Aad Mansveld, The Legend

Article dedicated to Goose

When we talk about great Dutch football players of the past, names like Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Moulijn, Neeskens and Van Basten pass by. A player who definitely deserves a spot on that list is Aad Mansveld. The ADO Den Haag defender never won a European Cup (although he did play for Feyenoord as well) nor did he excel in Oranje at a big tournament. But the robust center back was – with Twente libero Epi Drost – the Dutch Kaiser.

A player can turn from great into a myth by dying young. He was only 47 years old when he passed away, lung cancer.

Aad Mansveld died in 1991. The best player to come from The Hague. But also, a man of the street. Steak and chips, a caravan, Elvis Presley and raw moviestars like Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson. The cult hero didn’t like the attention, the glamour. We wanted to be normal. A man of the people. He worked beside his football career, as a plumber, a carsalesman and as a retailer. Aadsjuh, is how they called him, in Den Haag.

He was uncomplicated as a player. No whining, working. “When a mate would pull his leg back in, in a challenge, I’d attack him. He was playing with my paycheck,” was a famous quote.

A reporter from The Hague said: “Aad would never pull a jersey. Too soft. If he needed to give out, it would be a real knock. The other player would know what time it was. If Aadsjuh couldn’t get the ball, he took your leg.”

Ruthless on the pitch, but tough on himself too. A pioneer with painkiller injections. But apart from all the gung-ho-ness, he was a tremendous player and a natural leader. He was the so-called libero (or “last man”) but he was also the one who started the attack. As a defender, he scored 92 goals in his pro-career. A man, ahead of his time. His old mate Lex Schoenmaker: “He played like Beckenbauer even before Beckenbauer. The other defenders only saw his back. He’d fore-check and press, and once we had regained possession, he was pushing forward. He had a tremendous distant strike and he was a great header.” Mansveld partner in the center of defense, Joop Korevaar: “When the match started he shook my hand, and said: I’ll see you at half time…”.

Typical Aadsjuh
His high point was the quarter finals for the European Cup against West Ham United in 1976. In the first 38 minutes, he had scored three times (two penalties). When the players marched off to the dressing room at half time, he said to striker Van Leeuwen: “Hey buddy, what’s with you? I’ve scored three already. Time for you to earn your pay!”.

Aad Mansveld. There’s many anecdotes about the man. Coach Jezek once penalized him for farting during a tactical talk: 250 guilders. Aad would take revenge… A few days later, Jezek had car trouble and asked Mansveld for help. The latter said he’d come and bail his coach out, but of course… he didn’t. Jezek arrived an hour late at training, and Mansveld suggested the tardy coach put 250 guilders in the jar…

His humor was cynical and venomous for mates and opponents. When English striker Goodlass played for ADO, Aadjsuh told his little son to shake hands with the player. Goodlass missed his right hand… Korevaar, a religious man: “That was tough with Aad. According to my faith and that of many others, sex before marriage wasn’t on. Well, you tell Aadsje that!”. When PSV came to play in Den Haag, Mansveld gave starplayer Willy van der Kuylen a knock and said: “why do you play today? Too many injuries, eh?”. Van der Kuylen played a dreadful game.

Whenever ADO Den Haag was abroad, Mansveld would lead the players who were game out via the rainpipes. They found this wonderful nightclub and Mansveld was picked from the audience to support some magician in his act. What the players didn’t know, was that the performance was aired live on tv. And coach Ernst Happel was watching it! Happel never said anything about it, but the next morning he picked Mansveld from his bed early in the morning and made him run miles around the hotel. Mansveld complied.

Dick Advocaat calls Mansveld the symbol of the football city of The Hague: a combination of quality, mentality, humor and bluf. Since his dead, Mansveld name is a brand, almost.

Ruud Mansveld, Aad’s son, is the communication manager of ADO Den Haag and he is actually very busy with playing down the enormous impact his dad had at the club. “I think that’s all a bit overhyped because he’s dead. Let’s face it, Willem van Hanegem is very popular but no one wants to call the new Feyenoord stadium after him. So why would the ADO stadium be named after my dad? If he’d lived, he’d opposed. He would want some rich sponsor to buy their name and add some cash to the club’s vault, you know. Players like Ton Thie and Lex Schoenmaker are legends as well, but they still live. That’s the main difference. My dad always wanted to be and remain a normal bloke. And I try to help him in that.”

Aad Mansveld worked with three top coaches: Ernst Happel, Vaclav Jezek and Vujadin Boskov. And the results were there. In 1968, ADO won the national cup, 2-1 win over Ajax. Mansveld was the Man of the Match. The week before, there was a weird incident. Ajax and ADO played for the competition and if Ajax would win that game, they’d win the title. That would mean that ADO would get to play European Cup football. So Ernst Happel told his boys to lose. To take it easy, but not too conspicuous. Ajax tried hard but failed to score themselves. At the end of the game, Mansveld decided to handle the ball in the box. Ajax got a penalty, won the game and snatched the title. A week later, ADO secured European Cup football on their own strength, by beating Ajax.

