Erik ten Hag has taken charge of Manchester United’s reserve team in a bid to open up a better pathway into his senior side.
The Dutchman has revealed how he told Old Trafford bosses during negotiations last spring that he would only agree to become their new boss if he was also given full control of the club’s Under-23 squad.
Ten Hag works closely with official Under-23 boss Mark Dempsey and coach Paul McShane - but takes the ultimate decisions on all team selection matters and even determines players’ positions and how many minutes they are given on the pitch.
The United manager undertook a similar dual role at Ajax because he believes it is the best way to get an accurate overview of the talent coming through the system.
Ten Hag explained: “For me, cooperation between all the different departments is crucial to get the right culture in a club. Like at Ajax, when I entered Manchester United the reserve team was isolated.
“It was no longer really part of the academy, but it wasn’t part of the first team either. I changed that immediately - just as I did when I entered Amsterdam.
“At Ajax, the reserve team came under the responsibility of the manager. That was the only way I could have influence on the flow of young, talented players towards the first team.
“Of course I still give the coaches freedom to work, but I also give them direction, by saying for example ‘I want that player to start making minutes in that position.’
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“So the final responsibility lies with me about how the second team performs and the flow of players that goes from the reserve team to the first team.”
One of the big factors in Ten Hag deciding to become United manager was the club’s proud tradition of producing young players.
There has been a homegrown talent named in every United squad since October 1937. Yet Ten Hag still identified a need for improvement when he was involved in discussions to leave Ajax to take over at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag said: “This is totally new for the people at Manchester United, but I had already discussed it during the introductory talks with the club management.
“They were immediately open to it. They looked at Ajax with admiration because of how the club always manages to get youth players successfully through the system.
“There is a constant influx of talents at Ajax and I explained that’s because the basis of everything at the club is the youth academy.
“When I was going home from my work at Ajax in the evening, I would often see the under-8s or under-9s training and I would stay to watch.
“In the final phase of a player’s academy years and the step up to the first team, it is all about the structure between the academy director, the reserve-team coach and the manager. This is what I mean when I talk about cooperation.”
Ten Hag added: “I talked to (director of football) John Murtough about this at length before I came to Manchester and he set it up in such a way that I can work this way here too.
“In the Netherlands, I had made the step towards taking more of a managerial role at Ajax. If you don't have competent people around you, you can't delegate and you're going to do it all yourself anyway.
“But if you do have competent people, you have to bring them into your vision and then you can delegate tasks. An example is the training process with the senior team. I know this is in good hands with (coach) Mitchell van der Gaag.
“Because he is at the training sessions, I can often take an overview view. Then, as a manager, you see a lot more than if you are working on the training exercises yourself.”
