Tag: Jaap Stam

by Jan

Feyenoord Phoenix??

The Phoenix rises from the ashes. The question is: will Feyenoord? While Ajax and PSV both are facing issues, Feyenoord must be in crisis. Ajax is struggling with the exit of De Ligt and De Jong and the fact that most of the other lads who were believed to leave, aren’t leaving… It’s luxury issues, for Ten Hag. He’ll fix it.

And it might not be in time or enough, for another huge CL campaign, but Ajax will win the Dutch title with one hand tied behind their back, one foot in a cast, two fingers in the nose and a blind fold.

PSV has issues too. It needs to reshuffle and re-invent themselves with the exit of Luuk de Jong, Angelino and now also Lozano.

But Van Bommel will. Business as usual for any coach. And yes, Mark is young, but he will most certainly become a great coach. And with Gakpo, Malen, Guti, Ihattaren and others (and Schwaab returning) PSV will be able to secure the second spot (and another shot at CL football next season).

But Feyenoord. Once the pride of The Netherlands…. The first Dutch club to win the European Cup in 197o. The first club to win the World Cup for clubs. The last club to actually win a European Cup as well… Once, the Richest Club of the World (c).

Feyenoord’s biggest prospect: Kokcu (sadly decided to play international for Turkey)

Today, the club is not well. To say the least.

There are no amazing talents coming through (Kokcu is the only real talent)

The two centre backs are getting on and not getting any quicker

The main striker (Jorgensen) is injured

The newcomers are either pint sized players from the Championship (Kelly), or rejects from the Championship (Narsingh, Fer – both not match fit) or failed former stars on loan (Karsdorp).

Narsingh (right) and Leroy Fer (left)

Striker target Ricky van Wolfswinkel is injured. They discovered a brain aneurism, by chance, when they treated him for concussion. Ricky is 6 months out, at least.

But more important than all these typical football things, there are bigger problems to deal with:

There is hardly any cash (compare that to Ajax!).

The technical manager Martin van Geel left and is replaced by inexperienced part time ex-player Sjaak Troost, who engaged the services of player manager (!) Rob Janssen… The fox in the hen house?

The general manager Jan de Jong asked to be relieved form duties as he doesn’t agree with the long term vision of the board.

So, Feyenoord is facing some serious issues (financial, new stadium, new players, youth development and entrance into the football pyramid) but there is no management team (other than a commercial manager).

Jaap Stam, the coach, was surprised to hear that right back Jerry St Juste was going to be sold to Mainz,  one day before the important EL qualification game vs Dynamo Tiblisi. And yes, this meant money would come in (8 mio euros) for replacements but there was no replacement ready for that important match. Karsdorp would come in later.

Fortunately for Feyenoord, Tiblisi didn’t seem too good and Feyenoord won 4-0, but with Karsdorp the Rotterdam Pride dropped 2 more points in the competition vs Heerenveen 3 days later.

Left, AZ general manager Robert Eenhoorn (right, Max Huiberts, AZ technical manager)

Stam is scratching his head. He needs to deal with the inexperienced Troost and his agent friend Rob Janssen, while Stam prefers to work with his own manager and friend Henk van Ginkel (and former Feyenoord goalie Henk Timmer) who are both rivals of Rob Janssen. Nice one!

In their search for a new technical manager, all the usual suspects declined. Joris Matthijsen will stay with Willem II, Ferry de Haan with Excelsior, Henk van Stee with Sparta and Max Huibers at AZ. And with reason.

In search of the new general manager, AZ general manager Robert Eenhoorn is the dream candidate. Eenhoorn is from Rotterdam, and a life long Feyenoord supporter (!). He’s got experience in US pro sports (he played short stop for the New York Yankees) and has experience in leading a pro football club with success at AZ Alkmaar.

But Eenhoorn will be cautious. As Feyenoord is facing some strategic issues.

