Dutch Masters: Wim Kieft

Wim Kieft has been one of Holland’s most popular football analysts on tv since he quit playing pro football. Nowadays, the blond Amsterdam born former Ajax striker is analyst at Sport 1. He also does his “forum thing” every now and then. “But, not like Rene van der Gijp, who does motivational speeches for big rooms full of people. I couldn’t do that, I’m too shy for that.”

Wim Kieft is the son of a builder and a house-wife and grew up in a typical “peoples-suburb” (volksbuurt) in Amsterdam. When ten years old, he attends an Ajax Open Day and is allowed to stay. The club from Amsterdam can use tall defenders. “Yeah, I played central defender in those days. I was tall and strong. I didn’t mind physical challenges and was a good header. And I was slow, so they couldn’t use me anywhere else I guess.”

Kieft makes it into the C3 youth team, which normally is a sign you’re not good enough. “But still, Ajax also needs lower teams, I guess, to compete in different competitions… I don’t think I was destined for the big job in those days, but things changed when my youth coach suddenly put me in as central striker. I started to score goals. A lot, and that changed everything.”

Leo Beenhakker is youth coach in the A-group and allows Kieft to become the main striker for the A1. Suddenly, his name is whispered as an up and coming player. “I was never really highly talented, like Van Basten or Vanenburg. But I was pretty aloof and strong and tall. I knew how to hold my own, and to be honest: scoring in an Ajax team is always easier than in, say, Sparta or Telstar. I always played with good players. That helps.”

Ajax is having trouble in these days and youth coach Beenhakker is promoted to head coach of the Big Boys. “Ruud Geels and Ray Clarke had just left Ajax and Tonnie Blanker was the chosen one for the striker position. But he didn’t make it, so Ajax signed Piet Hamberg. He was a bit injured when he came, so Leo used me as striker in the season warm-up. I scored and kept scoring and since then I stayed in the team. I was only 17 years old. I do remember I made my debut in the season before against Sparta, but I can’t remember a single thing from that match. Only that I was extremely nervous (Ajax won 4-3).”

Kieft reminiscences further. “I played with Jesper Olsen on the left of me and Tcheu La Ling on the right. A striker’s dream. With these two, scoring was easy. I was a huge Ling fan. Man, that guy was insanely good. What an elegance and style. Mostly brilliant. Sometimes horrible. He could do what I couldn’t even do in my dreams. And a very nice guy too.”

The 1.89 meter tall striker would develop as a strong and ball-controlling striker. He was unstoppable in the box and his specialty was scoring at the near post. He was unbeatable in the air and had a good nose for the right position. “We trained constantly on those crosses at the near post. Until you got sick of it. But it worked. Nine out of ten times, I only had to tap the ball in. I remember the older players, like Arnesen and Lerby and Piet Schrijvers, would yell at me for everything I did wrong. I remember thinking I couldn’t do anything right. It must have worked, but I do feel they could have done it in a nicer way. It was a tough learning process.”

Kieft would become Dutch and European top scorer with 32 goals in 32 games. Wim Jansen came to Ajax that year to lead the defense. “I knew him from his Feyenoord days but never realized how good he was. Man, he was smart. He was a good coach too, tough but friendly. And Johan Cruyff came back in the winter break and when he came, everything clicked. We were unstoppable. With Arnesen, Lerby, Olsen, Cruyff and Jansen it was easy for me. I couldn’t fail. And then we had some talents coming up, like Vanenburg and Rijkaard. Kurt Linder was our coach, but he only nagged. Johan determined everything already in those days.”

In those days, another player emerged who would unconsciously block Kieft’s career: one Marco van Basten. The next season Kieft would still play 28 games and score 19 times, but Van Basten was destined to become Ajax’ striker. “The expectations after my first season were huge. I was only 19 years old and had made my debut in Oranje as well. The pressure was immense, and I started to cramp up and choke. Marco was pushed as my successor although we also played together. We could play well together, but the club wanted me to move on. Johnny Bosman was also explicitly knocking on the door and Ton Harmsen, the club chairman I loathed, pushed me out.”

European top clubs wanted Kieft, but the blond striker chose to move to Pisa in Italy. “Italy wasn’t as open as it is today and Pisa really wanted me. I could make a lot of money there and my manager really pushed that move. Only Krol, Jan Peters and Michel van der Korput played in Italy and somehow I wanted to play there too. The city was totally crazy when the club presented me. I looked behind me at the airport, because I thought Maradona had arrived. They thought I was a world class player, which I wasn’t. I was a dependent player, if you know what I mean.”

Kieft had a tough start in Italy and only scored his first goal after six months. He’d score three times in his first season. “It was horrible. I was only 20 years old and I needed good players to allow me to do my job. But I was most of the times the only lone striker. And we’d be in training camps for weeks. My girl friend hated life in Italy. We also hardly ever got paid in time.”

