For manager taking in realistic options and Levy as chairman I think Erik Ten Hag made perfect sense. I think he fits with what the club and fans talk about wanting, I think he has a CV that indicates he is likely able to handle a move up to our club. I like his use of both youth players and older players that may not have fit at other clubs in the past. I would also have worked with him to bring in a DOF or staff to handle that role that he was comfortable with.
As for DOF, I think the two "big" names, Rangnick and Campos, that are often mentioned would have been by far better choices for the role based on their backgrounds and our club.
For me Rangnick was the guy based on his work in setting up the RB system. While we likely aren't going to have a direct feeder club like RB has with Salzburg, the model of brining in young players and having the youth academy working with the first team seems like the kind of set up that Levy talks about wanting with the sustainable club he consistently talks about. RB have been able to move on from managers and player leaving and still maintain success by having players ready to come up to the club through the system as well as identifying players at other clubs that fit their system. By having an overall club plan and philosophy it makes it much easier to plan ahead rather than react when changes are needed, something that has been a major issue for us.
Outside of those two names, I would also have looked at clubs like Ajax, Leicester, BVB as they also seem to have a similar set up to what Levy claims we want in terms of bringing players with a non-ESL level spending.