Gary Lineker clearly hasn’t forgotten Erik ten Hag row immediately after Man Utd sack

Erik ten Hag was sacked by Manchester United on Monday, less than 24 hours after their 2-1 defeat to West Ham - and Gary Lineker was quick to remind of a certain exchange with the ousted tactician

BBC favourite Gary Lineker has recalled the tense moment he shared with Erik ten Hag soon after Manchester United sacked their manager.

United announced they have cut ties with Ten Hag less than 24 hours after losing 2-1 to West Ham, leaving the club 14th in the Premier League. While many understood the Dutchman's job future was uncertain despite last term's FA Cup triumph, even Lineker and colleague Alan Shearer admitted their surprise at the decision.

Having ended last season eighth in the league and at the bottom of their Champions League group, it seemed as though United's Wembley face-off against Manchester City could be Ten Hag's last stand. But after upsetting City to secure United's second major trophy in as many seasons, Ten Hag sniped at Lineker and Shearer for their critical stance towards him.

Now with Ten Hag out of a job, the Match of the Day host couldn't help but bring up that icy interaction on a special edition of The Rest is Football podcast (via the Manchester Evening News), where the host said: "We had the experience, didn't we, of the FA Cup Final, where he had a bit of a go, particularly at Alan?"

Their exchange on the Wembley turf turned sharp when Lineker questioned whether he thought the Match of the Day team had treated him unfairly. And Ten Hag sharply responded: "I think so. The team, me as well, it was not right."

Coming to his own defence, Shearer retorted by pointing out the inconsistency in United's performances: "The only thing I would say to that, though. . .you had a team out there today who showed a great attitude, great ability, won every single tackle. That hasn't always been the case this season, though, has it?

"So you can understand why we do criticise sometimes. If you played like that every single week, you wouldn't have finished in eighth. Today was unbelievable."

Even after a tireless display, a relentless Ten Hag refused to take the comments lying down and responded: "We didn't have the players [due to injuries]. You're right, we've seen the same things, there was not always good football. Definitely not. But we had to make all the time compromises.

"Then you can't play the football you want to play. I'm now two years here and probably three or four times we had a full squad. Today some massive players - Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Casemiro - were not in the squad."

Reflecting on their discussion, Shearer suggested the United brass perhaps should have fired Ten Hag after the FA Cup win. However, optics played their part as the board then had to consider how that would appear in the wake of such a meaningful result.

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"I think that as bizarre as it seems, it perhaps put a spanner in the works with their plans, because they had big decisions to make," he said. "United were brilliant in the FA Cup Final. Then, all of a sudden, I think their plans were, 'Oh s***, this probably has to change now. This is not going to look good if we [sack him]'.

"They stuck with him, they gave him a new contract, they spoke to other managers and then the United fans hope and expect things to improve from the beginning of the season and they just haven’t."

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