Manchester United were on the end of another disappointing defeat at the hands of Eddie Howe’s Newcastle on Wednesday night and yet another record they’d rather not have broken as their poor start to the season continues.
As well as the Carabao Cup holders being knocked out of the competition by the team they met in the final last year, the defeat to the Geordie boys just days after losing the Manchester derby by the same scoreline meant that this was the first time Man United have lost by three goals or more since 1962.
To put things into perspective, while the club is back on the up since their takeover, it was the Magpies’ biggest win at Old Trafford in over 100 years (7-4 back in 1930) and also saw the Red Devils mark their eighth loss in their opening 15 games of the season for the first time since 1962/68. Yikes.
They are some truly shocking stats and, sadly for Reds, the unwanted accolades don’t stop there — not even close. Here are some more of the bad records Man United have broken under Erik ten Hag.
United’s loss to Newcastle saw another unwanted record tied to ten Hag’s mast.
The EFL Cup defeat didn’t just see United notch a fifth home loss from their opening 10 fixtures for the first time since 1930-31 but even before that, the damning 3-0 defeat to Man City on Sunday also saw them register a 26th league loss at Old Trafford in nearly a decade since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
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For context, that’s more home defeats than Sir Alex suffered during his entire 26-year career at the Theatre of Dreams. The historic stains just keep coming, both domestically and continentally.
When Galatasaray beat ten Hag’s side 3-2 at Old Trafford just last month, it was the first time the Turkish team had ever won a game on English soil in their entire 117 years as a club; it was also the first away goal they’d scored in the Champions League full stop since 2015.
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United had already equalled their worst start to a league season since 1989 before this European fixture, which also saw them suffer consecutive defeats in their opening two UCL games for the first time ever (yes, another one), and things don’t look to improving any time soon. Honestly, we could go on for quite a while but, luckily, one fan already beat us to it.
Records broken so far this season –
– Galatasaray hadn't won a game on English soil in 117 years of existing, until Erik Ten Hag.
– Manchester United had never lost the opening 2 CL group games, until Erik Ten Hag.
Club legend Gary Neville summed things up yet again last night by saying he saw the “Theatre of Dreams turn into the Theatre of Nothing”, describing every supporter inside the ground as “bored and flat”, before adding, “We’ve seen it before, we know how it ends and we’ve had enough.”
The question is, the way it’s going at the minute, how long will the 53-year-old be given if it continues like this and the football doesn’t improve?
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While most fans still believe the club’s ownership is the root of the problem and things won’t change until the Glazers are gone, many are also wondering if this group of players have already downed tools as has been suggested with managers in the past.
As for the Dutch coach himself, speaking in the post-match presser after the latest defeat, he assured that the team knows the performances are “not good enough”, let alone the results themselves, insisting that he “has to take responsibility” for their failures so far this season and turn things around.
Featured Images — Manchester United/Newcastle United (via Instagram)
Sport
New Amazon Prime Video docuseries to show Pep Guardiola’s final seasons at Manchester City
Emily Sergeant
A new all-access docuseries featuring Pep Guardiola’s final few seasons at Manchester City is set to air this summer.
Coming exclusively to Prime Video in the UK and Ireland, the four-part documentary is set to take Manchester City fans and neutral viewers alike inside the club as the players and manager – who delivered an era of dominance -make way for a new generation.
Filmed over the past two seasons, this is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football, and will offer unfiltered access to Guardiola, his squad, and the City boardroom.
After 10 trophy-filled years – which included six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, three FA Cups, and five EFL Cups – Pep Guardiola called time on his tenure in Manchester last month, alongside fan favourite players Bernardo Silva and John Stones, as well as Kevin De Bruyne the season prior.
This new docuseries was there to follow them every step of the process.
Fans can follow City from a disappointing 2024/25 campaign right through to a domestic double the following season, charting the raw emotion of a squad in transition.
The series is directed by Academy and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker, Kevin Macdonald, alongside City Studios’ John De Caux, and is produced by Kevin Macdonald for Plan B/KM Films and Gavin Johnson and Ged Doherty for City Studios.
“This is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football,” Amazon Prime Video said in a statement.
Joining Prime Video’s wide selection of sports programming, the series will be available to watch at no additional cost to Prime members this summer.
It’ll be ready to stream on 19 August.
Featured Image – Prime Video
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Here’s our petition for ‘Wonderwall’ to become England’s new football anthem
Danny Jones
All things considered, England have made a great start to the 2026 World Cup, pitching themselves as one of the great entertainers this tournament, and the scenes of the supporters and players alike serenading an entire stadium with ‘Wonderwall’ after the full-time whistle gave us chills.
So why not time for a change?
After all, that feels a lot like what this World Cup squad is about: a new manager, new teammates, not clinging to the previous ways of playing – and perhaps it’s time to put ‘Sweet Caroline’ to one side.
Now, we’re by no means saying that we’re ‘done’ with the John Denver anthem that has been reborn as a Three Lions anthem, but look at how good it was watching England belting out Oasis with the fans.
“Today is gonna be the day that England beat Croatia 4-2”, as BBC’s Match of the Day cleverly quipped.
Obviously, we’re biased as Mancs, but we also think there’s something special about having that particular track feel so good to hear again.
As much as we love Oasis, for a long time, it felt like we couldn’t enjoy arguably their biggest-ever single anywhere near as much as we once did.
We assume it’s something akin to hearing ‘Mr Brightside’ non-stop for what felt like millennia, and in truth, hearing those repetitions of “ba, ba, ba… SO GOOD, SO GOOD!” over and over again at sporting fixtures beyond just national team games has taken the magic out of it at times.
Perhaps it’s just a case of saturation in certain settings and songs simply being overplayed – FIFA’s co-hosts over in the US certainly helped see to that when it came to ‘Wonderwall’ for a long time.
On the other hand, it feels like we’ve now come full circle; singing those famous lyrics at the top of our lungs in a sea of Mancs and fans travelling from all over to Heaton Park for Live ’25 last year felt better than ever, and like we’d all remembered how great a tune it’s always been. So did this…
In fact, this felt so emotional that you’ve got people who aren’t even English praising both those on the pitch and up in the stands for the moment online.
Even the admittedly rather American Man vs Food himself, Adam Richman (though he does have British ancestry), felt compelled to write a moving response on social media: “Shut up. You’re the one that’s crying. Bravo, England.”
He’s far from the only one who was left bowled over by the atmosphere – us included.
What do you think? Is it time for a new go-to tournament anthem for the Three Lions moving forward?
Danny Jones -
2nd November 2023 
