- Ten Hag has returned to the Netherlands and is being consoled by his parents
- Ruud van Nistelrooy has spoken with him a couple of times since his sacking
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Erik ten Hag is ‘hurt’ after his sacking by Manchester United, his assistant Ruud van Nistelrooy has admitted.
Ten Hag was sacked by United on Monday after two-and-a-half years in charge, and immediately caught a private jet to Holland. The 54-year-old has yet to speak about the club’s decision.
Van Nistelrooy has stepped in as caretaker boss and oversaw a 5-2 win over Leicester City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. He was at the training ground on Monday morning when Ten Hag was informed by chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth that his time was up.
‘Yes I saw him on Monday and spoke to him before the game,’ said Van Nistelrooy. ‘He was disappointed and touched because he really cared for the club. The first conversations we had when I came back to the club, I felt he cared and loved the club and wanted to bring the club forward.
‘That’s why he’s also hurt that he had to leave but also proud of his achievement here winning the two cups.’
Van Nistelrooy also confirmed he is happy with returning to being an assistant as the club look to wrap up the appointment of Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim.
‘It’s going to be short job as an interim – that was communicated very clearly, and I was happy with that,’ he said.
‘I decided to come back here for a very important reason: that I am here as an assistant, I came here to help the club forward and I am still very motivated to do so in any capacity, as an assistant and now an interim.
‘After this I go back to my assistant contract I have here for this season and the next. I am very motivated to stay here and help the club forward.
‘It was very disappointing that Erik had to leave but then you have to switch the mind-set to win. There was a game 75,000 fans and millions watching at home.’
Ten Hag has gone back to his hometown in the Netherlands to process a tumultuous time, as revealed exclusively by MailOnline.
After being told that his tenure at United was over, Ten Hag immediately raced to Manchester Airport where a private Cessna Citation jet was waiting to take him back to the Netherlands.
Within hours of being fired he had travelled some 500 miles back to the comfort of his other home in a small Dutch town where his extended family lives.
And on Wednesday night the 54-year-old was consoled by his parents Hennie and Joke who visited their son at his £1m modern three storey home near the centre of Oldenzaal.
It’s believed that after his dismissal the Dutchman didn’t even return to his UK base but raced straight to the jet that was waiting to fly him to Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.
There a car was waiting to drive him to Oldenzaal, and his five bedroom home there.
Ten Hag didn’t wait around for his wife Bianca or their three children.
It’s understood they remained behind at his home in Cheshire where Bianca will sort out admin matters before joining him in the Netherlands.
The town that he raced back to is Oldenzaal, a town of 31,000 residents near the Dutch-German border.
That, according to friends and neighbours, is where he not only grew up but also feels most comfortable.
Ten Hag and his wife Bianca would often return to the tranquil town where almost everyone cycles to escape the pressures of running one of the Premier League’s biggest clubs.
It is also a place where despite his fame from previously managing the Netherland’s top team Ajax and then with United being paid £7.8m a year, he can walk about with relative anonymity.
Ten Hag was sacked after a difficult start to the season with United placed 14th in the Premier League.
A 2-1 defeat to West Ham at the weekend was the final straw for United’s board of directors and the shaky tenure at Old Trafford came to a close.
Having extended his contract in the summer, Ten Hag is entitled to an exit package of around £13.5million.
The decision to sack Ten Hag – who was only given a contract extension in July and spending over £600m in transfer fees – was described as ‘difficult and finely balanced’ by United’s bosses.
More to follow.
