow that summer’s pre-season ‘killed’ playersAdding dynamism to Kobbie Mainoo’s gameThe rationale of picking Noussair Mazraoui at No 10 in IstanbulHow players are affected by United legends who are now punditsHis ‘strange’ three-game spell at Bayer LeverkusenIn January 2023, Ten Hag needed a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo at centre-forward. He used his Dutch connections to loan Wout Weghorst from Burnley, and to this day feels the striker’s work off the ball was a contributing factor in Marcus Rashford hitting 30 goals that season.”Wout did well for us; what he took out of his career is amazing,” says Ten Hag.
“Like Marcel Sabitzer. We got success, winning the League Cup, third position; we were a team because they worked hard. Wout was one of the reasons Rashford was so important.”Weghorst, standing at 6ft 6in (198cm), made an unexpected appearance as a No 10 in the Camp Nou, where Rashford went up top and scored in a 2-2 draw against Barcelona. United came from behind to win 2-1 in the home leg, a last-32 tie in the Europa League, one of the great recent European nights at Old Trafford.Weghorst then started up top in the Carabao Cup win over Newcastle United at Wembley, sliding a pass through to Rashford, who finished to make the score 2-0.
Image: Marcus Rashford was particularly productive during Wout Weghorst’s time at Old Trafford A week later, United got thumped 7-0 at Anfield.”The team was not consistent,” says Ten Hag. “On our good day we could match the best teams in the league, in the world, I would even say. On the worst day, we sat below the bottom. And then in Liverpool, obviously, we went below the bottom, also mentality-wise.
It was the next Premier League game after we won the League Cup. We were on the high; we went up there, maybe we were too confident, and we got punished. Every attack was a goal.”But the game in which Ten Hag feels his reign changed was the quarter-final of the Europa League a month later, when United were knocked out 5-2 on aggregate by Sevilla, having been 2-0 up in the first leg. “The team couldn’t play without two players,” he says, naming Lisandro Martinez (Licha) and Bruno Fernandes.”Licha was so important for us to play from the back, but also the winning mentality, winning duels.
And Bruno. In that game (first leg), at 2-0 up, I decided to sub Bruno, 30 minutes from time, and then Lisandro broke his foot.”United finished the season with 27 home wins, equalling a club record across a campaign, but they would have broken it had they held on at Old Trafford against Sevilla.Ten Hag had shown his faith in Fernandes by naming him captain. “I think it was good for the team, the best solution, and for him it was good as well. Obviously he has some pros and cons, but he has great game understanding, he’s a top professional, and he always gives his best; lifestyle good.
Every day, he goes to the limit; he’s driving it.”Ten Hag laughs. “Sometimes he’s getting emotional, but he’s a winner.”Ten Hag allowed Fernandes tactical latitude on the pitch. “I gave him some freedom in the game plan. I think I’m always quite self-critical and reflective.
I have to say I can’t see a game where the players didn’t want to transfer the game plan onto the pitch. They were always trying because I think they believed in what we did.” Image: Ten Hag made Bruno Fernandes Manchester United captain Pre-season before the 2023-24 season, during which United flew to New Jersey, San Diego, Houston and Las Vegas, pointed at issues ahead. Flying 13,650 miles across the Atlantic, from city to city, impacted the players, Ten Hag reveals.”The tour was so much expectation on the players,” he says. “We got exhausted from all the kilometres.
We started in New York, we played in Houston, we played in Vegas, went back, we gave them a couple of days off, and then we didn’t train proper tactical and physical work for 10 days because they were totally killed… We were never fit.”Kobbie Mainoo, then 18, suffered an ankle injury against Real Madrid in Texas. When he finally made his first Premier League start, at Everton, he was named man of the match in a 3-0 win.Ten Hag knew he had struck gold from the academy when he was first drawn to Mainoo in July 2022. “The first time I saw him, playing for the second team, I thought, ‘OK, he’s an amazing talent’. But he was too easy.
I saw that we needed him to get in a higher intensity. We started to bring him in drills where we challenged him on dynamics.”Mainoo has recently praised the sessions put on by Ten Hag and his assistant, Mitchell van der Gaag. He told Clarence Seedorf on Amazon Prime how training was “tough” but among “the best” of his career, adding: “The intensity and competitiveness of those sessions really helped me i
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