Second time I’ve heard of his ‘poor English’. His English sounds better than some English managers never mind foreign.
Is that your only take away? I don't care about his grasp on English, the language of football is universal.
Back to the article, you don't think Ten Hag was also saving face? It could be interpreted as such going by his quotes.
It's not like he was going to come out and say he wanted the job but didn't get it.
Now if it's indeed true that he only intended to bring one member of staff along with him to Spurs how would you react if he did the same at united? Would it fill you with confidence that he'd have
immediate dependancy on the club to fill those roles? Personally it tells me that Ten Hag is used to having a well oiled structure put in place for him and that could be problematic at united in it's current state.
Further more, how is it he hasn't forged close professional relationships with a core of people who understand his ways and who would gladly become members of his team wherever he goes? It's almost unheard of and I'm not sure if this is unique to the Netherlands.
A bit of a background on Sjors Ulsee (the coach he apparently wanted with him at Spurs), he's the 34 year old manager of Fortuna Sittard. Ulsee got his first job in coaching at Utrecht in 2006 as an assistant 'technique trainer' at age 19. He rose up the ranks and was assistant manager at Utrecht before Ten Hag took over in 2015, and Ten Hag retained him at age 28. So Ten Hag couldn't retain his assistant from Go Ahead Eagles or any staff he worked with at Bayern Munich II prior to his role at Utrecht. He's absolutely used to clubs sourcing staff for him.
Ajax's coaching staff are dedicated to Ajax first and foremost, with former players Michael Reiziger and Winston Borgarde part of the assistant manager triumvirate. Ten Hag didn't have much input in their appointments. He also wasn't asked for input when Hunteelar took a position at the club after Overmars's exit.
He did however with the third assistant manager, Mitchell van der Gaag. Van Der Gaag is likely the only staff member Ten Hag would request to bring along with him to united as Sjors Ulsee is settled at Fortuna Sittard (despite them being in a relegation battle). I'm sorry but I'm not sure this sits well with me but I'll still welcome him if he gets the appointment as I've stated previously