Findcate

By the time Chelsea’s managerial pursuit had officially begun, with the sacking of Avram Grant in May, it appeared that they had limited options to choose from. Sven Goran Eriksson, thought to be Roman Abramovich’s first choice back in 2003 after ‘purely a social meeting’, had already been courting the Mexican FA after being axed by Thaksin Shinawatra. Frank Rijkaard was mentioned, but he hasn’t enjoyed as much success as he did whilst Henk Ten Cate was involved with the coaching at Barca.

Ten Cate is also a man who, ironically, has also just been sacked by Chelsea. Marco van Basten had already signed a contract to take over at Ajax after this summer’s Euro tournament, back in February. Similarly, Jurgen Klinsmann was already in line to replace the retiring Ottmar Hitzfeld at Bayern Munich, a deal that was arranged at the turn of this year. AC Milan claim that Carlo Ancelotti has been pursued by Chelsea, yet would he have even been the right man for the Russian owner so adamant on his footballing investments playing an attacking brand? Ancelotti has come under fire for favouring a defensive style of football, and could well have ended up like Capello under the Madrid regime of you’re out if you win ugly.

You have to give credit where it is due though, and Scolari did mastermind three successive international tournament knock-outs to the English national team. It just strikes me as odd that if you are scouting the Euro internationals for footballing talent, in terms of both players, and managers, then why not go for one of the up and coming coaches who are certain to have successes in front of them given the right opportunities.

In the English leagues stability and success seem synonymous. Look at Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, and even, to a lesser degree, Hereford United and Graham Turner. All at their clubs for 22, 12, and 13 years respectively. Wenger was a little known French coach with experience in the Japanese J League and French Ligue Une, and Ferguson had enjoyed successes in the Scottish Premier division.

Tags: ac milan, ajax, arsene wenger, avram grant, bayern munich, boise, carlo ancelotti, cate, chelsea, defensive style, first choice, ford, frank rijkaard, french coach, french ligue, goran eriksson, graham turner, henk, hereford united, j league, jurgen klinsmann, knock outs, manchester united, marco van basten, ottmar hitzfeld, roman abramovich, sir alex ferguson, ten cate, thaksin shinawatra

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Panathinaikos have unveiled former Ajax boss Henk ten Cate as their new coach.

The 53-year-old Dutchman has signed a two-year contract with the Athens club. He moves to Greece after being sacked as an assistant coach with Chelsea, who he helped to the Champions League final.

He added: “Panathinaikos’ organisation, history, ambition and attitude towards football in general match those of the greatest football clubs in Europe, so I’m confident that we will achieve our goals. I’m looking forward to coming to Athens and meeting my players.”

Ten Cate inherits a team that finished third in the Super League last season. The campaign was a huge disappointment as the club had sought to mark its centenary with a league title, and coach Jose Peseiro was sacked at the end of the season.

Tags: ajax, ambition, appointment, assistant coach, athens, attitude, boss, cate, champion, champions league, champions league final, chelsea, disappointment, dutchman, europe, football club, football clubs, greece, henk, old dutchman, panathinaikos, ten cate

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Dutchman Henk ten Cate, who was Avram Grant’s right-hand man at Chelsea last season, was named as the new coach of Greek side Panathinaikos on Friday.

“Panathinaikos’ organization, history, ambition and attitude match those of the greatest clubs in Europe, so I’m confident that we will achieve our goals. I’m looking forward to coming to Athens and meeting my players.”

Ten Cate, 54, was assistant manager at Chelsea under Grant last season where the Londoners finished runners-up to Manchester United in the Premier League and the Champions League.

Grant has now been replaced by Brazil’s Luiz Felipe Scolari.

During the 2005-2006 season ten Cate was assistant to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona which won the Champions League title and the La Liga crown.

Ten Cate was a former player in the Dutch league and briefly had a stint with North American Soccer League side Edmonton Drillers in Canada.

Tags: ambition, american soccer, athens, attitude, avram grant, boss, cate, champion, champions league, chelsea, dutch league, dutchman, edmonton drillers, europe, felipe scolari, frank rijkaard, greek side, henk, londoners, luiz felipe scolari, manchester united, new boss, north american soccer league, organization history, panathinaikos, premier league, right hand man, stint, ten cate

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Blackburn Rovers are ready to fly to Euro 2008 for talks with old boy and BBC pundit Alan Shearer about becoming their next boss.