Pisa got relegated in that season, but for Kieft that worked out. “In the Serie B Pisa dared to play offensive and I scored a lot. I became a popular player in Pisa. We promoted directly again and the next season in the Serie A was a relative success.”

Torino signed Kieft, who started well that next season with three goals in three games, but Kieft gets seriously injured and loses a whole season. PSV is in need of a good striker and makes Kieft an offer he can’t refuse. “I still had a three year deal with Torino and I loved that club, but life in Holland was better for my young family (Kieft’s son Robin was born in Torino) so I moved back. A good choice. We’d win the Dutch title with PSV and later on even the European Cup. “We started well and we never stopped. We had a great team. I became the Dutch top scorer again with 29 goals and I secured my spot in the Dutch team.”

With Marco van Basten injured it seems Kieft will be the central striker at the EC1988, but Rinus Michels suddenly opts for John Bosman for the first match of the tournament. Holland loses 1-0 against the USSR and Marco van Basten would come into the team to write history. “Michels wanted to use me as a pinch hitter. A role I played well. The goal I scored against Ireland proves that. By the way, whenever Oranje plays a big tournament, every one wants to know about that goal. What ever I do, when I get into a taxi cab, the driver starts to talk about that goal. I really wanted Oranje to win this tournament, so people will talk about other goals…”

Win Kieft plays 43 games for Oranje, of which 27 times as a starter. Kieft obviously lost the rivalry with Marco van Basten. Frustrating? “Sure, at the time it was frustrating. To be honest, you don’t look at the team, you only focus on yourself. I wanted to play, period! Later on, I learned to accept that Marco was the better player. Much better. I can see that but I didn’t want to give up that spot without a fight. Whenever I came on, I gave it my all.”

Kieft highly enjoyed himself, despite his sub-role. “That 1988 tournament was just great. Wonderful experience. We were a real team, very hungry and eager. I was also part of the WC1990 squad and the EC1992 squad but the chemistry wasn’t there. Those teams were teams of spoiled stars who would win the title with one finger in the nose. In Sweden 1992 it seemed as if we were on a holiday together. I can’t even remember a thing from that tournament. The best players don’t always win the title, you know. You need more. By the way, I though the 1998 squad was the better team, compared to 1988.”

Kieft returns to PSV with his European title but gets seriously injured again. Romario has arrived in Eindhoven and it seems Kieft’s run at PSV would be over. “I liked Romario, he was a good seed. He liked me too, because I’d pass the ball to him, whenever he was in the better position. I didn’t care who scored, him or me, but some other players didn’t like him and tried to ignore him. I even scored 21 goals that season, so I wasn’t too unhappy overall.”

Still, Kieft would leave PSV Eindhoven after the 1990 tournament to play for Girondins Bordeaux. “I had some issues with certain players at PSV. Some thought they were the big stars, suddenly. The vibe wasn’t good. Bordeaux really wanted to sign me so I thought: why not? But after a couple of months the general manager ended up in prison for fraud and the club was practically bankrupt. We didn’t get our pay and I took the used jerseys home to wash them for the next week. Insane. PSV asked me back when the issues there were resolved, so I went back to Eindhoven.”

At PSV, Bobby Robson is the new coach. “A wonderful man. I really clicked with him. A sweet man and a great coach. Uncomplicated but smart in a motivational sense. You’d break through a brick wall for him.”

At Oranje, in 1991, he would clash with Michels. Kieft and Van Basten played together as strikers and Dick Advocaat – assistant to Michels – had told Kieft he’d play at the EC1992. In December 1991, the Ajax players plead with Michels to play the “Ajax style” and Michels decides to sub Kieft. The PSV striker doesn’t except the decision and walks away from the trainings camp. “Two months later, Oranje played another friendly and I was surprised to get an invite, as normal.”

But in 1993, Kieft’s body protests again. This time, his Achilles heel. “Aad de Mos was PSV’s coach and I thought he was a bit of a fake. His motivational and interpersonal stuff was just not truthful, you know. He acted more than he was himself. I hated that. So, when my body didn’t cooperate and things at PSV were a bit iffy, I decided to throw the towel. Feyenoord and Ajax wanted to sign me as pinch hitter, which I thought was quite something, but it was over and done with. My body and mind didn’t want to go on anymore. I quit. My last game was Volendam away, a pathetic end, really.”

Kieft is satisfied about his career. “I don’t see Marco van Basten as my rival or my enemy or something. If he wasn’t there, would I have had a better career? I don’t know…. Maybe I would have played longer at Ajax, but then again…my Italy period was wonderful. I learned a lot there and I was successful at PSV.

It seems Kieft’s career as analyst is set. Or is it. “Well, I will continue with that, but I will also enlist in the Trainer/Coach studies. Next season, I will do my apprentice ship at the Oranje Under 19 year olds.
I really want to know if there’s a coach in me and I am going to fire on all cylinders to find out. If I think I am good enough, I might go for an assistant coach job at a decent club. It’s a tad late, but I’m 45 now, that’s not that old.”