From Oldenzaal to Old Trafford: Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag’s rise from real estate to Premier League

Manchester United beat Premier League title hopefuls Manchester City over the past weekend, leading to choruses from those in attendance towards Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

Highly sought after by the Manchester United hierarchy after Ralf Rangnick’s term in charge of the Red Devils, the Dutch manager has had a rocky start to his life in the hot seat of one of football’s biggest clubs, but Manchester United’s first win in five Premier League head-to-heads against Manchester City has only helped solidify ten Hag as the right man to guide the Red Devils to past glories that include three Champions League victories.

But behind the football lay an individual who grew up within a wealthy family, who became treasurer with family members of his own football team and a fascination with trading cards that led to his affinity towards Dutch (and Barcelona) icon Johan Cruyff and football as a profession.

Peopleworld takes a look into the life of Erik ten Hag, the (current) manager of Manchester United.

A future in real estate or football?

Born to Hennie and Joke on February 2 1970, Erik was the middle child of three boys, Michael (the eldest) and Rico. Born in Haaksbergen, Overijssel, Netherlands, the ten Hag boys grew up 30 minutes away in Oldenzaal, where Hennie made his money as a real estate tycoon, founding the successful company Ten Hag Assurantieadviseurs B.V. in 1967 and becoming one of the Netherland’s richest businessmen in the process.

It is a business that Hennie is still chairman of, while Michael and Rico maintain day-to-day duties at the company. But despite being offered the chance to follow in his family’s footsteps, the draw of football was too strong for Erik.

An altar boy until the age of 14, ten Hag was viewed as a “mediocre” member of the congregation due to getting distracted by his passion at that time - collecting football cards. Specifically, it would lead him to become an ardent fan of Dutch icon Johan Cruyff - an influence and inspiration at that stage for many Dutch and subsequently Spanish footballers.

Erik’s passion for football led his brothers, friends and himself to form a local football team, Veldmaatse Voetbal Vereniging, in the middle of the 1978 World Cup - a tournament that saw the Netherlands reach the final only to lose to Argentina. Erik would act as one of the treasurers for the club and become influential early on with his approach to man management rather than intimidating.

Despite Hennie wishing for Erik, his middle child, to enter into the family business - be it through real estate or several other business ventures built up over time - he could not persuade his son to give up his goal of playing football. It all culminated with ten Hag signing his first professional contract with Dutch club FC Twente in 1989.

From an unremarkable playing career to remarkable managerial success

Ten Hag played professional football prior to his managerial career. No major highlights for the central defender to write home about, despite a playing career that spanned from 1989 to 2002. As a player, ten Hag did see success in the KNVB Cup (the Netherlands equivalent of the FA Cup) in 2000-2001 while in his younger days, he helped De Graafschap to the top level of football in the Netherlands in 1991.

Ten Hag was considered somewhat of a journeyman in his own country, with the majority of his time spent playing for FC Twente and earning no call-ups to the national team, with the then-player calling time of his career at the age of 32.

However, he would find almost immediate success transitioning from a player into a manager, ten years after his retirement from the game. He would find his first taste of managerial success with someone he would partner up with once again years later - Marc Overmars.

Overmars was at that stage a shareholder in Dutch division one club Go Ahead Eagles and appointed ten Hag to manage the club in 2012. In his only season for Go Ahead Eagles, ten Hag managed to achieve something the club longed for over 17 seasons: promotion to the top flight of football in the Netherlands.

Erik ten Hag left Go Ahead Eagles to manage Bayern Munich II, the reserves side for Germany powerhouse Bayern Munich from 2013 to 2015, when the call was made from Eredivisie (Netherland’s top flight) club Utrecht to take over the reins of the club. In his first season, he led the club to fifth place and bested that in the 2016–17 season, leading Utrecht to fourth, and booking a place in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers.

It would be however another call with Marc Overmars that led ten Hag to international attention with the club Johan Cruyff made his name with: Ajax Amsterdam.

Unfavored runs in the Champions League and move to Manchester

Taking over the Ajax vacancy in 2017, and linking up once again with Marc Overmars (at this stage the sporting director of Ajax), ten Hag led the team to numerous triumphs in domestic competitions, but after Ajax’s taste of European glory back in 1995’s Champions League final, it soon became clear this was the team’s biggest goal under his leadership.

This nearly came to be during the 2018-2019 iteration of the Champions League, which saw the Amsterdam club go on an incredible run in the competition, knocking out favourites Real Madrid and Juventus and leading Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 on aggregate heading into the second leg, played at home at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

That return game is one still talked about in Champions League folklore to this day; a 92nd-minute, last-gasp goal from Tottenham knocked Ajax out of the competition, coming agonisingly close to a return to a Champions League final.

Known as a “selling club” (a team that often sees prominent players poached by bigger European clubs) and with an opportunity to manage in the Premier League, perhaps the most lucrative football league in the world, ten Hag upped sticks with his wife Bianca, his two daughters and son to manage Manchester United - once one of the most successful clubs in the world, now currently trying to once regain the success they had under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Since joining Manchester United, ten Hag has had a purple patch once again in his managerial career, having won 21 games out of 28 with Manchester United, including “that” win over Liverpool in 2018 and the most recent win against Manchester City, scuppering their rival’s chances at another Premier League title.