Chairman John Williams has established that the former Rovers legend and title winner is keen to discuss the vacancy and start his managerial career at Ewood Park.

Williams and his board will put Shearer’s name on their list today.

Rovers need to know his plans and Shearer has to find out about what budget he is going to work with - and whether they are selling stars like Roque Santa Cruz and David Bentley in the post-Mark Hughes fall-out.

Shearer’s appointment would be experimental but his standing in the game is huge and his knowledge excellent.

He would bring veteran coach Tommy Craig with him and probably old pal Mike Newell.

Dutchman Henk Ten Cate is ready to fly back from a holiday to speak to them about the vacancy before giving Panathinaikos an answer on their boss offer.

Sam Allardyce is hopeful of getting an interview, while Paul Ince has told Leicester he will give them an answer on their offer tomorrow but is also optimistic he will speak to Rovers first.

Tags: alan shearer, appointment, blackburn rovers, boss, cate, chairman john, david bentley, dutchman, euro 2008, ewood park, henk, john williams, managerial career, mark hughes, mike newell, pal mike, panathinaikos, paul ince, roque santa cruz, sam allardyce, ten cate, title winner, vacancy, veteran coach

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Angelos Charisteas joined other more mythical Greek heroes when he headed the winning goal at the Euro 2004 final against hosts Portugal – but since then he has sunk career-wise into the equivalent of Hades.

It all looked so different for Charisteas as he appeared to have shown his then Bundesliga club Werder Bremen that he could produce more than the paltry four goals he had scored for them the season leading up to the European championships.

However, it mattered not a jot to Bremen, who made it pretty clear that he was not considered to be first choice and thus after a summer of highs he was plunged into uncertainty and Greece’s German coach Otto Rehhagel a former Bremen coach – advised him to look for another team.

Thus it was in January 2005 that Dutch giants Ajax came knocking on his door, desperate to find a top replacement for Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who left for Juventus.

If he thought that five million euros transfer fee had allowed him to enter the Elysian fields with a chance to really prove himself at club level, then he was quickly disabused of that notion as then coach Henk Ten Cate placed him fifth in the list behind Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Ryan Babel, Markus Rosenberg and a certain Rydell Poepon.

However, bizarrely he ended up at Ajax’s bitter rivals Feyenoord, which went down like a lead balloon with the Rotterdam side’s supporters, some of whose more hardnosed members marched in protest – and they looked to have been right when Charisteas failed to score in his first 10 appearances.

So low had his star fallen he was shipped off to traditional German relegation candidates FC Nuremberg for just 2.5mil euros – his value in the market halved in just two years.

Thus no wonder that back at the Euro stage where he made his mark four years ago he expressed his delight to have changed scene.

Tags: ajax, bitter rivals, cate, champion, charisteas, club hell, elysian fields, euro 2004, europe, feyenoord, first choice, german coach, greece, greek heroes, henk, hero, jot, juventus, klaas jan huntelaar, lead balloon, markus rosenberg, nuremberg, rotterdam, ryan babel, rydell, ten cate, zlatan ibrahimovic

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“Chelsea Football Club can confirm we have terminated Henk ten Cate’s contract today,” the club announced on its website.

“As a result of the team management changes at Chelsea, and in the light of any forthcoming appointment, it was clear this was the correct decision for all parties.

“Everybody at Chelsea would like to thank Henk for his contribution since coming to the club last year.”

The Dutchman, who had a contract until 2010, was quoted by Dutch media only two days ago as saying he had been assured that his position was safe.

Tags: appointment, cate, chelsea, correct decision, dutch media, dutchman, football club, henk, management changes, team management, ten cate

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The Dutchman had a contract until 2010 but he follows in the footsteps of Avram Grant, who was dismissed last weekend.

A statement on Chelsea’s confirmed ten Cate’s exit following a meeting this morning.

“As a result of the team management changes at Chelsea FC, and in the light of any forthcoming appointment, it was clear this was the correct decision for all parties, ” it said.

“Everybody at Chelsea would like to thank Henk for his contribution since coming to the club last year.”

Earlier this week, ten Cate dismissed fears that he would be leaving Chelsea.

“He informed me that the departure of Grant will not affect me. I’d rather go on that than all those newspaper reports.”

However, the club’s Champions League final defeat in Roman Abramovich’s home city has clearly left a mark on Chelsea’s owner.

