Posted: 22:30, 14 April 2022 | Updated: 01:34, 15 April 2022
He promises to be a whirlwind in the few weeks of Erik ten Hag’s life, but the new Manchester United candidate will take time out of his new job to remember a lost friend and a tragedy that helped shape his career. June 7 is a date that Ten Hague has marked in his diary as a day of mourning. It was on that day in 1989 that his close friend Andy Scharmin died in a plane crash en route to a charity tournament in Suriname. Scharmin, 21, had traveled from Amsterdam with his mother and 14 other players after missing out on playing for the Holland Under 21 at the Toulon Tournament. It was among 178 of the 187 passengers on board as Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashed on its final approach at Paramaribo-Zanderij Airport. Erik ten Hag will take time from his new job at Man United to remember a lost friend Ten Haag, then 19, learned the devastating news when his FC Twente team-mate Edwin Hilgerink knocked on his front door in the small town of Haaksbergen where they grew up in the east of the Netherlands. “I will never forget Edwin standing on my doorstep telling me that a plane crashed with Andy and his mother,” Ten Hagg recalls. “It was a huge blow. At his funeral I was carrying Andy’s coffin with other teammates. It happened on June 7, 1989 and every year on that date I have a day of mourning “. Ten Hague’s life has been profoundly affected by the deaths of Andy Sarmin (L) and Gino Weber (R) Sarmin’s death is not the only tragedy that still haunts Ten Hague. Gino Weber, a friend and former Twente youth teammate, committed suicide at the age of 33 after his career was derailed by injuries. Ten Hag mentor Epi Drost had a fatal heart attack in 1995 Weber suffered from depression and addiction and, after being sentenced to prison for robbery, was found dead at home in July 2003. Another member of Twente youth team, Wilfried Elzinga, saw his career cut short due to injury. Those close to Ten Haag believe that the 52-year-old was driven to success by the misfortune of his friends, as if determined to seize the opportunities they never had. He turned down the opportunity to join his siblings in the family business and instead had a mediocre career in his home country as a center back before excelling as a coach. His philosophy has been heavily influenced by his mentor and former youth team coach, Epi Drost, who died of a heart attack at the age of 49 in 1995. Ten Hague enjoyed a mediocre career in his homeland before excelling as a coach “I often think about my youth on Twente,” said Ten Hag. “Three boys were so good that they could reach the national team. But one of them was seriously injured and two other boys died young. It puts everything in perspective. “Epi Drost was my idol. He was a fan of adventurous football. It stimulates creativity, because that was the most important thing for him. Epi died of a heart attack in a fight. That was a huge blow to me. “