Steven Berghuis, the new talisman

One huge issue is Feyenoord’s new home. The current Kuip is still the most amazing place to watch football, but the stadium is really old and not equipped for the modern game (with sponsor boxes, restaurants, meeting spaces, toilets (!), etc). And it might not be the safest anymore… The new stadium plans are still in contention. Some people think the traditional Kuip needs to be renovated, others believe Feyenoord needs to build from scratch someplace else. The finances for this adventure are still not secured.

Another huge issue is the influx of new money (and not just for the stadium). Feyenoord is rapidly losing ground on Ajax and PSV and some people in the club want to bring in an investor. Some US based investors were/are interested but Feyenoord will have to let go of their autonomy. Rumour has it they demand a seat on the board and want to be in on the decision which coach will be appointed. Conditions most of the Feyenoord die-hards aren’t too happy with. So for now, the investors will be kept out, but for how long?

Centre, with Stam, Wouter Burger, another young talented midfielder

Another problem Feyenoord has is their position in the so-called football pyramid. The Feyenoord 2 team does not play competitive football, like Ajax 2, PSV 2, AZ 2 and most other pro clubs. Not only are Feyenoord’s talents tested less as a result, some talents have decided to leave the club for a different club where they can play on a weekly basis and some talents simply won’t consider signing for Feyenoord due to this situation. This was a massive mistake by Feyenoord’s previous management (not entering the Feyenoord 2 team) and now it’s hard for Feyenoord to enter into the pyramid.

Add to all this, the fact that Jaap Stam was selected as the head coach due to his attacking vision of football, a vision he hardly can translate to the pitch as the foundation of last year’s team is gone. Three key players are gone (Vilhena, St Juste, Van Persie) and three key players are injured (Jorgensen, Toornstra, Van Beek). This means Stam needs to work with a team that is half new, with players who have yet to learn to play together and some of these players like rhythm / match fitness (Narsingh, Fer, Karsdorp). Not a great situation for Stam to try to play his dominant style of play, with a high press and precise passing.

Sven van Beek’s comedy capers moment vs Southampton in the pre-season

But, on the bright side, PSV and Ajax dropped points as well. It seems that this season, the third spot should be Feyenoord’s, at least. And depending on how PSV fares, it might even reach the 2nd spot. Tibisli was not a tough opponent either and Feyenoord should be able to reach the Europa League group stages and give the season some more flair.

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by Jan

Memories of Sir Alex, the Dutch angle

On the pic, ManU icons Solksjaer, Cantona, York, Cole, Van the Man, Van der Sar

Sir Alex’ retirement can be scrutinised in detail in all international media. There is not much we can cover here that you haven’t already read about the 71 year old. Still, I believe it is fitting for us to acknowledge the man who can be seen as one of the Best Managers of the World Ever.

There is a number of extraordinary aspects to mention about Sir Alex. The fact that he was in charge of the same club for 26 years is definitely unique. At the same time, this says a lot about the actual board of Man United and their long term (football) vision.

There are already many analyses done on his long reign and I’m sure more will follow in the months or even years to come. Louis van Gaal and Co Adriaanse have both ordered their copy :-). In a world where the average football manager is in charge not much longer than two seasons (Man United is pushing the average up, as does Arsenal, while Chelsea keeps it nice and low) at the same club, Sir Alex can be seen as a unique role model. Such, that Frank de Boer already talks about himself potentially, as the SAF of Ajax…

Our little write up will be from the Dutch angle. To start with former goalie legend, Peter Schmeichel: “How can Sir Alex time his retirement now? Only one season with Robin van Persie???”.

Jordie Cruyff was the first Dutch player to work with Sir Alex (Arnold Muhren left the season before the Scotsman got the job). The young Cruyff was used to working with brilliant, yet dominant coaches (he played for Barcelona, where on Johan Cruyff was his coach….). “Ferguson has something special in his personality. He is definitely the boss. You don’t want to cross him, or be on the wrong side of his temper. But at the same time, he is very warm. Really like a father figure for most if not all of us.”

