John Heitinga has found himself being questioned back in the Netherlands following his quick departure from Tottenham Hotspur.
Ajax1 cover comments from journalist Tom Knipping in Voetbal International today. He’s less than impressed by Heitinga’s dramatic year of sackings.
Heitinga departed Tottenham midway through the month after just over 30 days as Thomas Frank’s assistant manager at the club. His exit followed Frank’s sacking, despite Igor Tudor reportedly asking him to stay.
The Dutchman instead elected to leave his position. That comes after he reportedly believed Spurs would offer him the interim position. They instead elected to sign Tudor until the end of the season.
Agent comments on Tottenham
Sport Witness have covered the fallout since. That includes his agent, Rob Jansen, providing all the details on Tottenham and Heitinga’s future plans.
It’s now his job to work out the next steps for the 42-year-old. Heitinga appeared to be on a winning track after a successful spell at Liverpool working as Arne Slot’s assistant manager last year.
Indeed, he reports at the time of his departure made it clear that Liverpool were sorry to lose him. Observers have even attributed some of their struggles this season to his exit.
That work secured him the manager’s job at Ajax, who hired him as head coach last summer. Unfortunately, that lasted just 128 days after a disastrous start to both their domestic and European campaigns.
Back on the market
Now he’s back as a free agent after the short, unsuccessful and questionable spell at Tottenham. Knipping, though, has no sympathy for the Dutch coach.
“Losing your job in both the Eredivisie and the Premier League in one season. Not many managers can pull that off,” he said.
“After being fired in Amsterdam, Heitinga left his position as assistant manager at Tottenham, where he had started just a few weeks earlier.
“His bank account has undoubtedly seen a nice jump in recent months, but his coaching career is certainly not following the curve he must have envisioned when he took over as head coach at Ajax at the beginning of this season.”
