Unsung Heroes…

May 28th, 2007 | By: Jan | 16 Comments »

Ok, we had a little fun with Dick Nanninga, but I am sure there are some more players out there that you guys liked, but were afraid to admit. You know, players that aren’t sexy, or necessarily good, but that you liked for some reason… I’ll give you a player like that… Regi Blinker! Never really made it big, did play some games for Oranje… Or John de Wolf :-)… John van Loen…. Typical “why does he play when we have sooo many other good ones-player”…

I’ll give you one of mine… Rene van der Gijp. Anyone?

(Denny Landzaat is not eligible to compete in this….)



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Comments
Username By Ishmael | May 28th, 2007 at 1:58 am
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Hi all, this is good. I remember to be in Holland some time ago… Maybe 1985? I was visiting family and anyway I saw Holland play Denmark I think with Andrew Hookstra I think. From Feynoord. I like him.

Posted from Australia Australia

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Username By Lerkot | May 28th, 2007 at 8:30 am
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Peter van Vossen!

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Username By goose | May 28th, 2007 at 11:58 am
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@Ish: thats Andre Hoekstra, his nickname was ‘koning van de kluts’which means somethink like’king of the scremage)

@lerkot: what a great soldier he was…remember him coming on as a sub at Webley and walk strait to the penalty mark to take a penalty which saved us the game..he was the man responsible for us qualifying for the WC 94

my unsung hero: Gerald Vanenburg, never had the guts to tell people i liked him, had the best technic of all, was the biggest dutch talent till he was 16 then wenn things strated to get more physical he got problems..he made it as a pro but never as big as we first expected…Cruijff ‘killed’him by saying that a player with his kinda voice (high) good never be a real leader in a team..so it was not cool to like Vanenburg

grtz

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By Mario | May 28th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
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I liked Wim Jonk and Brian Roy, very gifted players but for rare reasons never were at the level they should have been although they did have their good times with Oranje, specially Jonk. I liked the way they played but their career went away in not a great style.

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Username By Rami | May 29th, 2007 at 1:32 am
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I like wim jonk a lot too.

One i like too that im afraid to admit, hehe, well hes not that great but i like him for some unknown reason.. And Van der Meyde. Always in and out of injuries, but at some point, i felt that guy could go brilliant. too bad.

Also i always thought ruud hesp, anyone remember him?, was better than ed de goey.. but he was automatically overshadowed by the young van der sar anyway. Bad timing.

Posted from Canada Canada

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Username By Rami | May 29th, 2007 at 1:37 am
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Also i might add John van’t Schip too. hes wasnt bad at all..

Posted from Canada Canada

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Username By goose | May 29th, 2007 at 4:48 am
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@rami; youre a brave man Rami…vdMeyden!!! hahaha..even worse then my Vanenburg

grtz

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By Jan | May 29th, 2007 at 8:00 am
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Great names all of them. I vividly remember Vanenburg’s debut in Ajax. He was a sensation! 16 years old, petit… Nothing he couldn’t do with a ball. Another Maradona. I remember him playing a youth tournament with young Oranje (was it in Argentina?) where he was the talk of the town. Never understood why they let him play on the right wing, he was the ideal center midfielder I’d say. I remember that JC quote very well, it did not help his career. But man, what a fabulous skills. Wim Jonk was a bit of an old-fashioned playmaker. Very static, but ever so smart. He and Bergkamp had a psychic connection on the pitch. John van ‘t Schip was one of my faves too. When in Ajax 2 he was considered the bigger talent compared with San Marco. Everyone compared him with JC (looks, walk, skills). He had an awesome cross, but was a tad to flegmatic. I liked John as a midfielder. He played a couple of matches on midfield for Ajax and he was the real deal, but they had more than enough midfielders and not enough right wingers, so Johnny was relegated to that spot and JC wanted him to keep the pitch wide. He never really got enough of the game, that way. Ruud Hesp was a great goalie, indeed. Should’ve played for one of the big three to really get noticed though.
Brian Roy was gifted, but too much of a handbag (to use Goose’s fave expression :-) ). Roy wasn’t popular in Holland - like Vanenburg - due to his typical “vibe”. Van Vossen was a character too… Andre Hoekstra was super in the year that JC played with him. He said: Andre, when I have the ball, you go deep and I’ll pass it on to you. And it worked everytime. He scored many goals that way. When JC left, Andre was back to his normal mediocre self. Very sympathetic guy. by the way.

