Steve McClaren has revealed he once told Erik ten Hag “it’s you or him” amid his row with Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United.
Club legend Ronaldo sealed a fairytale return to Old Trafford in 2021 as he rejoined from Juventus.
His homecoming quickly became a nightmare despite scoring 24 goals in his first season back.
Ronaldo played under three managers in a turbulent 2021-22 campaign as Michael Carrick and then Ralf Rangnick took the reigns after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer‘s sacking.
And the tide started to turn after Erik ten Hag was appointed the following season, with Ronaldo quickly falling out of favour.
Ronaldo struggled to adapt in the Dutchman’s high pressing system, having joined the club in his late 30s.
Eventually tensions grew between Ronaldo and Ten Hag after he was left out of a number of games.
One one occasion, Ronaldo refused to come on as a sub during United‘s win over Tottenham in late 2022.
He later gave a bombshell interview accusing United of “betraying” him, insisting he had no respect for Ten Hag before joining Saudi side Al-Nassr in a blockbuster deal.
McClaren, who worked as a coach under Ten Hag, has now lifted a lid on the saga, including the stark warning he gave to the ex-United manager.
He told the Athletic: “Erik tried to impose his style and that’s why he had that fight with Ronaldo all the way through. I said to Erik, very early, ‘It’s you or him’.
“Ronaldo was generally OK. But he didn’t want to do the job that Erik wanted him to do. Or didn’t feel he was capable of doing it.
“The instructions out of possession were, ‘Get into the middle, as soon as you’re back, you’re the first press, then double run, even a triple run now and again’.
“I used to say to Ronnie, ‘If you want to play, that’s what you’ve got to do’. He’d argue, ‘Ah, nobody wants to press’. I’d say, ‘Well, they’re all young lads, they can press’.
“I said, ‘You have to run, it’s simple, Ronnie. If you don’t, you don’t play’.”
The Ronaldo feud was one of the major sticking points in Ten Hag’s tenure before being axed in October 2024.
And McClaren has claimed he didn’t have enough time to get all the players onside and reading off the same hymn sheet.
He added: “Maybe other managers have tried to adapt and accommodate to get the best out of [Ronaldo].
“With Fergie, he was right or you were out. If you weren’t with him and he knew it, you were gone.
“And that’s the authority, the power that he had developed over years and years. The Gaffer, Sir Alex, got time to do it. Erik didn’t get the same time.”
