Man United appoints Erik Ten Hag as manager: is this the beginning of a new era?

 After long weeks of speculation as to who the next Man United manager will be, the Red Devils finally give the batton to the Dutch man, Erik Ten Hag.

The Ajax coach beat off competition from the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Luis Enrique to land the Old Trafford job and will begin his reign at the helm of affairs by June.

Why did Man United take Erik Ten Hag?

If the board could, they'd get Mauricio Pochettino but they know the fans would easily target him.

His announcement alone would generate massive backlash from the fanbase and he'd be blamed for every draw/defeat.

Make no mistake about it, Manchester United fans played a HUGE role in getting Erik Ten Hag!

Has the Man United rebuild clearly started?

One of the good things that happened under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was that they were able to shed a lot of dead weight they were carrying from Louis van Gaal's time. The likes of Marcos Rojo, Marouane Fellaini, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia and Ander Herrera (not dead weight per se) were moved on. Backed by Ed Woodward at the helm, they took on a policy of going after young British players with the likes of Daniel James, Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan Bissaka and Jadon Sancho were signed by the club. 

Almost 3 years on, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has still not learned how to cross or attack, Maguire is extremely out of form showing that the responsibility of being United captain is too much for his shoulders to handle and Daniel James has left the club. Sancho had a slow start but is getting better every game. 

And now, with the likes of Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba leaving in the summer for free. Anthony Martial out of favour, Mason Greenwood engulfed in a sexual assault scandal, Nemanja Matic and Phil Jones in the last 11 months of their contracts it appears they are again ripe for a rebuild. 

Now, what could make this rebuild turn out better than the last rebuild? The short answer would be Ed Woodward not being at the club. 

Richard Arnold as the new chief executive of the club has at the very least expressed that he would let football people run the football side of things instead of being heavily involved like his predecessor. Ralf Rangnick has been brought in as consultant who is very aware of the dire situation the squad is and John Murtough serves as the DoF. Add to that, the appointment of Erik Ten Hag as manager. 

If it is true and I know it's a big if, If Ten Hag is allowed to run the club the way he wants and works with Rangnick and Murtough, they could have a very bright rebuild ahead of them. It's not necessary to buy stars but players who have the potential to be stars. Such a rebuild is possible if Ten Hag is given the freedom. 

Of course, the transfer budget will also be affected by if they finish in top 4 or not but Ten Hag is an excellent appointment. No other man would can be trusted with overseeing a huge squad over haul at an under performing club.

In as much as it's too early to predict and permutate, this is clearly the kind of manager United need to kick-off the club revolution.