Henk ten Cate left for the Netherlands today, according to Johan Derksen. The trainer of Al-Wahda has since been mentioned in the corridors as a candidate to replace Frank de Boer as national coach. Derksen sees a suitable candidate in Ten Cate and receives support from René van der Gijp. “You can send Henk a message,” says Derksen.
De Volkskrant announced on Wednesday that Louis van Gaal is not unsympathetic to a third term as national coach of the Dutch. “The KNVB never does that, because they are middle-class people and they do not want such a dominant man in their midst,” Derksen said to the television program on Wednesday evening. The the Dutch Summer about a possible appointment of Van Gaal.
Derksen then discussed Ten Cate’s situation. “He will start a training camp with his club Al-Wahda in Spain in five days. He left for the Netherlands today in a hurry for four days. Only then will he go back to Spain because then that club arrives. So it is a coincidence that he is now suddenly to the Netherlands,” said Derksen, who did not report anything about any talks between Ten Cate and the KNVB. According to the analyst, the football association has no chance with a major Dutch coach. “If you can’t get Peter Bosz because he just joined Lyon, that says everything about the level of the KNVB.”
“That would be nice for Henk. He deserves that too. He also has a great track record,” added Van der Gijp. The former football player indicated at an earlier stage that he would choose Ten Cate or Van Gaal as the new national coach. “Like Germany, I would take an assistant who could then succeed Van Gaal in a year or two, maybe three. Then I think of Giovanni van Bronckhorst, that he has been there for two years. Not as an assistant, equivalent is a strange word, but something more than an assistant.”
Valentijn Driessen, football chief of De Telegraaf, noted that such a construction has already been set up by the KNVB. “That went completely wrong with Danny Blind. He was then Guus Hiddink’s assistant and would continue on,” said Driessen. Derksen noted that Ten Cate’s appearance is ‘not sympathetic’. “But maybe this group also needs a not so sympathetic trainer.”