Erik ten Hag claims ‘promises’ were broken in Man Utd era & had tension with Cristiano Ronaldo

Sky Sports News

Sky Sports News unpacks Erik ten Hag's interview about broken promises, Cristiano Ronaldo and discipline at Man Utd

The show discusses Ten Hag's Athletic interview, focusing on his clash with Ronaldo, United's broken transfer promises, the sale of McTominay, dressing-room discipline and the way his exit was handled. Kaveh Solhekol argues United would have been better off backing Ten Hag, while Charlie Austin questions the relevance of his complaints and his own signings and stresses the club's structural problems. They also cover Ten Hag's support for Michael Carrick.

► Subscribe to Sky Sports News: http://bit.ly/SkySportsNewsSub ► Watch Sky Sports with NOW: https://bit.ly/NOWSkySportsYT Kaveh Solhekol and guest Charlie Austin dissect The Athletic’s interview with former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag on Sky Sports Football Club. football premierleague manutd ► For the latest developments on this story: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/topstories ► For the latest transfer news: https://qrcode.skysports.com/skysports/TransferCentre More from Sky Sports on YouTube: ► Sky Sports: http://bit.ly/SkySportsSub ► Sky Sports Boxing: http://bit.ly/SSBoxingSub ► Sky Sports Cricket: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyCricket ► Sky Sports Darts: https://bit.ly/SubSkySportsDarts ► Sky Sports Football: http://bit.ly/SSFootballSub ► Sky Sports F1: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyF1 ► Sky Sports Golf: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsGolf ► Sky Sports Premier League: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsPL ► Sky Sports Retro: http://bit.ly/SkySportsRetroSub ► Sky Sports WSL: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsWSL ► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skysportsnews ► X: https://x.com/SkySportsNews ► Website: https://www.skysports.com ► To enquire about licensing Sky Sports content, you can find out more here: https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/news/31754/11434270/license-sky-sports-footage

Transcript

We start with Eric Tenhog who's given an explosive interview in The Athletic today with claims of broken promises and a toxic culture during his time at Manchester United. He also accused Cristiano Ronaldo of pulling out of training sessions during his second spell at Old Trafford. Tenhark, who's now working as technical director of FC20, won two trophies during his time at Manchester United, was eventually sacked in October 2024. His relationship with Ronaldo came under extreme scrutiny and today Tenhog playing Ronaldo didn't run and didn't prepare properly. This what Tenhog has said. He let the team down. He let me down because we planned with him. I flew out to Portugal to meet with him about what I was aiming for before I came to United. Obviously, he's one of the best in football history. I respected him a lot. But at the time as a manager, I had to make a rational decision and keep the players I admire in. He ran neither in possession nor out of possession. The reason was because he didn't prepare himself. Every top team has to embrace the top player, but the top player has to work for the team. So as well as Charlie Austin, we've got our chief correspondent Carve Solic as well. Good morning to both of you. By the way, the Athletic say they've put Tenhog's comments to Ronaldo's representatives, which which mean they have, but they have not received a reply at the time of this publication. Right, Carve, we're going to get into what he said on Ronaldo, but what else has he had to say because there's lots of key points. Well, I thought what was really interesting was the fact that he said that he asked United to sign Declan Rice and Harry Kane and they got neither of those two players. is and I remember at the time actually Sky Sports were reporting that United wanted those two players and somebody from Manchester United rang one of my bosses here to complain about our reporting. So guess what? Two years later, two or three years later, we were absolutely right with our reporting. That's just one of the things he's unhappy about. He's also unhappy about the way he was treated at United. Don't forget that he won the FA Cup against a backdrop of Manchester United talking and interviewing people to take over from him. Uh for instance, Thomas Tukul was very very close to taking the job. But because he unexpectedly beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final, they decided to give him a new contract. They even flew out to Athera where he was on holiday to have a meeting with him and to talk things through. And they promised him things are going to be different. We've learned from our mistakes. We're going to back you. who were all going to be aligned and then as soon as things started to go wrong uh next season he was out of the door and he was replaced by Ruben Amarim. I've got a lot of respect for Eric Tenhog. I think he's kept his council. I think he was really really hurt by what happened to him at Manchester United and I think United fans by and large still like him and I think United would be in a much better position now if they had kept faith with Tenhog because I think they were on the right track and they should have backed him in the transfer market as well and signed quality players the quality players he wanted like Frankie De Young like Harry Kane like Declan Rice