Depending on who you ask there are lots of conflicting versions of just who René Hake is as a man.
Perfectionist is one description, while introvert is another. Others have labelled him a ‘football animal’ that has a ‘thunder’ to unleash on players and coaches when the time is right.
But few in the game know Hake better than Erik ten Hag, the man now trying to bring him to Manchester United as he refreshes his coaching staff for a new era under Ineos.
‘He was incredibly driven, ambitious, but also extremely convinced of himself,’ Ten Hag said a year ago, reflecting on the pair’s time together working at FC Twente.
‘He’s a trainer with a CIOS background who worked very methodically. René had competencies that you do not learn on the football field.’
The pair routinely stay in touch through messaging apps, with their busy schedules in recent years making their previously semi-frequent luncheons much more difficult to arrange.
While Hake, who counts Foppe de Haan, Henk Heising and Hans Westerhof among his early influences, would never believe that he owes his coaching career to this point to Ten Hag, who gave him a leg up in Twente’s academy, the influence of the Man United boss is obvious.
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‘We think the same about many things in life and in football,’ Hake told Voetbal International in 2021.
‘At Twente we worked together intensively and we infected each other, in the good sense of the word.
‘As a result, you also drive each other to new insights and plans. This creates a kind of shared vision.
‘We both love the game and perhaps our working method is partly the same. We are both not averse to hard work.’
It was in 2005 when Hake, son of Rudolf and Hanny Hake, swapped his role at the academy of FC Essen with that of FC Twente. It was the beginning of a personal and professional relationship with Ten Hag that is approaching 20 years.
Ten Hag, who was then looking after the U19 team, having previously looked after Twente’s U17s, spotted a determination in Hake that was missing in other candidates. It was a determination strengthened by Hake’s belief that his inability to make it as a player in the professional game was being held against him.
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‘I was a youth trainer at Emmen,’ he once explained, ‘then a player who had retired was simply assigned a youth team, while I had had to do a lot to be allowed to train such a team.
‘That feels unfair, and I can’t stand it. A good career as a player does not make you a good trainer, because the perspective is completely different.’
Hake was barely 30 when Ten Hag entrusted him with the most senior teams in Twente’s academy. His analytical mind and attention to detail won the eye and the respect of the now Man United boss. The fact both men struggle to switch off drew them even closer.
‘Football is always fun because it is never the same,’ Hake said previously. ‘But I’m constantly on, yes.’
Hake’s footballing journey is that of a long road to this point.
The 52-year-old went from Twente’s academy to the becoming the first team boss at FC Emmen.
From there he became the right hand of Ron Jans at PEC Zwolle, before returning to FC Twente to, albeit briefly, serve as assistant to Alfred Schreuder before later stepping up to the top job.
Two years at Twente eventually concluded with a sacking Hake still determines to have been completely unjust, before he rebuilt himself at FC Utrecht, where he went viral for a furious dressing room rant captured in the No Guts, No Glory documentary.
The scene starts with Hake exclaiming ‘f***ing hell’ before turning to one of his players.
‘I think you should tell something to the guys instead of sitting with your head down,’ he growled. ‘You f***ed up the game with two stupid yellow cards.’
A furious looking Hake is seen looking at the player, who is seen sitting on a chair, hiding underneath a top in disappointment with himself.
Hake continued: ‘That’s one and second if I put in an extra defender, f***ing s*** don’t give away the first zone then it’s three against two in the middle and they get a goal. Unbelievable.’
When Hake took the reigns at Utrecht it was Ten Hag, then at Ajax, who sent a word of warning to critics of his friend.
‘René is good, but not a magician,’ Ten Hag said. Good things take time. It’s felt a bit like that these days for him over at Manchester United.
Ten Hag needs a reshuffle off the pitch in his coaching staff to breathe some life back into this ailing United squad. In Hake he has a man who is fixated on player development and also knows when to fall into line.
‘A good connection with the staff is very important,’ Hake said. ‘It means a lot to me when we have a good time together.
‘I see them more than my own family. Each staff member has a different bond with players, which means you get different information.’
Hake’s stock in the Netherlands is high after guiding Go Ahead Eagles into Europe for the first time in their history as they qualified for the UEFA Conference League.
And yet, despite taking training as normal on Thursday morning with some spectators huddled together to watch, it appears he won’t be guiding them on their European adventure.
‘I am curious whether my way of working can also be successful at a higher level,’ Hake once said. ‘It depends on whether there are people who trust me with that.’
Well, in Ten Hag he not only has a man who believes in him but a friend who trusts in him completely. Hake’s curiosity about life at the highest level looks set to be realised.
