Erik ten Hag: The manager who took the patient road to Manchester United

For a manager whose progress has been calculated in meticulous detail, Erik ten Hag’s appointment as Manchester United’s next permanent manager is the latest step in his carefully considered journey.

Ten Hag was announced on Thursday as the club’s fifth permanent manager since Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in 2013 and has been handed the task of bringing success back to Old Trafford.

The 52-year-old emerged as United’s first choice after impressing their restructured football operations department with his long-term vision for the club and core principles of attacking football and commitment to developing youth.

United officials were willing to look past Ten Hag’s lack of experiencing of managing in one of Europe’s top five leagues, given his success at Ajax in recent years, and believe that the Dutchman can continue his remarkable upward trajectory by returning glory and pride to the club.

Indeed, Ten Hag progressed through the ranks in Holland to earn the biggest job in Dutch club football and although reaching the Champions League semi-finals with his exciting Ajax team is often remembered as his crowning achievement, he would not have reached Old Trafford without the work he put in along the way.

Born in Haaksbergen, a small town in the east of Holland near the German border, Ten Hag grew up as a football fanatic. His family, who remain in the area and run a successful real estate company, were not interested in football and his obsession with the game instead developed organically.

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He earned a reputation as a talented player in his town and was scouted by FC Twente at the age of 12. He went on to have a solid but unspectacular career as a central midfielder. Ten Hag had three spells at Twente after reaching the first team, also playing for De Graafschap, RKC Waalwijk and Utrecht and making a total of 336 appearances in 13 years as a professional.

Ten Hag retired at the age of 32, believing there was little else to be learnt or achieved from playing, and immediately went into coaching. It was here where his road to Manchester United truly began – and his was a hard and patient path. Each step saw him gain valuable experience, even if the progress of his development was not always clear to see.

He returned to Twente and began working with the club’s youth teams, where he caught the eye as a coach after producing impressive results on the training ground. He was appointment head of the club’s academy and from there joined the coaching staff of the first team. Ten Hag would strike up a key relationship with Fred Rutten, his coaching mentor, as well as Steve McClaren – who succeeded Rutten as Twente manager.

Ten Hag and McLaren would overlap by one season – enough time for the former England manager to come away with a glowing impression of the Dutchman through the time and detail he put into his training sessions. The pair are set to resume working together at Old Trafford, with Ten Hag keen for McClaren to take up a role on his coaching staff.

Ten Hag joined Rutten at PSV in the season McLaren led Twente to the title in his second season but by the time Ten Hag landed his first managerial position – at second division side Go Ahead Eagles – his reputation had enhanced, and he was regarded as one of the brightest coaches in the country.

Ten Hag led Go Ahead to their first promotion to the Eredivisie in 17 years in his sole season at the club. “Behind every training session, there was an idea,” Marnix Kolder, who was Go Ahead’s captain at the time, told The Independent. “He makes every player better. Tactical, physical. Erik left nothing to chance. He was prepared for every opponent, down to the last detail.”

Ten Hag’s next move was fairly unexpected. In 2013 he became the manager of Bayern Munich’s second team and arrived in Bavaria at the time as Pep Guardiola. It meant taking the step down from the top flight in Holland to the fourth tier in Germany but Ten Hag could see the bigger picture.

Not only did he relish the opportunity to learn from Guardiola, who would later influence his own approach at Ajax, but he also soaked up the knowledge of working for a major European club, an experience that would help him at Ajax and is set to be important at Manchester United, too.

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Ten Hag’s move to Ajax came via a two-year spell at Utrecht in which he was named Eredivisie manager of the year on two occasions and helped the club punch above its weight. It was enough to convince Ajax to come calling in December 2017, with Ten Hag a mid-season appointment following the sacking of Marcel Keizer.

It was a significant step up for Ten Hag, the man from the small town in the east of the country who had landed the biggest job in Dutch club football. He was in many ways an outsider at a club storied in tradition and culture. Ten Hag came from outside of that bubble. He was not steeped in the Ajax way, of Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels, but he would still help return the club to its former glories.

Ten Hag’s spell at Ajax will be remembered for leading the club to the Champions League semi-finals in the 2018-19 season, knocking out European heavyweights in Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus while playing a style of football that Ajax could be proud of.

Key to his success was harnessing the power of the club’s famous academy, with Frenkie De Jong, Matthijs de Ligt and Donny van de Beek symbolising a fresh young team who emerged together and came within seconds of reaching the Champions League final.

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Ten Hag was given time to instil his principles and Ajax reaped the rewards, even after De Jong, De Ligt and Van de Beek were snapped up following their European run. Instead, Ten Hag built again, utilising the next wave of local talent, and his Ajax team won the double last year, repeating the feat they achieved in the season they reached the Champions League final.

Tottenham Hotspur considered a move for Ten Hag last summer but United have now acted swiftly after the Dutchman emerged as their unanimous choice during the club’s recruitment process. There is plenty of work to do in order to succeed in a job where many have failed, but Ten Hag will be out to prove there is yet more progress to be made in his journey.