It is easy to downplay the achievements of Erik ten Hag as manager of Holland’s biggest club.
Ajax, after all, are accustomed to trophies. Success comes with the territory - and that is certainly the case under Ten Hag.
But it is easy to forget that, prior to his arrival midway through the 2017/18 season, they had gone three years without lifting any silverware and waited two decades to reach a Champions League semi-final.
As the beer flows outside the Johan Cruyff ArenA after a convincing win over PEC Zwolle and Sweet Caroline blasts out of the Febo bar, those barren days seem a distant memory. Ajax are closing in on another Eredivisie title, and that is down to the departing Ten Hag.
Read parts one and two of our special series on new Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag below
There are few who have seen what Ten Hag has done at Ajax who would even consider that he has not done more than enough to be worthy of the Manchester United role. Now, he is tasked with the same job of bringing trophies back to a club not accustomed to such a long period without success.
“Everybody thinks it’s well-deserved,” says De Telegraph journalist Mike Verweij. “If you look at his average points and his trophies, he’s one of the best managers ever at Ajax.”
Not only has he racked up the trophies, he has given a belief to those across the Netherlands as a result of the heroics his team achieved before being stunned by a late Tottenham winner in the Champions League semi-finals three years ago.
“Erik ten Hag gave the Netherlands the belief it’s still possible to compete with the best teams in Europe,” Verweij says.
“The likes of Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, all these huge clubs, they have much more money, but with the Dutch philosophy, developing young players and good transfers, he showed you can still compete.
“You will not be in the knockout stage every year, it’s just not going to happen, but Ten Hag made everyone believe it is still possible.”
Ten Hag’s appointment was seen as a big risk, but was representative of Marc Overmars' approach to hiring managers. He gave Ten Hag his first job as a manager at Go Ahead Eagles and, having seen his success at Utrecht, decided he was ready for the biggest job in Holland.
“I think it was typical Marc Overmars,” Verweij says. “He is not only scouting talented players but also talented coaches. Overmars is unique in that. He also dares to give talented managers a chance at Ajax, not just talented players.
“Ten Hag did a really good job at Utrecht, and he also had the experience of the second team of Bayern Munich. It was a big gamble, but Overmars took a risk and it was bullseye in the end.”
Despite spending the majority of his career in Dutch football, Ten Hag brought with him a philosophy not necessarily in tune with the traditional Dutch or Ajax way. He has done things his own way, whether people like it or not.
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“They had to adapt to his kind of football, and it wasn’t the really typical Dutch way of playing,” says former FC Twente team-mate Ellery Cairo.
“Usually it’s the wingers outside, they stay wide, putting in crosses, but when he came, he changed the game a little bit for Ajax.
“He moved the wingers inside, only one man on the outside - the full back or the right or left winger. He changed a lot, and something like that takes time.”
Ten Hag had been in that position before, trying to make wholesale changes at a rapid pace at Utrecht and eventually finding success.
“He did very well in Utrecht,” says former Netherlands international and Feyenoord manager Mario Been, now an analyst for ESPN. “Because of that, he deserved the transfer to Ajax and I think so far he’s been getting everything out of Ajax that is possible.
“He’s a strange type - he’s very above the situation, analysing every game very well. He’s a workaholic, he likes to watch everything and know everything about the opponent.
“He has a clear idea, but he’s been able to adapt to the type of players he has. In Utrecht he played one system, in Ajax he could buy more and he played a different system.”
Just as he did at Utrecht, he turned to experienced heads to do the dirty work alongside his conveyor belt of young stars fresh off the famous Ajax production line.
Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Donny van de Beek, Hakim Ziyech and countless others thrived under Ten Hag’s guidance but were helped by calming heads such as Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic.
Verweij explains: “Ajax is well known because of all the young players, but I think Ten Hag and Overmars saw it was important to also bring in some experienced players.
“It was possible to buy players from Premier League clubs, they knew Tadic and Blind, and they came back to the Netherlands. The mixture of the young players combined with the experience, and Ten Hag’s philosophy, became a real good machine.”
That machine famously came within a whisker of the Champions League final but was a victim of its own success. Their performances sparked a mass exodus with several big names moving on for big fees.
Yet again, Ten Hag was able to find the answers to questions and build a new generation.
“When Ten Hag came, he had to change and build a new team,” Verweij adds. “After the semi-final defeat he had to build a new team again, and I think that’s one of his strengths.
“He can build a new team in his vision - but he needs time to build, and Ajax gave him that. The first half a season when he came in was not great, but they gave him time.”
Continually, Ten Hag has found answers. When watching his side in action against PEC Zwolle, he tweaked his system to a midfield diamond to cope with an injury crisis which left him short on wide players.
His side cruised to victory despite a youthful side, keeping up the momentum in their Eredivisie title charge in spite of everything they have had to contend with off the pitch in recent weeks.
Yet again, there are young players catching the eye of huge clubs, such as Ryan Gravenberch, Jurrien Timber and Antony, and it is hard to understate Ten Hag’s role in their progress.
Just as he has done everywhere he has been, Ten Hag leaves a lasting legacy and template for his Ajax predecessor. Whilst much of that can be put down to the existing structure in place in Amsterdam, it is well worth comparing their state of play with what he inherited just a few years ago.
