Manchester United will face Reading on Saturday in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Erik ten Hag will be hoping to get another win under his belt in what is proving to be a successful first season at Old Trafford. But he would have made his debut in management in England a lot sooner had Reading had their way.
Before he was United manager or even winning multiple Eredivisie titles with Ajax, he was the manager of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He had moved there after leaving his post as manager of Bayern Munich's reverse side and was gaining plaudits for his progress there.
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Reading were in the market for a new manager back in 2016 having sacked Brian McDermott. Sporting director Brian Tevreden, who had been a youth coach at Ajax, wanted to take the club in a new direction.
He approached Ten Hag having been impressed by the Dutchman's work. He told talkSPORT last year: “I knew Erik from when he was a coach at Go Ahead Eagles. He did pretty well, he got promoted with that team, I liked how he played with young players.
“After that, he was at Bayern Munich’s second team and, from the stories that I hear and the things that I saw when I watched games, I was really impressed with that. He then went to Utrecht and did the same thing again."
He continued: "When I made my transfer to Reading as a sporting director and the club made the decision to sack Brian McDermott, I made a list of managers from England and from abroad. He was my number one target."
However, it was not to be. Though Ten Hag was receptive to the idea of a move, Tevreden went on to explain that the club did not have the funds to pay the manager's £300,000 release clause.
Reading went on to appoint another name familiar to United fans, former defender Jaap Stam, who stayed at the club for two years before being sacked in March 2018.
When Ten Hag steps into the Old Trafford dugout to face Reading on Saturday, he may well remember the opportunity they were willing to give him - but no doubt he'll be happy with how things turned out in the end.
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