because if they had United would be a totally different team and club now. >> But Charlie, at the top of the show, you said that what Tenhager said in this interview says more about him than it does the club. What do you mean by that? >> Because it's easy to say that now it's done. I understand that the he wanted these players, a group of players, and that hasn't hasn't come. They it would have changed, etc. But his opinion now is is almost irrelevant because he's left Manchester United. He's left many years ago. New managers come in. Yes, they haven't succeeded. So it probably backs up his claims of what he's saying, but that's we're talking 3 four years ago and nothing's changed. Manchester United as a football club are in no better position than when he left. But his opinion is for me is irrelevant. Now we can throw all these names out. Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Frankie Deong, but they didn't get them. However, they did get Cristiano Ronaldo. And let's be real, why did they get Cristiano Ronaldo? To prevent him going to Manchester City. That was the biggest thing. There was a big spill. We was all here. See it on the social media. see it on live TV that he was linked to go to Manchester City was going to wear the seven for Man City and then the hierarchy so say called on Sir Alex Ferguson he made the phone call and then he went to Manchester United so ultimately they didn't want him anyway he is what arguably one of the best players that's to ever play in history alongside all the other greats but he became a scapegoat of Manchester United and to bring this up again uh Eric Tenhog this is where I go back to it is your point your opinion on the scenario is now irrelevant because it's so long. Well, I think look with Ronaldo, what he says about him is pretty damning. Uh he said that he tenhog as a manager flew out to Portugal to meet Ronaldo. You know, that's not something that managers normally do for players, but he showed him the respect to go and do that and to say to him, "This is my idea of how you're going to fit into the team." And he says when it came to Ronaldo, it wasn't a case of he wasn't working when United were out of possession. He wasn't even working when United were in possession. He was trying to get him into the penalty area for him to score. And he said that Ronaldo just physically was not fit enough. And one other thing that was really damning that stood out for me is if you remember after that infamous uh United defeat at Brenford. I think I was there. They lost something like 4-0. They ran I think at least 10 miles uh less than Brenford. So the next day, Eric Tenhard got all the players into United's training ground on a Sunday and made them run the extra miles that they hadn't run the previous day. And he said that Ronaldo was the one player who didn't complete the run. He said all the other players did the three laps that they were supposed to do of this run, whereas Ronaldo only did two of them. and he seems to uh paint a picture of Ronaldo causing problems behind the scenes at United and also some of the other senior players causing problems as well. Uh players like Casemiro who had been at Real Madrid and who signed for United in the expectation that United were going to sign more world-class players and challenge for the title and they became disillusioned when United didn't do that. >> But this is the first time we've heard this dam statement on Cristiano Ronaldo >> especially his fitness >> in fitness and in training. you going to repeat every every ex player >> or coaches manager apart from Tanaga said what a professional >> in the gym on the training pitch games etc. So this is the first time we're actually hearing that a manager that's had Ronaldo come out and criticize him for his unprofessionalism. Let's be that's what he's basically saying. He wasn't professional enough to be selected because he weren't doing enough when we didn't have the ball. He weren't doing enough when we had the ball. So for me I look at again this why I go down to the bit of why I get it didn't work out for Ronaldo that are we just using him for a scapegoat because he was the he's one of the biggest players in the world and I agree with you. They signed Casemiro, the bigger players come in, but that was never going to be enough to get Manchester United back to where they needed to be or where they so say thought they belonged because the other part of the squad wasn't strong enough. I think the thing about this interview as well, we've only had the first part of it. I think there's another part coming tomorrow. You know, it's a great interview done by Lori Witwell who's obviously covers uh United fulltime. And I don't think we should paint it out to be as an interview where Eric Tenhog is settling scores or he's hitting back at people. If you read the full interview, it it's pretty measured. He hasn't spoken since he left Manchester United. He's back working in the Netherlands now as a technical director. He's doing really really well. And he just sat down over two evenings with a reporter he trusts and just shared to him some of his feelings and some of his thoughts about what went wrong at Manchester United. And I think it's great for us to have that perspective from Eric Tenhog as well because obviously he hasn't been able to talk about what happened at United because of the way he left the club but obviously he feels now is the right time for him to have his say. >> I think everyone at home is going to want to have their