For 19 Premier League clubs – including Nottingham Forest – it’s proved a sad week with Erik ten Hag being sent on his way by Manchester United.
Fans love to hate United. For years, they dominated football and it’s fair to say that their supporters revelled in the glory at the expense of rival fans.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson left it’s been a barren time of things by United’s standards and now the club have pushed the reset button all over again.
Last season, Forest claimed a first win over United since 1996 when Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White scored in a 2-1 win.
Forest have some not-so-fond memories of Ten Hag at Old Trafford – particularly when it comes to trying to sign United stars.
Anthony Elanga did swap United for Forest in 2023 but there have been other instances where Ten Hag hasn’t seemed overly easy to deal with from the outside looking in.
Erik ten Hag messed Forest around with James Garner and Dean Henderson
With Garner it was easier to understand his mindset. Ten Hag had just taken the United job and he wanted to run the rule over all of his players at Old Trafford.
Ultimately, though it was still frustrating with Garner desperate to join Forest after a successful loan spell in which he’d helped the club end a 23-year wait for Premier League football.
United messed around so much with Garner that Forest left nothing to chance and added a number of midfield options to the ranks instead.
The young midfielder – rated highly by Cooper – was then finally allowed to leave United, with Everton swooping in and landing a very talented player for a cheap £15 million.
That was perhaps understandable but the fiasco involving Dean Henderson was nothing short of farcical.
Forest landed the United stopper on a season-long loan when Brice Samba announced his intentions to return to France and sign for Lens.
Henderson was very much the number one choice for Steve Cooper with the sense that he was a realistic permanent signing of the loan went well.
Ten Hag took a pop shot at Henderson with a very sly comment during his time at Forest in which the club endured a tough start to life in the Premier League and the stopper conceding a few goals.
Henderson made 20 appearances for Forest but missed games after a season-ending thigh problem in January.
Still, Forest wanted to sign Henderson permanently for a little while and it looked as though a deal would be possible.
Ten Hag had other ideas though and despite his previous comments, he chose not to sanction a move for Henderson – claiming he was keen to look at him for United in pre-season.
Forest had to act. Keylor Navas had returned to PSG after his loan and there were no senior goalkeepers at the club.
That led to Forest walking away – with Matt Turner and Odysseas Vlachodimos both signing for the club and flopping.
The real kick between the legs came weeks later when, with Forest well stocked for goalkeepers, United opted to sell Henderson for a paltry £15 million to Crystal Palace.
That was largely down to Ten Hag and United with Forest now likely to think very carefully when it comes to doing business with the club in the future.
When do Forest play Manchester United this season?
Given the haphazard nature of United’s start, it’s a real shame that Forest didn’t get to take on the basket case that was the Red Devils under Ten Hag.
Instead, Forest will likely face United sporting a new manager and the first meeting comes during a televised game on Saturday 7th December.
The return fixture is scheduled for Tuesday 1st April at the moment when the Reds will be looking to repeat last year’s famous win at the City Ground.
Ten Hag won’t be in the dugout for those two games but the club won’t have forgotten the failed transfer dealings with United in the past and some revenge might be on the menu when the two teams do battle in those games.
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