Steve McClaren: Cristiano Ronaldo fell short of Erik ten Hag’s standards at Manchester United

Exclusive interview: Ahead of tie between his former clubs, coach says Manchester United manager’s single-mindedness set him apart

Steve McClaren is one of the few people who has witnessed close-up the pressure on two Manchester United managers in two different eras, and when it comes to Erik ten Hag there are few coaches he knows so well.
The new manager of Jamaica has called to discuss what one would once have called “the McClaren derby” – albeit not that Derby – which is United against FC Twente of Holland in the Europa League on Wednesday night. McClaren was manager when Twente won their one and only Eredivisie title in 2010. He was assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at United from January 1999 to May 2001. Then he came back to Old Trafford in 2022 as assistant to Ten Hag for two years until May.
The pair met on McClaren’s first day at Twente in 2008. McClaren was seeking a new start after England’s Euro 2008 qualifying misadventure. Ten Hag had been player and coach at Twente and was his new assistant. “Erik’s stamp was all over that club,” McClaren recalls of that season they spent together. “From the five-year-olds all the way up. And probably still is. This is an unbelievable game that has cropped up for Erik, for Twente and for United.”
It is a game that is now most closely associated with Ten Hag than any other. A United manager from the Twente region of the east Netherlands, who has hung on through two years at United, two trophies, one partial change of ownership, and some astonishing drama on and off the pitch. For those two seasons, McClaren was alongside him, their roles of manager and assistant from the year at Twente reversed. Not a man given to hyperbole, even McClaren calls that period “turbulent”.
What we end up discussing is Ten Hag himself. How has he handled the pressure of the biggest club in English football, and the challenges he was up against. McClaren is a great admirer of the Dutchman. At the end of our conversation, he mentions that he believes even Ferguson was never given the credit he deserved while he was in the job. Ten Hag, he says, is the same. “But both of them are fighters,” he says, “and you can stress that point.”
When Ten Hag was appointed by United in 2022 he turned to McClaren, whom he had worked with for one season of the latter’s two-year initial spell at Twente. McClaren says he was there to help the new manager “bed in” to the English game. What they discovered was a United squad that McClaren says was, for the most part “wholeheartedly 100 per cent behind the club”. But there were problems, too.
“I couldn’t fault his [Ten Hag’s] approach,” McClaren says. “He really handled it very well. I said at the time he was the right man to go in. That was shown in the way he handled [the departure of Cristiano] Ronaldo. He [Ten Hag] came in with set standards. Set rules. Set way of playing. And if you didn’t run, you didn’t play. He was rigid on that. Which the Dutch are. He knew that was what was needed. There could be no flexibility, no way the players could manoeuvre [out of that responsibility].
“This is what you had to do – or you didn’t play. And he took on Ronaldo, and quite rightly. Other managers have tried to adapt. Erik didn’t feel it was necessary to do that. [Ralf] Rangnick had tried and it hadn’t quite worked out and Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] the same. So he [Ten Hag] stuck to his guns and developed other players.
“That was the key thing. He was not afraid to throw youngsters in. On instances like lateness for meetings [that] was well documented, the Wolves one, [when Marcus Rashford] was a minute or two late for a meeting on game day. He [Ten Hag] put him on the bench. Granted he put him [Rashford] on and he scored the winner. Things like that were important. Discipline was important. Standards were important. Behaviour was important. Everybody knows that about United. That’s what he [Ten Hag] brought. Some people didn’t like that – that’s normal – but he never swayed from it. That’s his strength.”
Knowing something of the Twente region, McClaren sees a characteristic in Ten Hag, who grew up in Haaksbergen, common to all “Tukkers” as those from Twente are known. “They are always the fighters,” McClaren says, “always the underdogs”. Ten Hag’s managerial career has shown that quality, McClaren says, at United and at Ajax where the fans were first sceptical about the man from the provinces.
“The first season [at United] – to qualify for the Champions League and win the Carabao Cup – I thought from where we started was a huge achievement,” McClaren says. “In the second year, the only thing you can say was the injuries. We had too many. We never got that consistency. To finish the season, last game at Wembley, and you win [the FA Cup] against [Manchester] City. I couldn’t leave on a better high. A good time to bow out.”