Raymond van der Gouw was the sub goalie at Man United for 6 seasons. His impact at Man United was seen as huge, as some people (incl Sir Alex) commented on his “binding” skills in the dressing room. The former Vitesse goalie even coached the goalies in the youth system for a year. Van der Gouw: “Ferguson is not known to be the analyst coach, like Wenger or Van Gaal but he definitely knew everything he had to know about opponents. I don’t think he actually studied them consciously, like others do. He would simply see it really fast and was always able to make small changes in the team make-up and he would win games like that. A sixth sense….”

Jaap Stam would be the third Dutchie under Alex Ferguson and despite having played only 3 seasons at Old Trafford, the former Zwolle defender became a club icon. Stam was pushed out of the club by Sir Alex after some indiscrete comments about his coach in his biography. Something both men regretted. When the ManU coach was asked which decision he wished he could turn around, he said he wished he didn’t let Stam go that easily. While Stam (who would go on to play for AC Milan and Ajax) later admitted he would never disclose what he did if he had the chance to do it again.”

But Stam doesn’t believe his book was the real reason to leave. “It will have been a part of it, but at the time, Man United needed the cash too. Lazio made a big offer (20 mio pounds) and I believe Sir Alex needed that money to rebuild the team. At a certain point, we had a big clash again. I left the club, angry, and Ferguson’s PA called me to check where I was. I was at a petrol station and she asked me to wait. Sir Alex showed up and asked me to take the Lazio offer. I decided to go then and there. At the petrol station. I look back at it and believe I shouldn’t have been so pleasing to go. I left a huge club after an emotional spat at a petrol station, hahaha. But I don’t look back in anger. I love the club, love the fans and hope to be able to coach in England sometime soon myself.”

Sir Alex has the name of being able to spot huge talents where others are slumbering and signing them for a low fee. Stam is definitely seen as one of them, as were Schmeichel, Solksjear, even Van der Sar and Cantona. Van Nistelrooy definitely was not a cheap signing. And it took Ferguson two seasons to finally land him, due to Ruud’s injury dramas.

The Dutch striker scored 150 goals for the Red Devils in 219 games ( 5 seasons). “Working with Sir Alex as a huge and unique privilege.”

Van Nistelrooy saw his manager as a second father. Their relationship has always been very warm. Not unlike Beckham and C Ronaldo, the former Den Bosch striker had intense contact with his coach for all sorts of topics. Until the magic was suddenly gone and the ruthless Scottish coach decided to offload the goal machine.

Ruud van Nistelrooy believes his own brutal departure from Manchester United underlines why Sir Alex Ferguson has spent so long at the top.

Ruud’s staggering return counted for nothing when Ferguson decided Van Nistelrooy had outlived his usefulness.
As the summer of 2006 approached, Ferguson decided to pick Giuseppe Rossi ahead of Van Nistelrooy for the final game of the season against Charlton. The Dutchman drove away from Old Trafford in disgust and – until Friday’s unveiling of a Ferguson statue – had not been back since. ‘When he is building new teams he is willing to do things like that,’ said Van Nistelrooy. ‘That is all credit to him. In his mind, the club is the most important thing. That is what he always said. It is his most-repeated sentence.’

At the time, Van Nistelrooy was incredulous, as were many fans.
Yet United came back to win three successive Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph in 2008, in a period when they never did worse than a semi-final.
‘What he did was fair enough,’ said Van Nistelrooy. ‘I didn’t find it hard to deal with. I accepted it.I moved on to Madrid and had four great years there. He moved the club further onwards. Of course, we had our things with the way it ended but he is man who gets the best out of people. He did that with me as well.’

Edwin van der Sar was seen by many (incl Sir Alex himself) as the ideal candidate to replace Peter Schmeichel. It still took a long time for the Ajax goalie to find his way to Old Trafford via Juventus and Fulham. Like Van Nistelrooy, he developed a very strong relationship with his coach and speaks very highly of the man. Sar was at Man U from
2005 and 2011 and believe no one will be able to replicate what the great man did.
“It didn’t surprise me. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago by chance and I remember thinking that this would be his last season, based on what he told me. And lets face it, he is way past normal retirement age, haha. We were kidding about this years ago already. But he is more than just a manager right? He is the club ambassador and he moulded and created the club as it is now, with Rene Meulensteen as a very important pawn in the game. Rene does all the field coaching. Can you imagine, someone like Ryan Giggs, never worked with another manager at this club. Unreal.”

