Erik ten Hag – how Twente tragedies formed Manchester United supervisor’s future
Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag is ready to endure love and pain against FC Twente in the Europa League.
Tonight promises to be special for the Old Trafford boss. He came through the youth ranks at the Dutch side and had three spells there as a player, winning the KNVB Cup, before moving into coaching at the club.
The 54-year-old’s time at Twente shaped him as a player and coach, but his time there was also marred by tragedy after tragedy. One of his team-mates died in a plane crash, another in a car accident, while a fireworks disaster in the city killed 20 people and injured hundreds more.
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Andy Scharmin and Ten Hag both grew up in Haaksbergen in the east of Holland, and played together at Twente. But on June 7, 1989, Scharmin, 13 of his team-mates and their coach were some of the 176 people who died after a plane flying to Suriname, where the Twente team were going for a pre-season friendly, crashed.
Ten Hag, who observes a day of mourning every year on that date, was a pallbearer at Scharmin’s funeral. A few years ago, the United boss said of the incident: “Scharmin was an unimaginable athlete and my friend.
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“I will never forget my team-mate Edwin Hilgerink standing on my doorstep to tell me that a plane had crashed with Andy and his mother on board.”
The following year, just months after Ten Hag left the club, Twente’s new summer signing Tom Krommendijk was killed while driving home after crashing his car. Ten Hag rejoined two years later and his links to Twente are still strong.
It is a connection which runs deep even now. “Of all the teams, Twente is the team that I follow the most,” said the United boss, who helped the club win the 2000-01 KNVB Cup. I watch them as a fan, as a supporter, not as an analyst. It’s a different way of watching their games.”
Following another spell away from the club, Ten Hag returned for the final time as a player – this time for the longest spell of his professional career – where he was made captain. In May 2000, Enschede, the city where Twente play, was the site of an explosion at a fireworks warehouse which killed 23 people. Many more were injured and the area of the city had to be rebuilt.
It was just a year later when Ten Hag led his side to Dutch Cup glory, the club’s first trophy in 24 years, beating PSV Eindhoven in a penalty shootout in Rotterdam.
Once his playing career was over, Ten Hag joined the coaching staff at Twente, which would eventually lead him to Old Trafford. He worked under Fred Rutten and later former United coach Steve McClaren until 2009. He then joined PSV, working as an assistant under Rutten once more.
Success followed at the helm of Go Ahead Eagles, Utrecht and Ajax. But Ten Hag’s career, and his personal life, has undoubtedly been shaped by his time around Twente. And he knows it.
From player to coach, Twente has made the United boss into the man we see today. He has a job to do in the revamped Europa League tonight, of course. But it’s not one he is looking forward to.
Asked about facing his old club, Ten Hag said: “I would have preferred to have played against somebody else. It’s not nice to have to hurt something you love.”
