Brian Kidd has lauded Erik ten Hag for his first season in charge for Manchester United ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup final.
The Reds ended a six-year wait without a trophy when they won the Carabao Cup in February and we could make it a cup double on Saturday when we take on rivals Man City in the FA Cup final.
Ten Hag has stayed true to Manchester United’s ethos in his quest to bring back a winning mentality to the club, which is something understandably admired by Kidd.
To make the season even better, United are back in the top four with a third place finish, so that means Champions League football will return next season.
Kidd won the European Cup with United in 1968 as a academy graduate and assisted Sir Alex Ferguson for the majority of the 90s. He later joined Man City’s coaching staff.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News ahead of the FA Cup final, Kidd said: “When you look from the outside looking in, he is not afraid to play the kids, is he? So that is a good thing.
“Then you go back to Jimmy (Murphy) and Sir Matt (Busby) if you are good enough you are old enough. I can’t believe I was 17, you would think he was going to buy players when I went on the tour to Australia. Then I got that first full season then we won the European Cup. They had faith in you.
“Then you need the senior pros there to bring them along. When you have Bobby (Charlton) and Denis (Law) and George (Best) and Bill Foulkes and Tonny Dunne. They looked after you.
“I can remember Eusebio saying ‘who’s Kidd?’ Nobody had heard of me. You do need that. You need the senior guys to look after you.
“Somebody said to me today about the League Cup. it’s silverware. Make sure you are putting silverware on the sideboard, It doesn’t matter. That is the demand. You can’t be flippant. They’ve got a trophy on the table.
“It is the way that it is. The mantra was put silverware on the sideboard every season. That is the demand.”
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