Manchester United have sacked Erik ten Hag after Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to West Ham saw the club record one of their worst starts to a Premier League season.

United have one win from their past five top-flight games and sit 14th in the division, seven points above the relegation zone, after scoring just eight goals in nine league games. The club’s hierarchy felt that there were no excuses for the performance on the field and made the decision to part ways with Ten Hag, the club informed him on Monday morning.

Former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who joined the club’s coaching staff this summer, will take charge of the first team in the short term, along with other incumbent members of the club’s backroom. United’s next match is at home to Leicester in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.

It was thought that Ten Hag needed to win at least one of last week’s games against Fenerbahce in the Europa League and at West Ham. United drew 1-1 against Jose Mourinho’s side in Turkey and the result on Sunday sealed his fate. United were keen to give him time as they wanted as much continuity as possible amid a period of change at the club. It was hoped that Ten Hag would work closely with new sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox to help turn the club around after finishing eighth last season, but there has been no apparent improvement.

The decision is the most significant taken by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his allies since his company Ineos took a minority stake. United finished eighth in the Premier League last season, their lowest finish since 1990, and have started this season with four wins from 13 games in all competitions.

In early September, United CEO Omar Berrada and Ashworth publicly threw their support behind Ten Hag. “Do we still believe in Erik?” Berrada said. “Absolutely. We think Erik is the right coach for us and fully support him.” However, three days later the Guardian reported that its ‘game model’ was under scrutiny.

Ten Hag was under intense pressure at the end of last season but oversaw victory against Manchester City in the FA Cup final and kept his job after United held talks with a number of candidates.

Among them was Thomas Tuchel, who ruled himself out and then took the job as coach of the England national team. Other potential successors include Brentford’s Thomas Frank and former England manager Gareth Southgate.

Ten Hag left Ajax to succeed interim manager Ralf Rangnick at United for the 2022-2023 season. The Dutchman was given a contract until June 2025, with the option to extend for another year, which was included in a short-lived show of support from Ratcliffe this summer.

After extending his contract, Ten Hag received support on the transfer market. Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Joshua Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte all joined the club for large sums, but none seemed to have been permanently committed since his arrival. Questions were raised over Ten Hag’s signings, with the £85.6 million spent to bring Antony from Ajax seen as a disastrous move.

United finished third, 14 points above, in Ten Hag’s first campaign and won the Carabao Cup, beating Newcastle in the final.