Ten Cate joined Chelsea from Ajax in October last year when he was released by mutual consent.

The Dutchman’s sacking now raises questions as to the future of Steve Clarke, Chelsea’s former player and current assistant coach.

Grant was dismissed just three days after the Champions League final defeat to Manchester United and reports soon after suggested whether Ten Cate and fellow assistant Clarke would survive a summer of change at Stamford Bridge.

Meanwhile, the contenders to replace Grant continues with Luiz Felipe Scolari heading a long list in the race to take over at Stamford Bridge.

Tags: ajax, appointment, assistant coach, avram grant, cate, champion, champions league, champions league final, chelsea, contenders, correct decision, dutchman, felipe scolari, footsteps, ford, grant successor, henk, luiz felipe scolari, management changes, manchester united, mutual consent, roman abramovich, steve clarke, team management, ten cate

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John Terry’s bravery has brought him concussion, broken bones and painful wounds, but nothing as painful as the emotional trauma he suffered last night when, having stepped up to take the penalty that would have won the Champions League final, the Chelsea captain slipped and shot wide, off a post. As the tears flowed stronger than the Russian downpour, he looked inconsolable. He was a man in grief.

Avram Grant, the Chelsea first-team coach, has a perspective on life because of the traumas his family suffered in the Holocaust, but even he was struggling to find the words to ease the pain of Terry, who was white with shock.

It is hard enough for any player to miss a penalty, but the pain can only have been heightened for Terry, brought through at Chelsea, their captain, their leader and a man who had been deeply hurt by three semi-final failures in the Champions League.

The sympathy will only heighten at the revelation that Terry was not meant to be among Chelsea’s first five takers and would not have been had Didier Drogba not been sent off for his gentle but idiotic slap of Nemanja Vidic, the Manchester United defender, in the second half of extra time.

“He was not supposed to be in the first five,” Henk ten Cate, the Chelsea assistant manager, said. “John stepped up when he wasn’t supposed to. It’s unbelievable it happens to him. He slipped. We practised penalties so much all last week and he was very confident. We were all very confident. Penalties is a lottery and we got the short straw.”

We associate the English with a woeful lack of nerve when it comes to penalty shoot-outs, but it appears that it is only in the national colours. Liverpool won the Champions League in Istanbul in 2005 from the spot and there was a high quality last night, including from those Englishmen such as Michael Carrick, Lampard, Owen Hargreaves and Ashley Cole.

Indeed, the only miss before Terry’s left ankle turned over, Beckham-style, and he slipped as he took the kick had been, remarkably, from Cristiano Ronaldo with United’s third effort. It was an awful penalty, his stuttering run confusing himself rather than Petr Cech. The Chelsea goalkeeper held his nerve and Ronaldo’s shot was saved by the Czech Republic player, diving to his right.

Edwin van der Sar knew that he had to pull off something special and he thought he had done so with Chelsea’s fourth, from Ashley Cole. “I had been close to one or two, especially that one,” he said. But it was not skill that thwarted Terry. “It is our luck that he slipped,” Van der Sar said. Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, felt a rush of good vibes at that moment. “The slip from Terry gave us an opening and I felt from there we were going to win it,” he said.

Anderson scored United’s first in sudden death, Salomon Kalou struck back for Chelsea. Then Ryan Giggs, on the night he broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of appearances, stroked his home to leave Nicolas Anelka needing to score to keep his team in it.

Tags: ashley cole, avram grant, broken bones, cate, champion, champions league, champions league final, chelsea, downpour, emotional trauma, englishmen, extra time, henk, john terry, lampard, left ankle, manchester united, michael carrick, national colours, nemanja vidic, owen hargreaves, painful wounds, penalty shoot outs, short straw, sir alex ferguson, team coach, ten cate, traumas

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With two games to go, his team are joint leaders of the Premier League. On top of that, they are only one night’s work away from the Champions League final. Not bad going, that, for any grade of manager, but a doubly impressive achievement for someone still getting to grips with his first big job while being condemned as an imposter, supposedly only given a chance because he is mates with the club’s owner.

Maybe it is time, then, that we gave Avram Grant the benefit of the doubt, embraced the theory that the Chelsea manager might actually have something going for him, even if he does sometimes give the impression of being out of his depth when it comes to rallying the troops or making the right decisions in the heat of battle.

