Benni McCarthy explains a Day In The Life at Manchester United under Erik ten Hag

Benni McCarthy has detailed the intricacies of working at Carrington as a Manchester United coach under Erik ten Hag.

The South African was added to Ten Hag’s coaching team to focus on helping the forwards in the squad. Marcus Rashford has previously cited McCarthy’s influence on his impressive form during the 2022/23 campaign.

Formally a top class striker in his own right, scoring 174 career goals for clubs such as Ajax, Blackburn and FC Porto, McCarthy knows a thing or two about putting the football into the back of the net.

He had previously worked as a head coach for South African clubs Cape Town City and AmaZulu FC but decided to take on a role in Ten Hag’s backroom staff for his next gig in July last year.

The last eleven months have been, in his own words, the hardest that McCarthy has worked in his coaching career so far. However, the expectations at United is something that the offensive coach was always aware of.

“That is correct,” replied McCarthy when asked if he’s working harder than ever at United on 947 Joburg. “I think if you put together both my jobs as head coach at Cape Town City and AmaZulu into one; it doesn’t come close to the workload at Man United.

“It is relentless but that’s expected because of the levels that you’re working at and the amount of world class players that you deal with on a daily basis.”

Throughout his tenure so far, Ten Hag has continually cited that “good is not good enough” at Old Trafford. He wants his team to become one of the best in the world and McCarthy has detailed the extensive workload that the management team go through on a day-to-day basis to ensure that they are steering in the right direction.

“We have to be ultra prepared every single day,” he added. “So in the morning at seven or half-past seven, we are already delegating the training sessions, the individual sessions, all of the data and everything, we’re getting that together.

“Then the players come in and you have your usual meetings and in the office working tirelessly on new content to supplement the manager.

“And then, six a clock in the evening that’s when I leave to go home and that’s just working as an attacking coach… the manager, oh my goodness, it’s just frightening.

“But when you see the results and the progress that the team is making then you don’t mind all those hard hours that you put in because its worthwhile, when you see the success that Man United have everywhere in the world, wow! We are like superheroes.”

Read More: “A crime” – Man United coach Benni McCarthy’s passionate defence of criticised player