After his appointment in December 2017, Erik ten Hag had to ‘start a transformation’ at Ajax, he says during a retrospective in conversation with Football International† The trainer came in when Ajax was five points behind PSV in the Eredivisie and had just been eliminated from the KNVB Cup. There was a ‘very negative mood within and around’ Ajax, Ten Hag noticed. He wanted to change the “sentiment” around the club.
“The chagrin was palpable,” Ten Hag says in retrospect. He points to Hakim Ziyech, who has since left, as a player who ‘symbolized’ the trend. “And I mean the way he was treated. He was approached so negatively by the Ajax crowd. Many fans may not remember it, but one of the very best players was just grumpy. Or think about it. waiting for the team bus after we lost at PSV.”
“That was a turbulent initial period, in which the sentiment was very negative. After that initial period, that turned around and changed into a positive atmosphere. But the club had to come a long way,” says the coach, who now notices negativity about the club outside of Ajax. . “The media are extremely critical of Ajax, you can feel that in everything. A number of things just happened, such as the situation with Marc Overmars, then you can also be critical. Or the situation with Andre Onana, or Quincy Promes. Then I have no problem with it, but I noticed that many people hoped that Ajax would collapse. It doesn’t bother me, but I try to put it away realistically.”
According to Ten Hag, “a lot of people” wanted to see a different champion this season. “The dominance of Ajax would have been enough, you noticed that. That is also a natural reaction.” Ajax secured the title on Wednesday evening with a 5-0 win over sc Heerenveen. On Sunday, the team from Amsterdam will visit Vitesse in the last round of the season. Then Ten Hag switches to Manchester United; his presumptive successor is Alfred Schreuder, who comes over from Club Brugge when the last folds are ironed out.