say as well. Please do on all of these key points from this interview with Eric Tenhog. I should just add though in August 2025 Eric Tenhog did an interview while he was head coach of Baen. was asked about Cristiano Ronaldo and his relationship with him at Manchester United. These are direct quotes from Tenhog back then. For me, he Ronaldo, no problem. He was never the problem and I think that's the past. So, he has changed his opinion on that or changed at least what he's saying out loud on Ronaldo. It's not just Ronaldo he talks about. You've mentioned Rice and Kay which we'll also get to but he says when it comes to broken promises which were one of the key points. He said that he was told that he would be allowed to keep Scott Mctomin who had scored 10 goals that season but then he ended up leaving for Napoli and that wasn't Tenhog's choice. Um he was told that they needed that money to go and sign Manuel Ugate instead. Charlie, if that was a broken promise, okay, at the time, Scott McTominay, Manchester United fans probably didn't really want him to leave being homegrown, etc., but it wasn't like as big a story as Ronaldo leaving, etc. >> A broken promise. You could understand that it would upset him. >> Yeah, it's not a bigger story, but like you say, homegrown through the academy, didn't know what he was going to become and what he done at Napoli and the new signing coming in, but that showed where Manchester United was. They didn't want to wait one, two more years to Scott McTominay to turn to the player that he become. They thought they were signing someone that was ready to go straight away. But maybe ultimately that's where the football club was at whether it's financially off the pitch uh attracting new players because what we actually see on the pitch and we still see it now is is the reason why they're in such poor form. Yes, you have the managers. Yes, you can blame certain players and certain decisions the hierarchy make. That's I guess Manchester United in a nutshell at the moment. >> But I mean, if you look at it from Eric Tenhog's point of view, he was promised that United would not sell Scott McTominay. He said to his superiors, "Do not sell this player. This player can score goals from midfield. He's been at the club all his life. He's got United blood in his veins. Do not sell him." And then they go and sell him. So I mean what what is that to do to his position and the trust that he has in the people above him? If they go behind if they go behind his back and do that >> is that because where is was that the point of now see how football clubs go now where people come in there you're the first team coach we bring you the players and we sell the players we want to sell and we bring you the players we want but you've got the tools to manage them that's it. Is that where Manchester United was going? Are they still trying to go there? because not just Manchester United, the modern day game went through a period of time where we're just employing coaches and then we'll have people that are in the up in the stands and up in the boardroom. They'll bring the players in and obviously that doesn't work. You have if you employ a manager or first team coach, whatever, you've got to trust them with everything football related and that's how what that's how ultimately the whole club goes forward. when he when he says how he didn't want to sell Mctomin in order to fund Manuel Ugate. Well, McTominay has gone to Napoli and done really well. Ugate's transfer hasn't been a success yet at Manchester United. He says how he wanted to sign Brian Brobby this time last year he probably wouldn't have admit would he admitted last year that he no it was good end to the season and his last game of Sun was a hat-tick. Yeah. >> So good timing to say that. Uh he also says Danny Wellbeck at the time k if Manchester United resigned Danny Wellbeck then it probably would have seen as a step down even though it's been proved that he's got this longevity and he's now at Chelsea one of their rivals. >> I think Danny Wbeck would have been a good signing. The bottom line is that Eric Tenhog was bought into Manchester United. He won two trophies. He thought he was joining one of the biggest clubs in the world, one of the richest clubs in the world, and they were going to back him in the transfer market and buy worldclass players. That didn't happen. Okay, he accepted that. But in the meantime, if he wasn't getting world-class players, then he had to be backed and he had to be given time. Now, let's go back to that summer because the way he was treated was absolutely abysmal. He was the Manchester United manager and every day we and everyone else was reporting that United were interviewing people to take over from him that United were flying out. They had people in Monaco sitting down having lunch with Thomas Tukul discussing his contract about how he was going to take over from Eric Tennhog. And then when they weren't able to find a replacement, they went back to Tennog and said to him, "We'll give you that extra one year you want on your contract. We understand you don't want to go into this season with just one year on your deal. We've learned from our mistakes. We're all going to be fully aligned. We're going to start again, do things uh properly and back you. And a couple of months later, as soon as they lose a couple of games, bad bad results. I think they lost two games at home 3-0. They lost to West Ham 2-1. And he says, "I knew something was wrong. I knew something was