“Mansveld was adamant that we’d win that final. He wanted to win the national cup but he also felt truly ashamed of that handball. He wanted everyone to know that ADO could qualify for the European Cup on their own behalf,” said Lex Schoenmaker later.

In the season 1970-71, ADO led the standings for 17 weeks. Happel’s team was undefeated at home and only conceded 5 goals (!) in 17 games. Injuries and pressure made that ADO at the end of the season finished third. Remarkable, with the current wisdom that Ajax won the European Cup and Feyenoord won the World Cup that same season. Quite some competition, in other words.

Mansveld was a man of the city and of the club. More supporter than player. The club turned greedy and took advantage of that fact. Anderlecht wanted to sign Mansveld but ADO wanted the top price. PSV offered money plus one Guus Hiddink, ADO refused. Late in his career, Mansveld would move to Rotterdam to play for Feyenoord and in his later years he’d even play some for FC Utrecht.

Mansveld really didn’t want to leave Den Haag and opted for a long-term deal with the guarantee to work in the technical staff. The board of ADO brushed his proposal aside and Aadsjuh left disillusioned to Feyenoord.

Aad’s son Ruud: “I was so mad. I couldn’t believe why he’d go and play for Feyenoord. There were riots in the streets and my youth sucked after that day. We had police guards in our garden and couldn’t even go to school safely. There was graffiti on the walls: Aad Defector, Aad Mansveld Dead… That was the other side of his fame…”
Coincidence dictated that Aad would play his first Feyenoord game in the new season against Den Haag, in Den Haag. As a gesture to the fans, Mansveld decided to do his warm up in a ADO jersey. Big mistake. He wasn’t hailed back as the lost son, but scoffed at and abused like a traitor. Ruud Mansveld: “My dad was injured and shouldn’t have played. But he desperately wanted to and took another injection. The result: a five month injury drama.”

After one season in Rotterdam, Mansveld returned to ADO Den Haag. And the graffiti became: Mansveld is God. His son Ruud was suddenly called Jesus at school.

Ruud Mansveld sees similarities between Mansveld and Roger Albertsen, the Norwegian player at ADO. “They were similar. High pain-limit. Mentality to always wanting to play. They both took so many injections. And they both died of cancer. I heard a story about a young talent from Utrecht, Percy Winter, who took injections playing in the youth! He was fit as, but his heart stopped when he was just 40 years old. I don’t know….”

Aad’s statue…

His final farewell at ADO was a drama. Cor van der Hart used Mansveld and Schoenmaker as the veterans amongst youthful talent. After 12 games, Van der Hart suddenly decided he didn’t need the old hands anymore and sent them off. That season, ADO got relegated. Angry fans sat fire to the South Stands in the stadium.

Another disappointment in his career was the botched move to Ajax. In 19y70, when Vasovic left Ajax, it seemed the Sons of Gods wanted Mansveld. Mansveld waited to sign the deal and had said no to Anderlecht. Suddenly, Ajax signed German Horst Blankenburg and Mansveld’s transfer was off the table.

Mansveld international career ended like a soap opera as well. He only played six international games. Rinus Israel, Feyenoord’s libero, was the first choice and he was hardly injured. However, before the WC 1974, Israel did get injured and Mansveld was the obvious alternative. In March 1974, Mansveld tore his ankle ligaments and was out himself, leaving Michels with some creative problems.

After his active career, Mansveld and Schoenmaker started a youth plan for Den Haag, along with former Australia technical boss Rob Baan. He’d also work as assistant coach at ADO Den Haag (renamed FC Den Haag). During training, he felt a pain in his chest. The check up revealed a tumor.

December 5, 1991 was Aad’s last day as a man, and his first as a legend.

Aad’s name is a registred trademark, today. The family manages the use. ” A lot of people want to use Aad’s name and reputation. We are really selective with what we do. I was happy to name the main stands in the stadium after him, for instance. But hotels wanted to use his name for special rooms and many other businesses wanted to use his name for their commercial purposes… The Aad Mansveld room… As if he was John Lennon… People make caps, t-shirts… I say yes, when they vow to give their profits to charity. Which they never want to do… When there was that plan for a statue, we were honored. That’s not a commercial thing, but a real honorary idea. But it’s sick… When they wanted to open the Mansveld Stands, the shots for tv needed to be done again, because the main sponsor’s logo wasn’t visible. I refused. Den Haag is a big city, but also small. Whenever someone wants to make money over my dad’s dead back, someone tips me off.

When Mansveld’s statue was produced, his son Ruud took care of the details. He’d bring the old Quick football shoes to the artist, and he wanted everything to be as it was. Aad’s golden heart now lives in a bronze body.