He wasn’t out of his depth on Saturday. On the contrary, everything clicked for the Israeli coach on a day when each of his players rose to the occasion to stop Manchester United leaving Stamford Bridge as certain champions. No question that John Terry, Michael Ballack and everyone else wearing blue had been sent out in the right frame of mind. From start to finish, Chelsea played with poise and purpose, not to mention fire in their belly. So can we give Grant credit for that? Or do we simply assume that any professional worth his salt will be pumped up anyway for such a huge match?

That’s the thing with Grant - the default reaction from us outsiders is to look elsewhere for reasons and heroes, assuming that this mild-mannered character with the hangdog looks couldn’t possibly be responsible for what happened on that pitch.

More likely, we might imagine that Grant’s more vocal and aggressive assistant, Henk ten Cate, had wound up the players with a stirring team talk. It is difficult, after all, to picture Grant in Churchillian mode. Mind you, if Ten Cate did do a lot of the motivating beforehand, what’s wrong with that? That’s what partnerships are about - blending different attributes to cover all the bases.

As for Grant’s attributes, it is difficult from this distance to see exactly what he brings to the party himself. But he must bring something, otherwise his team wouldn’t still be in with a chance of writing their name in the record books.

Tags: avram grant, cate, champion, champions league, champions league final, chelsea, ford, henk, hero, job, john terry, manchester united, ten cate

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When Jose Mourinho left Chelsea he did it in the certain knowledge that he, like Ronson, was irreplaceable. It would’ve required a manager with the looks of George Clooney, the brain of Richard Dawkins and the charisma of Charles Manson to assuage the sentimental tumult inspired by his departure. I do not like Chelsea but I was sad to see him leave and I think that I exemplify a common phenomenon in my admission that I put aside my disdain for the Blues whilst he was at the club. He made Chelsea palatable.Figuratively the scenario is reminiscent of a girl I once dated who had an atrocious personality (cruel, racist, joyless) but a really nice arse. She was like her own arse’s irritating best mate - I had to tolerate her to get to the arse. The arse in its spellbinding beauty made her many flaws tolerable - she later revealed she’d only gone out with me because she liked my cat so don’t feel too sorry for her.Mourinho was like that girl’s beautiful arse - while he was at Chelsea few cared that they played stifling football for a humourless billionaire, we were too busy ogling the arse. Now that gorgeous set of buns has been replaced by the saggy rump that is Avram Grant no one gives a monkey’s that the results are quite impressive, we still mourn the departure of the tanned hide of the Special One - “I hate it that you’re leaving but, boy, do I love to watch you walking away.”I hear that some regulars at the Bridge would prefer Chelsea to be knocked out of the Champions League and to drop out of the title race just to be rid of Grant. Astonishing. As he himself pointed out, who would’ve thought when Mourinho wiggled off that Grant would still be in the running for major honours this late on in the season?One suspects that Chelsea will win nothing, naturally. That United will wrap up the title in the next few games and that Liverpool will bounce them out of Europe but none of this matters to Roman Abramovich, who is apparently poised to give Grant a hundred million to reinforce his squad over the summer.What’s going on? Why does that seem so absurd? Why are we so unwilling to accredit Grant? I’ve a friend who’s a season ticket holder in SW6 who swears blind that during matches Steve Clarke and Henk Ten Cate conduct tactical powwows, literally, behind Grant’s back as if snogging out of sight of an unwanted chaperone. Players are breaking ranks to announce to the press that they never would’ve joined the club to play for him and more childishly that they call him “the professor”; not in the way Ars%26egrave;ne Wenger is called “the professor” - affectionately, because of his keen, tactical mind - but because they think he is a right dickhead. A dickhead professor who no one likes.Didier Drogba is said to be leaving, only delaying his decision on destination until old sweet cheeks has picked a club, and many more, reportedly, will follow. Quentin Crisp said, “Charisma is the ability to influence without logic”, and this is the key to Grant’s problem - he can do all the publicity he likes or sit through a press conference issuing only yes or no answers but he’ll never manipulate the manner in which he’s perceived because he cannot make us put aside logic in the way that Mourinho could. The only thing I can remember from all the press I’ve read about Grant is that his wife once drank urine on an Israeli TV show. It’s gonna take a lot more than that.

Tags: avram grant, cate, champion, champions league, chelsea, europe, henk, roman abramovich, steve clarke, ten cate

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