Erik ten Hag has been sacked as Manchester United manager.

The Dutchman was informed on Monday morning and leaves Old Trafford after two and a half years in charge with his final game proving to be the Premier League defeat to West Ham United on Sunday.

That result left the club 14th in the table, seven points off the Champions League qualification places, after just three league wins from nine games and only four in 14 in all competitions.

The club are now working on next steps with former striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, recruited in the offseason to work alongside Ten Hag, having been asked to take charge on an interim basis with the rest of the management staff remaining in position for now.

Ten Hag was retained as United manager in the summer after an end-of-season review following an eighth-place Premier League finish, the club’s lowest since 1990, and a FA Cup final victory over rivals Manchester City.

United triggered a one-year extension option in the 54-year-old’s contract at the start of July. His previous deal, which he signed when he was appointed in 2022, was due to expire in 2025.

However, another hugely disappointing run of form to start the new season has prompted key decision-makers, including chief executive Omar Berrada, sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox, to recommend a change.

United kept Ten Hag in position following the FA Cup win (Michael Regan – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)

The Athletic revealed during the international break that the United hierarchy were scheduled to meet in London while also reporting that Ten Hag’s performance as manager and possible departure was to be discussed at the meeting.

In Ten Hag’s first season at United, he guided them to a third-place finish and oversaw their Carabao Cup triumph, ending a six-year run without a trophy.

Last year, though, United struggled domestically and in Europe, suffering a group-stage exit from the Champions League, and only qualified for the Europa League this season by winning the FA Cup.

United had sounded out potential replacements including now England head coach Thomas Tuchel, newly-appointed USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino, former Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi, Brentford head coach Thomas Frank and Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna.

But at the end of a process led by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, the choice was made to move forward with Ten Hag.

Not much happening here. I'm guessing it's a lack of interest/members. That's too bad.

Just wondering if the ones they sell at the stores work and if so, which brand(s) worked for you.

Are there any other news sources apart from Twitter?

Mastodon has Sportsbots accounts that mirror tweets (Ornstein , Luckhurst, Romano, etc.)but it's constantly broken.

I have RSS reader for Manchester Evening News but a lot of those are clickbait-y and annoying. You can't filter just Luckhurst articles so you have to click on it first.

Finally.

4 goals against at home this week, 0 scored.

Hahahahaha

Who are we cheering for? Obviously both losing would be perfect, but....

Anybody but Liverpool for me. 5-5 draw??

Rasmus Hojlund is expected to be sidelined for up to three weeks with a muscular injury and is likely to miss next month’s Manchester derby.

The 21-year-old striker has been ruled out of Saturday’s Premier League fixture against Fulham and Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie with Nottingham Forest, while the clash with rivals Manchester City on March 3 will likely also come too soon for him.

Hojlund will also face a race to be fit for the league fixtures against Everton on March 9 and Sheffield United on March 16.

His injury comes amid an impressive run of personal form, having scored seven goals in his last six Premier League appearances.

He joins Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Lisandro Martinez, Anthony Martial, Tyrell Malacia and Aaron Wan-Bissaka on United’s injury list.

Marcus Rashford is likeliest to deputise through the middle in Hojlund’s absence, although the England international has struggled for goals this term scoring just five times.

Midfielder Scott McTominay is the club’s second highest goalscorer behind Hojlund’s 13 with eight.

Hojlund joined United from Serie A side Atalanta in July in a deal worth €75million rising to €85m with add-ons.

He has gone on to make 30 appearances in all competitions.

Wayne Rooney has been sacked by Birmingham City after 83 days. Rooney lost nine of his 15 matches and supporters turned on the former England and Manchester United captain during Monday’s 3-0 defeat by Leeds.

For Birmingham and their ambitious American owner, Knighthead, Rooney’s exit is an embarrassing end to a disastrous episode. On the day Rooney was unveiled at St Andrew’s their chief executive, Garry Cook, promised “no-fear football” but they are left needing to salvage their season amid the threat of relegation to League One. Birmingham are six points above the drop zone.

No Championship team have taken fewer points than Birmingham since Rooney’s appointment in October was heralded “as a defining moment for the football club” by Cook.

Cook will come under scrutiny from fans after he drove the move to appoint Rooney on a three-and-a-half-year contract and sack John Eustace, who had guided the team to sixth. Cook tried to sign Rooney as a player while CEO at Manchester City and failed in his attempt to lure him to the Saudi Pro League, in his spell as its executive president and CEO last year, before arriving at Birmingham.

Steve Cooper and Paul Heckingbottom, recently sacked by Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United respectively, are among the targets to take over from Rooney but it is unclear whether they would be tempted.

“We are committed to doing what is necessary to bring success to St Andrew’s,” Cook said. “Unfortunately, Wayne’s time with us did not go as planned and we have decided to move in a different direction.”

Rooney, who joined Birmingham shortly after resigning as DC United manager in the US, said: “Football is a results business – and I recognise they have not been at the level I wanted them to be. However, time is the most precious commodity a manager requires and I do not believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed. Personally, it will take me some time to get over this setback.”

The 38-year-old, who has also managed Derby, wants to continue as a head coach. “I plan to take some time with my family as I prepare for the next opportunity in my journey as a manager,” he said.

Rooney’s tenure was punctuated by difficult moments. At the end of his first home match, a defeat by Hull City, he conceded some of his players had informed him they felt uncomfortable playing his style of play. skip past newsletter promotion

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After the defeat at Leeds, Rooney said: “We are in a difficult moment, there’s no denying that; we have to pull together to get through it. I hope we can bolster the squad in January.”

Birmingham supporters may draw comparisons with the club’s ill-fated decision to sack Gary Rowett in December 2016 in favour of appointing Gianfranco Zola. The Italian won two his 22 league games before resigning four months later.

The coaches John O’Shea, Ashley Cole and Pete Shuttleworth, all of whom Rooney brought into the club, will stay to help the professional development coach, Steve Spooner, who has been appointed interim manager. Rooney’s first-team coach, Carl Robinson, has departed.

Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek has joined Eintracht Frankfurt on loan for the rest of the season.

As part of the deal, Eintracht are paying United a loan fee and covering the majority of Van de Beek’s wages for his six-month stay. The Bundesliga side also hold an €11million (£9.55m, $12.2m) option to buy, with a possible €3m in add-ons.

The Athletic reported earlier this month that Van de Beek had agreed to the move and then signed for Eintracht, with the deal now becoming official on the first day of the January transfer window.

Van de Beek has failed to establish himself at United since his £40m move from Ajax in the summer of 2020. The 26-year-old has made only 62 appearances in all competitions for the Old Trafford side, scoring twice.

Van de Beek made 36 appearances in all competitions in his first season at United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but found game time much harder to come by in his second, leading to a loan move to Everton in January 2022 where he played only seven Premier League games.

The Netherlands international returned to United ahead of the 2022-23 campaign but managed only 10 appearances before suffering a season-ending knee injury in January 2023.

This season, Van de Beek has only featured twice under his former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, with the last of those a late cameo in the 1-0 home defeat by Crystal Palace in late September.

Eintracht are sixth in the Bundesliga at the winter break. Their first game back comes at RB Leipzig on January 13.