wrong. I could feel something was happening behind the scenes. I think they went off to Istanbul to play Fenabache. Uh Jose Mourinho's Fenabache and he said some of the people who normally from the hierarchy would be at an away European game weren't there. So I knew they were off talking to replacements probably Rubbert Amarim and he was sacked. So I just think it's an abysmal way to treat Eric Tenhog. I think this is a great interview. I'm glad his side of the story has come out and I think by and large if he was to come back to Old Trafford he would get a very very good reception from United fans. The football wasn't always great. There were some terrible results. The the style of play wasn't great to watch as well but he was trying to change things. It was a long-term project. >> Are these comments too late though K? >> Because saw it coming out now. This what I'm saying is it's taken this time. I know he's held his counsel. He's bit his tongue. He's not opened his his relationship to Manchester United. But now like the dust settled. So everyone has moved on. That's why I'm going it's almost like it's irrelevant now because >> people forgotten about him because they've had so many other managers after him. Like what >> I I don't think he's doing it to >> there's no malice in his >> Yeah. There's no malice. I don't think he's trying to settle scores or he's trying to get a job. I just think he was approached by a reporter who covers Manchester United fulltime who he knows well from his time at Manchester United. He's doing a good job at the moment in the Netherlands. I think he's a technical director now. So, he's been taken out of the line of fire at FC20 and he just feels okay. Uh, Lori's called me up. He wants to come over. Why not? Let's have a chat about old times. And he's been honest and he's put his side of the story. And it's for Manchester United fans to make their minds up about what they think about his time as manager and also about the way he was sacked by the club and dealt uh with at the end of his reign. >> Yeah, loads of of you sending your messages in. We've also got a a voice note from Shane. >> Tinhag sanctioned the signings of Malasia Martinez and Anthony for about 150 million. I'd have a good look in the mirror before blaming anyone at Manchester United. >> This this is the thing on it because not every signing you're going to get is right. Totally. And unfortunately the signs that he did he did bring in didn't work. Anthony being the biggest one because it come with all the hype and how much money. So it's easy to say we want Harry Kane wanted to sign Declan Rice wanted and that's and Frankie Young you can go back on that but it didn't work out. My thing also on Eric, how many clubs in the Premier League if he was available to become in, how many of them would take him >> now? >> Yeah, >> I don't think any of them would take him. >> So, does that speak volumes of what his job at Manchester United that he'd done? Regardless of saying he did a good job, main United now if they kept him longevity, etc. But I think proving that because it because of that, that is one of the reasons why not many clubs would be putting their hands up for him to come back. is is when he went to Labour Cuz he didn't last very long there either, which was a little bit different. I was going to use the example of Unai Emory when he left Arsenal, but actually had success in between coming back to uh the Premier League. In terms of the time, because there's more key points to talk about here, but what about the timing though, Car? Because it was only last week that Lzandro Martinez took a bit of a swipe at the Manchester United hierarchy. Uh Jason Wilcox was technical director when Tenhog left the club, but Tenhark is also talking about problems with people above him. He is in the interview. He obviously has issues uh with the way he was uh treated by the people above him. But he's not, you know, he's not digging people out. He's not naming names. He just says there were broken promises. He just says they came to Athera to meet me. they uh sort of said to me, "Right, we'll give you that one-year contract extension that you want." And also, we're going to do things differently. And he believed what they said, and guess what? That didn't happen. Soon as results uh went against him, he lost his job. So, that's what he's talking about. He is sort of uh he's asked about Landro Martinez's comments and he basically says, "Look, I I don't want to get into that. Uh I think that was uh a bit too much of hot water for him to get into. But it's obvious that this is another voice who's telling us something that we already know that there are problems with the structure at Manchester United. And unless they get that structure right and until they stop chopping and changing managers, results aren't going to improve and they're not going to get back to being the club they once were. Does that is that come as like a realism and understanding that with what they once were was a big club but at the moment they're behind here they're they're playing catchup but they're going to have to show patience. So chopping and change of manager every six 12 months is not going to make that happen. So for the next three or four years Manchester United may have to just sit there and go do you know what all we're going to do is try and progress. We won't win league. We're not going to win trophies but we're going to make them steps in the right direction. >> And that's what Tenhog says in the inte