Manchester United icon and Erik ten Hag’s fellow Dutchman Jaap Stam believes the timing of the 54-year-old’s sacking was poor.

Ten Hag lost his job on Monday after the Man Utd the hierarchy unanimously agreed that his time was up after 2-1 Premier League defeat on Sunday at West Ham.

The Dutch coach replaced Ralf Rangnick after the 2021/22 campaign and was sacked after winning the Carabao Cup in his first season and the FA Cup in 2023/24.

Sporting head coach Ruben Amorim would replace Ten Hag at Old Trafford and has already asked the Red Devils board to sell four players he ‘doesn’t interest’.

Man Utd co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe held talks with several managers over the summer but ultimately decided to extend Ten Hag’s contract by 12 months.

Former club defender Stam believes Ten Hag’s sacking should have come after FA Cup final victory against Manchester City in May rather than two months after the start of the 2024/25 campaign.

He also believes Ratcliffe showed no support for Ten Hag after the terrible decision to extend his contract and criticized the billionaire for speaking to managers while the former Ajax boss was still at the club.

“If they wanted to remove Erik Ten Hag as a manager they should have done it this summer,” Stam said.

“When you look for other managers and talk to other managers, I don’t think it’s good for the current one.

“If you’re unsure about them, the decision has to be made there – but if you agree to a new deal and still want to move forward with Erik, you have to follow him and support him on the long term.

“The way it was done at that time was a difficult decision and, for me, made a little quickly.

“Only two months or so after signing a new contract seems a bit too early to me and I think he should have been given more time.”

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Stam acknowledged that Ten Hag deserves blame, but believes the entire club must take responsibility for its current state.

“United’s players clearly need to step up and they haven’t played to the level they should have been – but that’s a club thing as a whole.

“The manager must take responsibility because he is responsible for the team, but higher up, things must also be better; recruiting and getting the right players for the right system and player style has been lacking.

“If you want to win trophies and challenge the best teams you have to be consistent and these players weren’t.

“They play for one of the biggest clubs in the world and have to show that every week and challenge their teammates to be better – but we haven’t seen that happen much in recent years.”

Meanwhile, former Premier League midfielder Steve Sidwell believes Man Utd’s players will show a “massive improvement” under Amorim.

“I think if this appointment happens the players will accept it like you wouldn’t believe,” Sidwell said on Aerial sports.

“I think they will be over the moon with someone who plays forward-thinking, on the front foot, attacking football, dynamic, intense, aggressive in possession, aggressive when he doesn’t have the ball.

“I think we’re going to see a massive improvement from these players, which is wrong in the sense that you shouldn’t have to be motivated to play for any football club, let alone Manchester United.

“This did not happen under Ten Hag. Now I think with this man coming in, he’s just going to give them that lift.