Former Manchester United assistant manager Steve McClaren has said that Cristiano Ronaldo fell short of the “set standards” and “set rules” imposed by new manager Erik ten Hag, with these issues eventually forcing the Portugal star out of the club.
Ronaldo left United by mutual consent in November 2022 after a second stint at the club, though his exit was controversial after the Portuguese alleged that ten Hag didn’t respect him – among other things – in an explosive interview with Piers Morgan.
But McClaren told the Telegraph that ten Hag was right when he “stuck to his guns” over the problems surrounding Ronaldo.
“I couldn’t fault Ten Hag’s approach,” McClaren said. “He really handled it very well. I said at the time he was the right man to go in. That was shown in the way he handled Ronaldo.
“He came in with set standards. Set rules. Set way of playing. And if you didn’t run, you didn’t play. He was rigid on that. He knew that was what was needed. There could be no flexibility, no way the players could manoeuvre.”
The ex-England head coach added that previous United managers “tried to adapt” to having Ronaldo in the squad, but ten Hag “didn’t feel it was necessary to do that”, and instead “developed other players”.
McClaren was speaking ahead of Wednesday’s Europa League clash between two of his former clubs. The 63-year-old was assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United between January 1999 and May 2001, and returned to the club in 2022 to act as assistant to ten Hag.
But perhaps McClaren’s most successful stint as a manager came at FC Twente, when he guided them to their first and only Eredivisie title in 2010.
Ten Hag acted as McClaren’s assistant when McClaren was in charge at Twente, with the Dutchman having made over 200 appearances for the club before becoming a coach after retiring.
And McClaren emphasised that the Europa League match “is an unbelievable game that has cropped up for Erik, for Twente and for United”, adding that “Erik’s stamp was all over” Twente when he arrived as manager.
McClaren was recently appointed as Jamaica manager, though despite leaving his post as assistant to ten Hag in May, he says that “I have got to say with Ineos, I see a great future for Manchester United”.
“I think they are behind him [ten Hag] and if they continue like that and stick together United will succeed.”