Van der Sar can’t say enough. “I have gotten to know him as a warm man. You could discuss everything with him. He once went on to me about his grandson who goes to the same school as my son. They both were in this play together. It was at practice. Whenever I had to perform a save, he would stop talking. And once the ball was on the other side of the pitch, he would talk about that acting performance of these kids. He would always protect you too. Unless you did something really foolish. He was always very busy with all sorts of things. He has many interests. I think he doesn’t sleep at night… And yes, he had his clashes with big name players (Beckham, Keane, Stam, Van Nistelrooy) but only if these lads damaged the club. And all these players still have a warm bond with Sir Alex.”

Rene Meulensteen knew it had to happen one day. But the announcement that it would be this season was a surprise. “It’s probably the right time for him. He will not make decisions like this lightly, of course. And he announced it in his own special way. Typical for him. He asked us all to visit him in his office. We came in, we sat down, and he told us. Just like that. No frills, no emotion. Just another message to relay.”

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by Jan

How do the Dutch coaches do?

In a week in which I had some pleasant Dutch football surprises and some Dutch football shocks, I think it is time to look at the future of Dutch football. Yet again :-).

But this time from the coaching angle.

But lets first pick up the little tidbits of the week.

In which Alexander Buttner impressed (last week), Arjen Robben started in the 9-2 HSV whipping and came on quick against Juve for Kroos. And Wes Sneijder underwhelmed vs Real Madrid and got subbed. While Van der Wiel didn’t even play (for PSG vs Barca).

Alex Buttner is seen as a “fresh” player, by Sir Alex, in the business end of the season. And the way he played last week makes it clear that Evra can rest assured he can be missed. Strong in defence, working hard, and always a factor going forward. Buttner even showed he had a good right foot as well.

A high. And Arjen Robben was impressive too. Although not always for the right reasons. He works hard, he is keen to show Heynckes he belongs in the starting line up and against HSV he clearly did.

Against Juve though, he could have two goals in the first half of the game, but the CL curse keeps on bugging the former PSV winger, as he two shots were not well placed. With Kroos injured, Robben might see more action this season but one does wonder whether he needs to use that to play himself in the picture for a lesser team (Galatasaray? Inter Milan?).

Wes Sneijder looked forward to meeting his old chums in the Bernabeu but was sadly subbed after a mediocre first half.

Truth be told, I don’t think Sneijder played that bad. I watched him intensely and he does a lot of good without the ball. He is constantly available for the quick pass. Which would allow him to turn and find space for the forwards. But the rest of the team isn’t equipped to play like that. The Altintops of Gala are all keen to run with the ball themselves, till the cows come home and then they look up. Leaving a sad sack figure – Sneijder – in midfield. Chance gone.

I am not sure if it is just the team or also the coach who don’t see how to utilise Sneijder. I do know that if Galatasaray wants some yield from the former Ajax midfielder, they will need to play the ball to him early and they need runners who will explore the space for the through ball.

I have yet to watch Benfica play Newcastle so I will refrain from commenting on John and Anita (if they played), but I did see Feyenoord this morning with their clumsy and doubtful win over a fresh VVV.

Koeman used some harsh words after the game (Pelle wasn’t working hard enough and Boetius was subbed “because he was rubbish”… When the interviewer asked him what Boetius said about it, Koeman bit: “Nothing of course! An 18 year old is supposed to keep his mouth shut against the coach…”…. Well, well, well….

So lets look at our coaches. We do know by now that in terms of playing talent, we need not worry.

But in terms of coaches, we do have a category of top coaches, but they are all getting on age-wise.

Cruyff and Van Hanegem don’t coach anymore. Co Adriaanse is also in semi-retirement. I can’t see him moving down the Austrian mountain for just any club. Guus Hiddink is most likely working on his last gig, while Louis van Gaal might have the ambition for one more big gig after the Dutch team.

