‘Erik ten Hag has unimaginable Man Utd job – at Liverpool he’d be handled higher’
Paul Parker has told Erik ten Hag that managing Manchester United is the ‘impossible job’.
Parker reckons the scrutiny, criticism and speculation that goes with bossing United will always be greater than it is at other clubs, including Manchester City and Liverpool. And Parker believes his former club will never get back to the same heights they once scaled when Sir Alex Ferguson was in charge.
Parker, who won five major trophies with United in the 1990s, was speaking on behalf of William Hill Vegas. He said: “I hope he can do something. But it’s impossible to get United back to where the club was under Sir Alex.
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“Football now is not going to allow that to happen. The establishment isn’t going to allow that. All I want him to do is to put United in a position to compete, and win as many trophies as possible.
“No-one is going to leave him alone if he’s managing United. He could manage any other team in the country and be given a chance. If he’d got the Liverpool job, the media would have been swarming all over him.
(Image: Getty Images)
“People would have been giving him apples every single day. But because he manages United, people are virtually giving him dolls with pins in.”
Parker has hit out at United’s new owners, including Sir Jim Ratcliffe, for not giving Ten Hag more protection and respect ahead of last season’s FA Cup final, when one report wrongly insisted he would be sacked after the game.
Instead, Ten Hag went on to sign a new deal, and Parker said: “The new people that have taken over the club, what they allowed the media to say about him before the Cup final, I think they owed him a new deal. It was poor. They should have stepped up and called out those people.
“That person who wrote what he wrote, the club should have said something about what he did. He was let down. It was made up, so that person could then do a ‘I told you so’ story. It should never have been allowed to happen. They didn’t do their jobs properly by looking after Erik before that game.
“It could have given the players an excuse to go out and walk around on the pitch at Wembley. But he’s still there. The club need to get behind him.”
Parker believes Ten Hag has been let down by some of his senior players since taking charge, including Marcus Rashford. But the former England defender saved his most scathing criticism for £82m Brazilian flop Antony.
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA)
He added: “Ten Hag got that a bit wrong when he said what players needed to do to get into his team, because he’s allowed Marcus Rashford to get away with it for a long time.
“But there’s no way Antony can get in the team. Amad Diallo has been fantastic and has to start. (Alejandro) Garnacho is coming off the bench and looking decent.
“Ten hag has been let down by senior players. Antony has been signed from a club he knows (Ajax), but just hasn’t delivered.
“He hasn’t earned the right to start games. I go by what I see on the pitch and he hasn’t done enough. Will he do enough? No, not to be a regular, despite costing United so much money.
“Arsenal signed Pepe and the same thing happened. He cost £70m. Antony will be United’s version of him. Every club has got them.”
To read or listen to the full interview, go to https://vegas.williamhill.com/
