Former Manchester United star Daley Blind had backed Erik ten Hag to succeed at Old Trafford.
After winning three Eredivisie titles at Ajax, Ten Hag will begin his journey as Manchester United manager, and it will be a huge job to turn things around at the biggest football club in the world.
The fans are demanding big changes after a disappointing season, with the Red Devils failing to qualify for the Champions League, so it will be up to Ten Hag to take us back into Europe’s biggest competition.
Ten Hag will know that nobody has really succeeded as United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson, although fellow Dutchman delivered an FA Cup before Jose Mourinho won the League Cup and Europa League.
Former United star Blind was part of Ajax’s title-winning side this season and he is backing Ten Hag to succeed at Old Trafford.
“Erik ten Hag is a great guy,” Blind told Bij Andy in de Auto, as quoted by the Metro.
“It’s not an easy job, of course, but he doesn’t run away from it either. He takes up the challenge.
“I am quite confident in him at Manchester United but he needs the board behind him. At Ajax he had [Edwin] Van der Sar and [Marc] Overmars behind him whatever happened, also in bad times.
“I hope he gets the time there, he is one of the best managers around.”
The board should listen to Blind but I’m sure they will be too busy pleasing Joel Glazer and co in Tampa.
However, during his time at United, Blind won three trophies: FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League.
In the same interview, the versatile defender explained why he left United.
The 32-year-old added (quotes via United in Focus): “I was a bit dubious at United. I could stay, but it was a bit hopeless in the second year under Mourinho.
“I wanted something different and I wanted to play. I preferred to go home. I was also a bit tired of traveling. We had to stay in a hotel for every match and I was kind of done with that.”
Blind also praised Mourinho for showing him a completely different approach to football.
“Mourinho was completely different from what you know as a Dutch footballer. He is so performance oriented and tactical.
“It was defensive, but he can read matches in advance like that. He can completely destroy an opponent by putting down the tactics. I thought it was great to experience that.”
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