The Verdict on ten Cate

By: Matt | May 3rd, 2008

I just started this blog around a month ago, so I never got an out let to speak my mind about Henk ten Cate’s (disastrous?) tenure as manager at Ajax. And you, my readers, never got to tell me what you thought. So, I’ll go first. And I’ll try to keep this civil. You do not have to.

When ten Cate took over from Danny Blind, he was replacing a popular player whose time at the club had soured. Blind failed to win the Eredivisie. This is probably why Blind got axed (off-field incidents aside). So ten Cate knew that strong showings in European competition and the Eredivisie especially were his task. Henk had some managerial experience in Holland and Hungary, but surely the glowing piece of his resume was the Barcelona La Liga and CL titles. Rijkard’s recommendation was worth considerably more then than now, and ten Cate was Dutch. Sold.

What can ten Cate be blamed for? The early exits from Europe two years running are mostly his fault. The quality of the squad may have slipped a little (:-))since our CL triumphs over a decade ago, but we should still handle the likes of Kobenhavn, Slavia Prague and Dinamo Zagreb (with the exception of Modric). The side looked ill-prepared mentally, especially in the trip to Prague. And the loss to Dinamo at home turned the fans against ten Cate. If Ajax responds to European away-matches with some shell-shock the next few seasons, I think ten Cate is at least somewhat responsible for this trend of spectacular failures. He can also be blamed for much of the dead weight on our team sheet. Albert Luque, Ismael Urzaiz, Jurgen Colin, Laurent Delorge and Kennedy all came during his tenure. The further purchase of Dennis Rommedahl has not been terrific while not a dismal failure either. Alienating Kennth Perez, a player who wanted to play for Ajax, was not a good move either.

Henk cannot be blamed as solely responsible for the ill-timed transfer of Wesley Sneijder or the loss of Ryan Babel. As I have said before, I do not know how the front office works, but I doubt ten Cate was leaning over a desk whispering about getting a few million more euros from Madrid. He wanted his playmaker as badly as we all did. I do wish he had pitched more of a fit to get a replacement like Modric or Stephen Defour immediately.

What can ten Cate be credited for? His performance in the league was no worse than his predecessors, and last season’s finish was terrific. The 5-1 defeat of PSV in Eindhoven last March ignited the side’s hopes and almost led to a title. When ten Cate left this season, Ajax had won 5 out of 6 league matches with one draw. Ten Cate’s true skill may have been on display in the form he brought out in Wesley Sneijder, Ryan Babel and Jaap Stam. Wes went from being a prodigy to a super-duper star under ten Cate, and Babel displayed enough to earn a nice fee as well. Stam retired just a few weeks after ten Cate left, and Ajax has been unable to defend properly since. I think CL failures doomed him, and the side usually performed well under him.

So, all things considered, I don’t think we want him back but I doubt we can congratulate ourselves for dumping a loser. Ten Cate’s reign at Ajax was status quo in the Eredivisie and failure in Europe. The absolute disaster of the past few years was incoming transfer activity. Luque, Colin, Urzaiz and Delorge should not be here. Suarez is the only truly good buy, with Rommedahl grading out even (maybe). Whether this is truly ten Cate’s fault or Martin van Geel, I will leave that to the insiders. All I know is that our January moves (Lindgren and Bruno Silva) look terrific while last summer will be remembered only for Suarez. I think that points toward ten Cate. I look forward to the day when van Basten can be blamed for everything. But ten Cate is where he should be now, managing and training players he did not buy.