Erik ten Hag was never really one of those people who made it clear he had massive ambitions to be one of the world’s top coaches. He is a very humble man and a modest coach.
That has a lot to do with his background. He comes from the east of the Netherlands where there’s a very down-to-earth mentality and where people speak with a very strong accent. They are a bit less flash there and they look up to those from Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, the places where the big offices, industry and the country’s parliament are.
But despite that background – and he does have a strong accent – Ten Hag’s situation is different. Financially there is no motivation and no need to go for the big jobs at any stage in his career because he comes from a very rich family, and his father and brothers are multi-millionaires. They own a real estate company and other financial firms.
His father wanted him to go into that company but from a young age Erik was such a brilliant footballer – he was a star for FC Twente as a defender – that he made it clear he had no interest in pursuing that line of work.
However, that family wealth means he doesn’t need the big jobs. He knows he doesn’t need football to survive so he can follow his own principles, where other managers might compromise to stay in their jobs.