Erik Ten Hag has named four manager that serves as his source of inspiration behind his coaching style and Ethos.
Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has identify four manager that inspired his coaching style and Ethos as the Dutch man revisit his idol and footballing background.
All four manager he admirers are Dutch, one of them a former United manager in Louis van Gaal. A former Barcelona manager Johan Cruyff,with the man who guided the country to their only major trophy, the 1988 European Championship, Rinus Michels, with with ex-Netherlands coach Kees Rijvers named the biggest influence.
“The best one, the famous one, was the manager of FC Twente, Kees Rijvers,” replied Ten Hag, when asked about his main inspirations. “Later on, he was the manager of PSV [Eindhoven], where he won the UEFA Cup later on [1977/78], and [was] also manager of the Dutch side, the Netherlands.
“Previously, he was a very good player and I also had the luck, for two years, that he was my coach at FC Twente and I learnt a lot about him, about organisation in football, about his philosophy, about playing from the back, attacking football and about team spirit. But also other managers inspired me, definitely, like Louis van Gaal, Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff, they are the big inspirers.
“You never know if you go in that direction finally but, as a player, I already did some courses so that I already had some badges. When I was playing as a professional player, I kept my C and B Licence and the moment I quit, I go for the A Licence.”
In terms of footballers who enchanted Ten Hag as a youngster, he singled out Epi Drost, one of the biggest legends of all time at FC Twente.
“My love for football began as a kid,” he said. “The first time I meet the ball, I start to play, play with your friends. You start following football and, in my young days, Ajax were famous but in my region was FC Twente. We had a great player, at that time, and a really good team. Twente had really many more good players but it was Epi Drost, he was the libero. He was famous for all the risks he’d take from the back.
“He was a good player and famous, really an idol for FC Twente. Still, there is a stand mentioned after him. He was one of the famous, probably the most famous player of FC Twente ever, the club icon.
“I had the luck to work with him later on, when I was selected by FC Twente and came into the youth team. He was coach of the Under-23s and also the assistant manager. I met him and he trained and coached me. Yes [I used to clean his boots], we had the same size of boots, so we shared them!”
