Sir Alex Ferguson congratulated Erik ten Hag (Picture: Sky Sports)
By Manchester United’s standards, six years without a trophy is effectively a lifetime.
Despite the money spent in recent years, it’s been six long seasons since the Red Devils last got their hands on silverware.
That came in May 2017, when Jose Mourinho’s side beat Ajax in the Europa League final.
Few could have guessed it would be this long until the Red Devils got back to winning ways but it’s taken Erik ten Hag’s appointment to get United back to becoming winners.
Today’s victory against Newcastle United was just the fourth piece of silverware since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 and while that may not read too badly on paper, it’s not the sort of record that fans had grown accustomed to with the Scot.
And nobody was as pleased to see United win on the big stage again as Ferguson, who waited patiently for Ten Hag in the Wembley tunnel to congratulate the Dutchman on his victory.
The pair had dinner in Manchester last week before Ten Hag masterminded a fantastic comeback win against Barcelona on Thursday.
Ferguson is said to be particularly enamoured by Ten Hag and feels the Dutchman has restored winning principles to United.
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And that was clear to see as Ferguson embraced Ten Hag in the tunnel to congratulate him on his first trophy as United manager.
Speaking afterwards, Ten Hag confirmed just how pleased Ferguson was.
‘He [Sir Alex] was there after the match. He is a happy man tonight,’ said Ten Hag.
MORE : Harry Maguire snubs Avram Glazer during Manchester United’s Carabao Cup celebrations
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What a sight.
