HARRY MAGUIRE believes the uncertainty over Erik ten Hag’s future was the reason for Manchester United’s worst finish in the history of the Premier League.
And he has praised the manager for staying strong to lift the team to an unlikely FA Cup Final victory over Manchester City which saw the boss keep his job and signal a new dawn for the club.
Before that, United’s season had begun to unravel in December as they lost five games in eight, finished bottom of their Champions League group and begun to slide down the league.
Rumours persisted of the boss being axed which intensified as new part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe failed to publicly back him and United finished eighth in the league.
Maguire said: “Yeah, it was tough, some of the things that came out in the lead up to the Cup final were really poor, I felt.
“He handled it brilliantly, to be honest, he just took each day as it comes. From us players, we didn’t see anything different in the manager, so credit to him for the way he handled it. And all his staff as well.
“There was so much uncertainty around the club. Especially the staff, the manager, all of the other staff as well around the club, they didn’t know what was happening the following year. It was tough.
“It probably did damage our performances and results throughout the season maybe a little bit. Especially when it happened around that Christmas period when we really did fall off.
“But credit to the manager, the way that he handled it. To have the lead up in the way that he did and to produce a performance like we did in the cup final and turn things around was really impressive.”
Even after that FA Cup Final victory, which Maguire missed through injury, the players did not know if they were going to a post-match celebration in the ballroom of the Mayfair Marriott or Ten Hag’s farewell.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS
Maguire said: “It was so strange. No one really knew what was going on. No one had assurance.
“If you asked the players, they’ll probably just say they didn’t really know because no one really had a clue.
“But, it was really impressive with the way that he handled that week and took them out with a victory against probably the best team in Europe at the moment.”
Maguire was gutted to miss that Final with injuries at the end of a season when he had won the fans back round.
After two good seasons following his £80million switch from Leicester he suffered like the rest of the team as Ole Solskjaer’s reign collapsed and Ralf Rangnick’s never took off.
Things got even tougher under Ten Hag, who was clearly not a fan of Maguire’s as he preferred Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez and even Luke Shaw got ahead of him in a back three as he became fifth choice.
The captain’s armband was taken off him this time last summer and he was headed for the exit door.
But the lad from Sheffield showed his steel to stay and fight his way back into the team, even winning praise from the boss.
Maguire said: “I’m really proud. I always had great belief in myself. I think it was my third year at the club, under Ralf, where it didn’t go to plan, not just for me, but for the team as well, and ultimately I was the captain of the team as well and I came under a lot of pressure and a lot of scrutiny, and my performances were nowhere near as good as they were in the previous two years.
“My fourth year under Erik, I didn’t play as much as I would have liked, but whenever I did play I felt I did well, but that was down to Rapha (Varane) and Licha (Martinez) doing really well and keeping numerous clean sheets.
“So I knew I had to bide my time and I spoke with the manager last year about my situation, whether to move on and get regular football and regular game time, but he fully believed in me, he always said there will be chances.
“I backed myself to get back into his plans and I was really pleased with the way I handled last year. I thought my form was really, really good in every game I played.”
Still the rumours have not gone away that the world’s most expensive defender could be offloaded this summer.
He has a year left on his contract with the option for a further year that can be taken up by the club.
Maguire is confident the manager still wants him.
He said: “We have a good relationship. There’s a lot of respect there, he’s always been respectful through his time with me.
“When he changed captain, it was really disappointing on behalf of myself but it’s part and parcel of football, you have so many ups and so many downs you’ve just got to maintain that respect and we have a bond and we respect each other highly enough to make the relationship work and we get on really well.
“Until I get told ‘you’re up for sale’ or we want you to leave I want to play for this club and make it successful again and all the things I’m hearing and seeing from everyone involved is I’ll be part of this club for the future.”
It’s a future that Maguire believes looks bright with the changes being made under new part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
He said: “It is exciting times for everyone involved with the club and it is definitely going in the right direction again. As a player and someone who cares about the club it is really good to see.
“It is definitely a more energised club now to be involved in.
“I do believe the structure they have got it will get back to where it should be.”
The United defender also admitted that missing the Euros and the FA Cup final was the “toughest” time of his career and claims he pushed himself too hard before both.
He continued: “It was probably the toughest moment of my career.
“I worked so hard throughout the year, to get myself in a position where I was in a really good position physically and in a really good position mentally to play in the FA Cup final and then thinking about the Euros after that.
“To have an injury which was, to be honest, not a big injury – it was just a calf injury, but it was only a three-week injury, but I just had three setbacks with it.
“When I first did the injury, I thought I’d be fit for the FA Cup final. So I pushed myself for the final, and then I had a setback in the week leading up to the final, which ruled me out of it.
“At that time again, it was no problem, I was going to be fit for the Euros. Then I went away with England and I had another setback, so yeah, it was so frustrating.
“When I look back, I wish I had no chance with all of them, so I could have got my head around it.
“But I thought I was going to play in the cup final or be involved at some stage and I thought 100 per cent I’d be involved at the Euros, but it just didn’t happen and maybe I just pushed myself to get back too early, but definitely it was the toughest moment of my career, definitely.”
Maguire was at the centre of it all in the previous final scoring a penalty in the shoot-out which they ultimately lost to Italy.
This time he cheered his Three Lions teammates on from afar as they reached the final only to fall short again.
He said: “I managed to get over it and I was still in contact with a lot of the lads and obviously a lot of them are my really good close mates and even though it was tough that I wasn’t over there, they did make me feel like I was still part of the group.
“It was tough to not be there but I still managed to watch the boys play and had big groups with my family and friends, who are all big England fans, so I still enjoyed the summer, watching them do well.”
MAN UTD TRANSFER NEWS LIVE: All the latest deals and rumours from Old Trafford