Who remembers Frans van Rooy?

Posted from Australia Australia

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Username By Jan | May 29th, 2007 at 8:02 am
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So, where is everybody…?

Wimn Jonk is manager of FC Volendam, I believe. Van ‘t Schip we all know. Goose, where’s Vanenburg these days? Van Vossen is youth coach at Ajax, right? Andre Hoekstra? Bryan Roy is youth coach at Ajax as well I believe…

Posted from Australia Australia

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Username By ferenc | May 29th, 2007 at 8:43 am
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gaston taument,ulrich van goebbel,maybe jordi cruyff…

and i remember a guy called rob de wit. he was very talented (maybe played at ajax but i’m not so sure)in the min 80s but all of a sudden he disappeared. what happened to him?

Posted from Hungary Hungary

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Username By goose | May 29th, 2007 at 9:33 am
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@ferenc: he had a bleeding in his brains (dont know the english word) so he had to stop playing and working..he had to relay on social security..very sad (he made one of the best goals ever in Oranje in a game aginst Hungary (ill try and locate it)..
@Jan: only know Vanenburg was manager with Helmond Sport but was fired in the beginning of the year

grtz

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By ferenc | May 29th, 2007 at 9:56 am
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very sad story… bleeding=cerebral hemorrhage (i guess)… i remember this goal against a quite good hungarian team.

i also liked gerrard vanenburg,remember the cl final in 88 against benfica. he played very well.

Posted from Hungary Hungary

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Username By goose | May 29th, 2007 at 10:53 am
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Andre Hoekstra is coach of the youth team of Excelsior, hes been there since 1999 (quit a long time actually)
dont know anything about vanVossen..but altough i didnt name him i think Lerkot made the best choice..really loved vanVossen, hes story (he came from a family of 14, very protestant, wasnt allowed to play on sundays) he really saved Oranje in the qualification to WC 94, remember him crying when a dutch reporter came to visit him when he played in turkey and was homesick…a very real guy if you know what i mean

only know about Roy that hes married to a dutch b actress, Nada van Nie..useless player when it come to mentality..great skills though

gtz

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By goose | May 29th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
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As promised, heres the deWit goal..great, great goal..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC2P1ofKnt8

grzt

Posted from Netherlands Netherlands

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Username By Jan | May 29th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
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Very good Goose, I hereby declare you Master Archivaris of this Blog! Yeah, Robbie de Wit. Exciting left winger. Started at FC Utrecht, then moved to Ajax, what a talent he was. Ulrich van Gobbel was a huge talent when young. Sooo strong, so fast… But he was too kind for the professional world. Couldn’t really fit in to Oranje (only felt good at Feyenoord) - was overwhelmed with the cocky players from Ajax - and was easily influenced by so-called friends. Ended up giving most of his money away, got in trouble with the law, etc etc. But he truly was a very nice, softspoken bloke. Taument was a sensation in the Dutch league for one or two seasons. Him, Henke Larsson and Regi Blinker at Feyenoord. Nice attacking line. Larsson couldn’t score (!) when he was at Feyenoord and Gaston sort of lost it along the way. Never understood who that works, it just dried up. Gone. Jordi still plays, he is at Co Adriaanse’s former Ukraine club. Seriously! I think he’ll return to a Spanish side this season. Too much injuries. How ’bout Peter Hoekstra? Another hugely talented left winger. Great at PSV as a youngster. Played some decent matches for Oranje (1996). He eventually ended up in the Championship in England, I think. Another career in ruins due to injuries and tackles…

Posted from Australia Australia

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Username By Rami | May 30th, 2007 at 1:31 am
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very beautiful goal, the kinda goal i always hoped robben would keep on delighting us with.

good job goose.

Posted from Canada Canada

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