These are the last 10 Manchester United managers of this century

Manager of Manchester United, it is not an easy job. After the hitherto unrivalled Sir Alex Ferguson, who was head coach for a whopping 27(!) years, it is also hard to get in. It is fair to say that The Red Devils are struggling to cope with Sir Alex Ferguson’s legacy, with nine coaches in nine years. So Manchester United coaches last an average of one year. That’s short, but far from all coaches got the chance to be at the helm for a year. We review them one by one.

Directly to:
1) Sir Alex Ferguson
2) David Moyes
3) Ryan Giggs
4) Louis van Gaal
5) José Mourinho
6) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 1
7) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 2
8) Michael Carrick
9) Ralf Rangnick
10) Erik ten Hag
11) Overview of all Manchester United managers

Perhaps Manchester United‘s most famous coach is Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot was at the helm of the Mancunians from 1986 to 2013 and has amassed quite a trophy cabinet during those years. This includes two Champions League cups, 13 Premier League titles and around 20 more English cups. Quite a track record.

The first Manchester United manager after Sir Alex was compatriot David Moyes. High expectations he could not really live up to. Moyes did win another Community Shield during the season, but after a disappointing seventh place in the league and avoiding the Champions League, it was enough for Moyes after 10 months. He also has a number of negative records to his name, including the lowest ever points total in the Premier League as Manchester United coach.

After 24 years as a player, Ryan Giggs faced the tough task of succeeding Moyes as coach of Manchester United in 2014. A year before that, Giggs had been part of Moyes’ staff as player-coach. After the Scottish coach’s resignation, it was up to Giggs to do the honours as interim player-coach. However, this did not last long; after four games, the Welshman indicated that he could not handle the pressure as Manchester United’s coach. He nonetheless managed to win two matches. Afterwards, Giggs remained assistant on Louis van Gaal’s staff.

With Louis van Gaal’s appointment as Manchester United coach, a dream came true for the Dutchman. After championships in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, Van Gaal wanted a league win in England too. This proved more difficult than he had estimated beforehand. Even with 200 million spent, Louis van Gaal did not manage to get beyond fourth place in two seasons. He did, however, manage to secure an FA Cup.

Portuguese coach José Mourinho already had a bountiful trophy cabinet before he joined The Red Devils. And The Special One’s first season as Manchester United manager was promising, with a Community Shield, a League Cup and a win in the Europa League at the expense of Ajax. The 2017/2018 season saw United finish second in the Premier League. According to Mourinho, this is one of his greatest achievements of his career. In December 2018, after two and a half seasons, he was sacked.

The remainder of the 2018/2019 season belonged to caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was allowed to finish the year. He got off to a flying start with a ‘Manager of the Month’ trophy and six unbeaten games. He extended the number of wins to 14 in 19 matches. This earned Solskjaer even more than just an award…

Another Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on the list, is that right? Yes definitely! Thanks to his huge sprint at the start, Solskjaer got the opportunity to sign a three-year contract as Manchester United manager. He grabbed this opportunity with both hands. With Solskjaer at the helm, the team has experienced high peaks and deep valleys. Wins and losses alternated rapidly until the Norwegian was sacked in November 2021.

We can be brief about Michael Carrick when it comes to his time as head coach of Manchester United. He was already assistant coach under José Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, from whom he took over as caretaker manager in November. This was for three games. By then, the club had found an interim manager to finish the season. This also marked the end of Michael Carrick’s time with Manchester United.

German Ralf Rangnick arrived at Manchester United with a lot of noise. The plan was that he would take United to the next level with his signature game. However, this never got off the ground. After many mixed results, Rangnick ended his time at the Mancunians with a hiss as hey lost to Crystal Palace. Rangnick himself relinquished the advisory role that had been set aside for him to focus fully on managing the Austrian national team.

Manchester United’s new coach is Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman secured a transfer to England due to his performance and way of playing football at Ajax. The pressure put on Ten Hag by the English media was huge. Doubts in the purchases he made did not help this. Yet he battled through this valiantly. After a few weeks of getting used to each other and the way he plays, Ten Hag now has things pretty much on track. Will Erik ten Hag last longer than one year as one of the Manchester United managers?

Table updated until 29-07-2024

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