I don’t rate Dick Advocaat, as you might know, but he does belong in some list of coaches, but he will not be active too much longer either. Martin Jol doesn’t “have” it either, while Henk ten Cate is also back at the Jupiler level of Sparta Rotterdam.

The 1988 generation has a couple of active coaches left. Van Tiggelen, Muhren, Witschge, Vanenburg all seem to work at youth level and enjoying it.

Van ‘t Schip had his adventures in Australia and Mexico and is currently in between jobs.

We won’t mention Ruud Gullit, I guess…

Marco van Basten is impressing with Heerenveen, this second season half, but the jury is still out on him, I guess. He had a good spell with Oranje – despite some personnel issues with RVN and MVB – but a not so good experience at Ajax.

Frank Rijkaard won the CL with Barca but is now relatively anonymous in the Middle East.

It leaves Jan Wouters (Utrecht), Ronald Koeman (Feyenoord) and non-1988 Oranje player Fred Rutten (FC Twente) at the (sub)top of the Eredivisie.

Rutten was an exciting up and coming coach at Twente, but he didn’t deliver at Schalke 04 and didn’t win big trophies at PSV either. He is making an impression as Vitesse coach though.

Jan Wouters, a similar trajectory. Was hailed as the next big thing. Took on Ajax in a dreadful period. His demise there was documented in the Ajax documentary “Daar hoorden zij Engelen zingen…” ( “And hark the angels sang…” ). He left Holland for a spell and went to work for Glasgow Rangers, as the assistant coach. And the players and staff at Rangers couldn’t say enough great things about him, just like his mentors Cruyff and Van Hanegem did. After 5 years in Scotland, he returned to work as assistant coach at PSV, before returning to his first club FC Utrecht. First as assistant, and from 2011 onwards as head coach.

And Wouters is doing exceptionally well at the moment.

Ronald Koeman likes to see himself as the crown prince of coaches, but after somewhat questionable tenures at Ajax (clash with Van Gaal), PSV (exit during the season to hop on the Valencia train), Valencia (fired after abysmal results and clashes with key players) and an explicable early exit at AZ (“I still don’t know what happened…”) he is back in the limelight.

Koeman is leading a young Feyenoord potentially to the first title in 14 years. And as he likes to say “One day Oranje, one day Barcelona…”.

But, in all honesty, Feyenoord is waivering the last weeks. Playing with fear. Playing slow. No confidence and certainly not enough goals…

In this stage of the competition, it is key to see how the coach is able to keep the team together, motivate and take pressure off players and make sure they keep playing football.

After the VVV win, yesterday, he said “I don’t get it. They play as if they afraid.”

Well Ronald, this is the problem. This is something you should get. It’s your job. In this particular stage, to take your team by the hand. To keep the pressure away. To talk to them. To understand what is going on… Saying “I don’t get it” sums it for me. Koeman is not of the same level as Van Gaal or Hiddink.

Then there is the 1998 generation.

The man who shines brighter than anyone else, is currently Frank de Boer. Cool, calm and collected. Passionate on the byline, like he was on the pitch. Always in control. Always there for his team. And non withstanding the pressure of an Ajax organisation out of control, he won the title twice now, and is likely to be the first Ajax coach to win it three times in a row!

Young coaches to watch, are Jaap Stam (assistant at Zwolle, but joining the Ajax staff next season), Phillip Cocu (most likely taking the reigns at PSV next season), Alex Pastoor ( now at NEC, most likely the new man at AZ next season), Patrick Kluivert (asisstant coach to Louis van Gaal), Ajax youth coach Alphons Groenendijk and John van de Brom (Anderlecht).

Alfred Schreuder has been named as potential top coach but he has yet to prove at Twente that he is actually better than the man he replaced ( McLaren).

Another name that comes up is Nebo Gudelj, the Bosnian ex-NAC player who currently is guiding NAC out of the danger zone.

Enough options for the Dutch, I suppose. With JP van Gastel at Feyenoord even, ready to take control once Koeman moves to Barcelona.

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