Man United sack Ten Hag: Top managerial candidates to take over at Old Trafford

The Red Devils have suffered a poor start to the 2024/25 season, with the club languishing in 14th place in the Premier League having won just one of their last eight games.

The former Ajax manager won an EFL Cup and FA Cup since arriving at the club in April 2022.

However, despite narrowly keeping his job after last season's cup final triumph, United owners INEOS finally lost patience with Ten Hag after his side were comfortably beaten 2-1 away at West Ham on Sunday afternoon.

In an official statement, United confirmed that current assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy will take interim charge of the team until a new boss is installed - but who could that be?

Let's have a gander, shall we?

Ruud van Nistelrooy

Bookies' favourite at the time of writing and in the initial aftermath of Ten Hag's sacking, Red Devils legends and current assistant Van Nistelrooy is now in interim charge and fancied by most to end up in the role full-time.

The former formidable forward - who netted an impressive 150 goals in all competitions in five seasons at United after joining in 2001 - has spent the last few years building up an impressive coaching CV that's taken in assistant roles for the Netherlands and a decent head coach stint at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.

Notably, he won the Dutch national cup with PSV before a somewhat unceremonious split from the club, reportedly after a fallout with players over his training methods.

That leaves a slightly dark cloud over his previous managerial role as United fans wrestle with the idea of hiring another big-name former player out of love rather than perhaps them genuinely being the best man for what is still a pretty mammoth job in football.

He may at the very least get it until the end of the season, but if he doesn't pick up a few results between now and January, he could also find himself booted out.

Gareth Southgate

Former England boss Gareth Southgate has been a leading contender for the Manchester United job since the tail end of last season, with many expecting him to jump straight in as soon as the post became available this season.

The former Middlesbrough boss hasn't been in club management since leaving that post in 2009 having suffered relegation to the Championship.

However, a successful stint for the England U21s saw him seize his opportunity at the top level, guiding England to two European Championship finals and a semi-final at the World Cup - England's best performances since 1966.

Southgate was often criticised for a safer approach and lack of knowing how to get the most out of a group of flair-blessed attacking players, and ultimately it may have held his side back in the crucial games.

His appointment would likely go down well with most United fans, simply given his stature increase in the game during his time as the national team boss.

But he remains unproven at the elite club level - something that is very different to international football, and especially an altogether different world in 2024 compared to what it was in 2009.

Alas, Southgate remains one of the bookies' favourites, so watch this space.

Thomas Frank

Danish manager Thomas Frank has done nothing short of a wonderful job at Brentford, elevating the club from Championship nearly men to a decent Premier League side capable of troubling anyone on their day.

Frank duly gets a great deal of credit for keeping his side competitive, even during times of strife, such as Ivan Toney's betting ban or the multiple injury crises his team has faced in recent years.

He seems to have adapted perfectly to life in England. He's an excellent communicator and seems to be very easy to get along with on a personal level - something backed up by several of his current stars.

The former Denmark youth boss has some experience across Europe, having worked at Brondby and the national sides' youth set-ups before joining Brentford initially as assistant manager, but they would all be a step up in comparison to the United job.

Stylistically, he would be a good fit - even for this current crop of players - with Frank often employing a fast yet pragmatic attack-based approach.

It would also be interesting to see how well he could incorporate more of the club's production line of youth talent coming through, something which he's slightly limited by within the set-up with the Bees.

He's been at Brentford for six years and is now the Premier League's second-longest-serving manager after Pep Guardiola. No doubt, should the opportunity arise, he might fancy stepping up for a new challenge.

You have to imagine he'd be a very popular choice amongst many fans with a few quick wins.

Graham Potter

The former Brighton and Chelsea manager has started to emerge from the dark, shadowy doldrums of the tabloid columns of late, perhaps suggesting he's keen to get back into work.

It's safe to say it didn't pan out so well for him last time out at Chelsea, giving up what looked like a perfectly cushy job on the south coast to effectively self-implode his own career within 12 months at Stamford Bridge.

However, as time has settled, and as subsequent reigns have shown, it wasn't necessarily all his fault, with the chaotic new ownership and transfer policy likely causing him a few too many headaches. The project is only now starting to bare anything resembling edible fruit.

Still, when your owners spend nearly £1 billion in 18 months, you might want to be finishing a bit higher than mid-table.

His time at Brighton is perhaps better served as a reminder that Potter is an acutely talented trainer and tactician. His knowledge of the modern game shouldn't be underestimated. There's a reason he was very much in the running for the England job until Thomas Tuchel's ultimate appointment last week.

