Erik ten Hag has raised Manchester United's standards with 'crazy' dressing room approach

Shortly after Erik ten Hag took his first job in management at Go Ahead Eagles, the club's players realised he was not an ordinary manager. He immediately laid down the law in pre-season and sought to improve discipline at every level.

Ten Hag wanted everything under control and that extended to the training bibs, which had to be colour-coordinated. He also once reprimanded those in the squad who completed a training run 10 seconds earlier than the time that was instructed.

The Manchester Evening News was told in October that the dressing room at Go Ahead Eagles initially thought Ten Hag was 'crazy', but that he was eventually regarded, at the end of his tenure there, as a coach who was destined for the top.

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Ten Hag managed Bayern Munich II, Utrecht and Ajax after his debut season in management in the Netherlands' second tier and he now finds himself at Manchester United, a club which he is currently moulding, in hope of reaching that summit.

That journey couldn't have begun much worse, with embarrassing defeats against Brighton and Brentford at the beginning of the season, but Ten Hag has overcome that to become the most favoured manager at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson.

After the Brentford debacle, on the day after the defeat as punishment, it was revealed that Ten Hag had ordered his players to do a gruelling 14-kilometre run but that he also took part in the session himself, to show his togetherness with the squad.

Just like Go Ahead Eagles' players did in pre-season, the dressing room at Carrington would have thought he was 'crazy', yet that training ground punishment worked, as United responded by winning four consecutive games and they have