ERIK TEN HAG has had the infrastructure of the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand at Old Trafford redone to suit his needs for a new players’ lounge.
Both Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho wanted the dedicated facility so players could arrive at the ground early and have their meals and team meeting there rather than get together at the city centre Lowry Hotel the night before.
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has won a battle over club facilities that predecessors Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho lostGetty
ReutersRed Devils’ players will now prepare before matches at Old Trafford rather than at Manchester’s five-star Lowry Hotel[/caption]
But that meant the club having to give up prime match day hospitality space for sponsors and guests.
They were denied the request but it shows the power and control of Ten Hag at Old Trafford now that he gets his way.
Now one of the suites in the stand has been converted into a facility for the players.
The club have had to completely revamp other match day hospitality rooms to accommodate Ten Hag’s requirements and move sponsors and guests around.
The club’s directors’ lounge has even come under reconstruction although it is unclear if that is a direct result or was planned.
Some of the cost will be recouped from the fact that they won’t have a bill to pay at The Lowry for their pre-match preparation for every home game.
Another positive is the security factor if there is another full on protest against The Glazers stopping the team bus getting to the ground.
The players will be going straight to Old Trafford by themselves much earlier than usual.
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That protest came in May 2021 during lockdown causing the postponement of the teams’ home game against Liverpool.
Mourinho was also angry at how long it would take for the bus to get from The Lowry to Old Trafford for evening games.
It infamously lead to an angry ‘Special One’ disembarking the bus in October 2018 before United’s Champions League game against Juventus and walking to the ground when it got stuck in traffic.
The new arrangements will be welcomed by the players who can now spend an extra night with their families before home games rather than be cooped up in a hotel.
There was a lounge in the Old Trafford tunnel in the past for family and friends to meet with the players after the game but that has long since stopped being used.
It is another example of Ten Hag’s attention to every detail.
He is meticulous with pre-match preparation.
It lead to him even stopping the players from wearing their Carabao Cup Final suits to Wembley last season because of the extra ten minutes it would take to change back out of them.
Instead he insisted they arrived in training kit.
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