He's also likely to be a cheaper, safer option from a contractual, "we might sack him in 12 months" perspective. Not exactly an inspired choice in the current climate, though.

Ruben Amorim

Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorim is a name that keeps cropping up whenever Premier League posts become available, yet he remains in sunny Portugal instead.

The up-and-coming boss - who played 95 games for Benfica and featured for the Portuguese national side 14 times - was heavily linked with the Liverpool vacancy when Jurgen Klopp announced his exit. At the same time, he's also been linked with posts at Tottenham, Bayern Munich and Chelsea in recent years.

Amorim has consistently impressed at Sporting, leading them to multiple trophies, including the Portuguese league title twice.

His ability to develop young talent and implement an attacking style of play has caught the eye of many top clubs, while his tactical flexibility and ability to adapt to different situations could be crucial in the demanding Premier League, where teams increasingly need to switch entire tactics mid-game.

He also embraces modern footballing philosophies like data-driven analysis and innovative training methods, something that will be music to the ears of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is desperately seeking to modernise a crumbling, fading force of a giant football club.

Don't rule Amorim out as a serious contender for the job full-time. Now might be his best shot.

Kieran McKenna

Taking genuine big job experience out of the equation, Kieran McKenna is a very strong candidate to be the next manager of Manchester United.

The young manager, aged just 38, has demonstrated exceptional managerial skills already in his young career, guiding Ipswich Town to back-to-back promotions, including the club's recent return to the Premier League for the first time in some 10,000 years.

This achievement is particularly impressive considering Ipswich's recent struggles over the past decade on and off the pitch, with nobody expecting the club to rise in the fashion it has.

It means a lot of attention is now on the Northern Irishman, who has so far resisted any calls to comment on the speculation.

But on paper, it's a great fit; McKenna began his coaching career at Spurs before moving over to United's youth academy in 2016, where in his second season in charge of the under-18s, McKenna guided Manchester United to the Premier League Northern Division title.

He was soon brought up to the senior coaching staff by Jose Mourinho and was subsequently retained by Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Ralf Rangnick before taking his first manager job at Ipswich. This sort of familiarity with the club is a real feather in his cap.

His sides have shown an appetite for possession-based football and attacking intent, which will always be a good place to start for a fanbase starved of consistently good football for the best part of a decade now.

While they've not suffered a disastrous start, it's hard to see the Tractor Boys surviving in the Premier League come the end of the season, so a chance to manage one of the biggest clubs in England (at least, technically) might not come back around for McKenna any time soon after this.

Xavi

An up-and-down tenure at Barcelona saw a La Liga title added to Xavi's long list of accolades as a player and manager with the Catalan club, but things ended on a rather sour note by the end of the last campaign, with the Spanish icon having a bit of a barmy with the press.

You immediately worry about the optics of that long term, with a similar amount of over-the-top scrutiny from the world's media awaiting him in England.

Still, he's got the Barcelona job under his belt now and has shown he's able to mix it with the top clubs as a manager, much like he could've played for literally anyone in the world if he'd wanted to as a player.

Xavi is known for his possession-based, attacking style of play, one that Manchester United fans could easily get used to seeing, and it could be a good fit for the club's current squad.

His English is pretty decent but the obvious drawback is he's not really had much to do with English football in the past. That said, neither had Klopp or Guardiola at some point in their careers.

No doubt the hierarchy at United will be open to a conversation with the former World Cup winner, but one would imagine he'll have a lot to do to get it over the line.

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane's success at Real Madrid speaks for itself. He led them to three consecutive Champions League titles, a feat unmatched in the modern era.

Zidane's legendary status as a player commands automatic respect from players and fans alike. This can be crucial in unifying a squad and creating a winning mentality.

While his Real Madrid sides were often praised for their attacking flair, Zidane also showed tactical flexibility and adaptability.

This skillset would obviously be valuable in the Premier League's unpredictable and fast-paced environment, and English football still feels like a place that Zizou could quickly get to grips with as a manager like he no doubt could have done as a player.

The French legend also has a decent record in derby clashes, thriving under pressure and consistently delivering in the biggest matches with big rivals, something he'd have to contend with plenty in Manchester.

He'd be an interesting experiment, but surely the Manchester United of 2024 are in the market for something a bit safer to steady the ship for the next few seasons. 

Zidane rarely sticks around for long, and the current squad isn't polished anywhere near enough to warrant a smash-and-grab managerial hire.

Jurgen Klopp

Just kidding, relax.