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💷 Sacking Erik Ten Haag was Very Costly
This week Manchester United revealed how expensive it was to sack Erik Ten Haag and Dan Ashworth. Lets just say, it wasn't cheap...
Jordan Macauley
February 24, 2025
Happy Monday everyone. Welcome to the 101 of you that have subscribed in the past week.
I am flabbergasted by how much money the England Cricket Board (ECB) has received from the sale process of their stakes in The Hundred.
This graphic produced by Cricinfo shows the total valuation of each franchise and how much of them were purchased…
The total valuation for the teams reached £975m(!), with the ECB generating over £550m to repurpose back into recreational cricket.
As a huge fan of English cricket I am over the moon at the execution of this from the ECB. In five short years they have generated £500m out of thin air! I still have questions on what these investors have actually purchased but I am marvelling the excellent strategy to generate money for the sport.
I am now equally fascinated to see what happens to The Hundred itself!
Anyway, the good news stops here for me. We now move onto Manchester United…
On May 25th 2024 Manchester United beat Manchester City at Wembley to win the FA Cup for the 13th time.
I watched every second of that match, it was a surprisingly fantastic performance by my beloved club considering our form at the time and how dominant City were in the league that season.
That match however, unbenknownst to many, made Erik Ten Hag millions of Pounds.
The timeline of events following that match were very costly for Manchester United.
In the months proceeding that FA Cup Final, things went like this:
May 25th 2024: United Beat City in the FA Cup Final
July 4th: United trigger one-year contract extension for Erik Ten Haag
September 29th: United lose 3-0 at home to Spurs
October 28th: Erik Ten Haag sacked
9th December: Dan Ashworth sacked
19th February 2025: United release Financial Results
Those accounts were quite revealing:
This figure also includes pay-off for sporting director Dan Ashworth. Compensation for Ten Hag & staff was previously given as £10.4m so Ashworth compo was £4.1m despite working at Utd for just 159 days. #mufc
— Chris Wheeler (@ChrisWheelerDM)
12:21 PM • Feb 19, 2025
The cost of firing managers is often not cheap. After a poor run of form fans often say things like “just get rid of him” not knowing the financial implications that come with such a move.
There have been some very costly managerial sackings in the Premier League. To put this into perspective, here are the top 5:
Manager | Club | Year | Estimated Severance Package |
|---|---|---|---|
Antonio Conte | Chelsea | 2018 | £26.0m |
José Mourinho | Manchester United | 2018 | £19.6m |
José Mourinho | Tottenham Hotspur | 2021 | £16.0m |
Nuno Espírito Santo | Tottenham Hotspur | 2021 | £14.0m |
Luiz Felipe Scolari | Chelsea | 2009 | £13.6m |
As you can see from this list, £10.1m to ETH (and his staff) is not an insignificant amount. It sits 9th in the all time list for sackings in the Premier League.
I firmly believe that he would not have got that extension if United lost that final. United might not also be 15th in the Premier League had ETH been sacked in the summer, rather than October!
Regardless, shoutout to José Mourinho. As you can see from the table, he has absolutely chopped from his two stints in the Premier League 😮💨
Finally, following one of the greatest boxing cards we’ve ever been served on Saturday night, an insight from Amir Khan on how much he received when he fought Canelo Alvarez all those years ago:
Yeah, thats alot of money.
See you next week.