The 41-year-old is back at the club this season after a brief hiatus in the Premier League, firstly as an assistant to David Moyes at West Ham and then as part of Arne Slot's staff in their title-winning first season at Liverpool.
It's fair to say then that Heitinga has pedigree at the highest level, but the manner of football that his team are currently playing has left a lot to be desired, with poor defending and wildly inaccurate striking becoming a regular feature of the current side.
Sloppy defending not helping Ajax
Flashscore's global editor for the Dutch market and Ajax fan Paul Winters is just one of many to voice his discontent with what he's seeing from what is normally a free-flowing side that are great to watch in and out of possession.
"I'm an Ajax fan and they are very, very poor this season. They look lost out there, no plan, no directions - it's awful this season... people are begging for him (Heitinga) to be fired," he said.
Given that in the Dutch top flight this season, De Godenzonen have won four and drawn four of their eight games, Winters' assessment just goes to show that it isn't always just about the winning, but that games still have to be won in a certain manner.
Supporters want, and have a right to be entertained of course.
More of the same after last season's collapse
After the disastrous end to the previous campaign under Francesco Farioli, it's understandable why Winters et al aren't willing to put up with such mediocre football for much longer.
The Italian signed a three-year contract at the start of the 2024/25 campaign but was gone within the year following Ajax's failure to win the league title.
With seven games to play, Farioli's men were nine points clear of the pack and odds-on to lift the coveted prize. However, a total collapse saw them lose out to PSV Eindhoven by a point.
"The management and I have the same goals for the future of Ajax, but we have different visions and timeframes about the way we should work and operate to achieve those goals," is all Farioli would offer up as an explanation after the season ended.
Internal issues saw the end of Farioli
In terms of numbers, his record wasn't bad as, in the 54 games he took charge of in all competitions, he won 35 of them, drew seven and lost 12, scoring 102 goals in the process and conceding 53 for a 64.8% win percentage.
However, some games may have been won more by luck than judgment, and Farioli's management style was clearly at odds with the board.
Those internal disagreements on matters ranging from tactics to transfers to staffing, not helped by such an abject end-of-season run-in, led to the Italian's departure. Rarely can there be a case of a team so near, and evidently so far away from glory.
Heitinga's appointment was therefore seen as one to galvanise the squad and those who pay their hard-earned euros to go to the Johan Cruyff Arena and beyond each and every week.
He was a player who grew up at the club, making the leap from Jong Ajax into the first team, whom he served with aplomb for a number of years before moving on to Atletico Madrid, Everton, Fulham and Hertha, and finishing his playing career where he started it.
Heitinga knew what it meant to wear the shirt, to accept the responsibility that came with doing just that, and that surely had to mean something.
Frustration on the terraces
Perhaps that's why supporters are so incredibly frustrated with what they're watching at present, even if on paper domestically it tells a different story.
The meek way in which the squad surrendered to Marseille in the Champions League, eventually losing 4-0 is a prime example of exactly the opposite of what fans want to see from their heroes.
Given that it followed a 2-0 opening day defeat against Inter Milan, the team that were once lauded as the birthplace of total football now find themselves 35th out of 36 teams in the current Champions League table, kept off the bottom only by virtue of the fact that Kairat have conceded two more goals.
What appears somewhat baffling to the home support is Heitinga's coaching - some would say lack of it - his evidently lower than average tactical acumen and the way he sets up his defence, particularly in relation to set plays.
Time for the Ajax board to act?
The manager will point to a record which reads P10 W4 D4 L2, but just 17 goals scored and 16 conceded in that run of games isn't something Heitinga can really hang his hat on.
Especially with a 40% win percentage, which is well down on his predecessor's showing.
In Ajax's last fixture, for example, they had to fight from 3-1 down against 11th-place Sparta Rotterdam just to earn themselves a point, and that clearly isn't good enough for a team of this stature and history.
"Listen, the fans are disappointed, we're disappointed, but we're a team in construction," Heitinga said in the wake of the Marseille defeat.
"And eventually I know we'll get it right, but that will take some time. Am I worried about my position? No."
With the international break now upon us, it's clear that the Ajax board have a decision to make, but the question is, will they be brave enough to make it...?
