Huub Stevens: am I really so tough?

March 15th, 2008 | by: Jan | Comments(1)

Coming home in Eindhoven… it makes Steven laugh. The new coach of PSV feels very much at home in Germany too. “What I love most in Germany is the fans! Football here is really important. And it became even more so after the last WC. The German fans really supported their team and that spirit came back to all the clubs. We play here in front of 60.000 enthusiastic fans. That’s just heaven. I will miss that, because I do feel I won’t return to Germany after PSV.”

Huub Stevens has always said that one day he’d come back to his old club PSV. And he gets to spend more time with his wife, who is seriously ill.

But, despite his career at PSV as a defender which made him an international and his tenure as manager youth development, he doesn’t see it as “coming home”. HSV is my home too, but yes…I spent 18 years of my life in Eindhoven, it’s a part of my life.”

Stevens played for Fortuna SC, PSV and Oranje and was coach at Roda JC, Schalke O4, Hertha BSC, 1. FC Koln and HSV. But he doesn’t have time to look back at his career yet.

“Yesterday doesn’t count in football. It’s about today and tomorrow. With Schalke, I won the UEFA Cup. Of course I party with the boys after such a win, but the next day I am focused on the next match. Because the only thing you can do with a prize is put it on the shelves and go for the next one.”

That drive came from his youth. “I came from a poor background. I lived on the streets. The survival of the fittest. My dad workied in the mines and died at a too young age. He always stressed to me and my brothers to make a better life. That will to survive came from my upbringing.”

As central defender at PSV he was hard as a rock. And as a coach he has the same reputation. In Germany they call him Der Harter Hund (the tough dog). A man of discipline. Players are scared of him, is the image he has to fight. “Ah, I don’t really care about the image, but I do think: am I really that tough? I don’t think so. I don’t rule at the club. I work with a team and we take decisions collectively. And with my players, I just want them to realize what they’re doing, you know. I want the team to win.”

“I am not rigid. I’ve seen a lot of the world and I can adjust to circumstances. But rules are rules. They are there for a reason. But I know you can’t treat a player from Brazil like you do a German player.

Stevens will reach the age of 55 years this year. His life has always been dedicated to the ball. Still, he knows life is more than that. “I am crazy about football, but I don’t forget to live. My family is extremely important for me. I like to work in the garden, I read a lot. Thrillers and biographies of famous sportspeople, like Lance Armstrong and Mohammed Ali. I am interested in all aspects of life.”

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