That was how it felt personally for McClaren, 63. It looked for a long time this summer that Ten Hag might be sacked by the new Ineos-led football operation and amid the uncertainty, McClaren accepted the Jamaica job. He had got to know the island’s football federation when he was part of a Fifa project to raise development standards across the globe. Ten Hag survived at United. Has judgment on him been unfair in some quarters?
“Absolutely,” McClaren says. There was “a lack of understanding” from outside United. “Perception is not reality and that is a tough job. Ole has admitted to that. Rangnick similar. Someone had to come in and steady the ship at least. I have got to say with Ineos, I see a great future for Manchester United. I think they are behind him [Ten Hag] and if they continue like that and stick together United will succeed.”
McClaren points out Ten Hag’s development of Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo. Working with young players was one of Ten Hag’s qualities, McClaren says, when he was assistant at Twente, having formerly worked in the academy. He also says that Ten Hag is strong in a crisis. United have had a few. There was the 7-0 defeat at Anfield in March last year. Also, losing 4-0 to Crystal Palace on May 6 and then at home to Arsenal six days later.
“We were nearly walking home from Crystal Palace … people realise we have got to win the next game. It was such a bad time after that Palace game. Erik, the staff, the players, how we turned it around to beating City [and winning the final two Premier League games] … in many years in football I have never seen anything like it.”
One big question – why such a heavy reliance on signing predominantly Dutch-based players or those who have formerly played for Ten Hag? It has not always helped him, especially in the acquisition of the Brazilian winger Antony for £85 million from Ajax in the manager’s first season. McClaren is straightforward about the recruitment.
“First, [the players know] the way he wanted to play,” McClaren says. “Two, the players that were available. Three, knowing he didn’t have a lot of time at United to get things going.
“[Lisandro] Martínez at the beginning, [it was a case of] are you sure? Yes, he [Ten Hag] was. Because he [Martínez] knows the way Erik wants to play. I have done the same as a manager. Going into a club trying to instil something, I always wanted two or three I have worked with previously. You need followers and people who believe in what you are doing. There is a list of five [potential signings] and you pick the one that you know.
“Casemiro couldn’t believe the detail and the tactical knowledge that he [Ten Hag] had. He [Casemiro] thought he had seen it all at Real Madrid. That’s what I valued in that first year at Twente. Erik helped me bed into the club. Every session planned, every drinks’ break. Meticulous. [Even down to] What you had to wear. Socks up or down.”
At the mention of socks, I venture the point that Ten Hag seems determined not to wear them as part of his touchline attire. “Well, that’s just fashion,” McClaren says. “Dutch fashion. Don’t get me on to his fashion! He won’t like that.” He says that Ten Hag’s often stern public-facing demeanour is very different to the private individual. “He’s great. He knows I don’t take him too seriously and he doesn’t take me too seriously. We kind of have that English-Dutch banter. We had that when he was [my] assistant. We could be honest with each other. That’s what he wanted. So that’s what he got.”
McClaren is busy preparing for his next international camp with Jamaica. He is scouting in the region and also those British-based players with Jamaican heritage who might be recruited. He hopes to integrate by learning the culture of the country and McClaren went viral in a TikTok video where he learnt a new phrase – “Seal it up” – and a gesture from his staff. He says it was at the behest of the team kitman who said if he did so, “Jamaica will love you”.
Steve McClaren is enjoying his role as Jamaica’s manager 😂🇯🇲 pic.twitter.com/QUTBzzTB3d
“One of the key things is enveloping yourself in the culture,” McClaren says. “One of the aspects of the Jamaica job is we have so many heritage players who were born in England. To them, the key thing going in is culture. To bring them closer to Jamaica, the people and the shirt. So I have to join in, too.”
The Europa League game on Wednesday will be a moment to reflect on a friendship of 16 years now, with a coach whom he rated from the first day they met. “Erik’s a wonderful tactician,” McClaren says. “He can see things happening on the field that others can’t. Every one of those players will say they have learned so much. Don’t get me wrong, there has been a thousand meetings but they have learned from him. And so have I.”