Marco van Basten did prove on thing in the dramatic Ajax season: coaching is a craft. A profession. It requires more than the clinical know how of a 4-3-3 system or the skill of a outside boot kick. Ernst Happel impressed his players by hitting the cross bar from 40 meters. Ten times in a row. But that was quite some time back.

Business management, social and emotional intelligent and the capacity to understand when to kick a players’ butt or when to hug him. In modern football it’s more about the running lines withing the sensitive minds of the players and group dynamics.

So, Marco van Basten confronted himself in the mirror and was shocked by his own conclusion: “Ajax deservers better.” Ruthless as he was as a player, when he crushed the cheek of Club Brugge defender Plovie with his left elbow. That’s how he crushed his own coaching career. Who ever can lose this grand, is still a winner. Although it was the victory of introspection.

And there was more. The comeback of Guus Hiddink from outer space. Moulded from Achterhoek clay, he wasn’t one of us anymore. The creator of his own magic floated effortlessly above the international football pitches. His own museum and stadium in Korea, free beer in Australia, a wodka brand in Russia and a statue on the Crim: wherever Hiddink worked, success and hysterie followed. Hiddinkmania. And as ad interim Czar in Chelsea, he was the master of the best football players in the world, for 180 minutes. Until Andres Iniesta in injury time crushed the pink balloon above Guus’ head.

And then there was Louis van Gaal. His total silence about the courtship by Bayern was deafening. Louis van Gaal likes to act the coach who respects contracts. In Munich, they already knew: Hurricane Louis is on it’s way…

Sandbags in front of the door and windows closed. The wish-coach of Bayern can yell the white out of your eyes. The German tv showed a summary of karate-kicks, tantrums and a recent blow on the tv-camera. The tabloid Bild used his quote: I’m the best!, making him Jose Mourinho’s parrot. The newspaper also explained why Van Gaal was named The Iron Tulip in Barcelona: “This discipline fanatic checked on his players at night even, to make sure they weren’t clubbin’ on the Ramblas.”

Another paper had spotted something remarkable: “Louis can turn the deepest red. This red we haven’t seen in Germany since Ernst Happel.” The Bayern Rundfunk summarized Van Gaal’s silverware: six national titles, two national cups, a Champions League win, once runner up, a World Cup and the UEFA cup. The blond anchor woman looked serious when she read the news.

Coaching is a craft.

Peter Wekking in VI

Willem van Hanegem (former AZ player and coach) in the AD:

“This championship of AZ is mainly a championship of patience. I personally feel they deserve it. There’s only one team in the Eredivisie which can claim the title and since the third match day, AZ led the standings. The first two games, against NAC and ADO, you could see the old, adventurous and playful AZ. Games in which AZ only looked to attack and create things. But they lost both matches.

I don’t think they panicked, but I do think Van Gaal decided to change his tactics. It didn’t work in the third match against PSV, because they won that game with sheer luck. But, the game did mean the turnaround for them.

AZ would become the best and most consistent team of them all. The opponents didn’t know how to handle Van Gaal’s team in the first season’s half.

AZ pulled back when they lost possession and allowed the opponent to come and create space. When they turned around possession, they’d build up via Demy De Zeeuw on the right flank, with a lot of power and agression. Opponents thought they were happily playing along, but AZ waited for the mistake and was ruthless in the counter attack.. El Hamdaoui, Dembélé and Pelle and Ari took advantage of the space allowed and finished the job.

In the second competition half, it was harder for AZ. The opposition understood their new tactics and the defensive tactics of the opponent would take the gravy out of the game. First, AZ canceled the entertainment value and then the opponents started to do the same.

This champion didn’t make our competition more attractive, but they do deserve this title. Louis van Gaal said in an interview recently, that he’d love to play more adventurous but the results needed a more realistic approach. Let’s hope it’s temporary.

Two yeats ago, they had to win the title, but the pressure was too much. Last year, Schaars was out and they had a dramatic season. They needed to change things. Van Gaal surrendered to realisme and I understand that totally.

What I didn’t understand is that no one was allowed to use the word “champion” in a radius of 1000 meters around the DSB stadium. I didn’t get that. Ridiculous. They won everything, and I’d say…chest out, chin up and tell the world you want to set things straight. I think it’s that mentality that made them lose against Vitesse.

There was stress. We didn’t see the new champs playing, last Saturday. That was sad, because AZ deserved to win the title at home.

And now they had to wait a day to see Ajax stumble. But, that all fitted in the scenario of AZ’s season… They had to be patient. Let the opponent make the mistake. And that’s what happened.

In the last ten days, we’ve been focusing on Brilliant Orange! And what a news we had…

But let’s quickly drum up all the news items we missed from other Dutch football topics…

Fred Rutten is out at Schalke and will be the new PSV coach. Dwight Lodeweges, currently in charge and with some – now fading – hope to become the new man, will most probably leave to take over NEC from Mario Been, who’s off to…

Feyenoord has renewed Diego Biseswar contract! The youngster was told to leave the club at the start of the season and his contract expired this coming summer. PSV, FC Twente and Benfica wanted to sign the mercury-like left winger but Diego realizes he has more to learn still in Rotterdam Good news for the suffering club.

Clarence Seedorf has set his sights on the WC2010. “I don’t know Van Marwijk, and that could be a good thing. A fresh start. And why not? I still play well, I am highly motivated and I won’t be the one blocking my return to the team. Still a year or so to go and I would just love to be able to play in South Africa. I’ve a special bond with Nelson Mandela and to be able to play there would be a dream come true.”

Benitez renewed his Liverpool deal and that was the sign for Dirk Kuyt to do the same. He’ll stay at Anfield till 2012. “I’m proud and delighted that Liverpool wants to renew my deal so early. I’m 28 years old now, so this might not be the last renewal, as far as I’m concerned.” Steve Gerrard signed a new deal as well.

Marco van Basten has his sights set on a new midfielder. One Rafael van der Vaart. “You never know. I also hoped players like him would return to Ajax when they are past 30, but if Raf wants to come now, he’s welcome.” In the meantime Ishmael Aissati seems to be the new go-to-guy for Van Basten. The intelligent playmaker will be the first to be placed on the team sheet for Ajax.

Marko Vejinovic… Remember that name. You heard it here first. AZ youngster. Fave of Van Gaal. 19 years old. Was lured to Anfield by Liverpool, but the Amsterdam born player returned to play in Holland. The more technical/tactical game. He’s AZ’s playmaker of tomorrow. Had some taste of the big game (against Feyenoord) and differentiates himself by playing virtually every ball deep. We’ll keep an eye out for him. If he’s good enough for Louis, he’s good enough for us…

Ajax assistant coach Rob Witschge has a torn Achilles. Pieter Huistra (of “Where are they now?” fame) takes his place for now.

And lastly: if Oranje wins the title next year, they basically follow our lead. This Netherlands Blog is outperforming all the other national blogs…Argentina, Italy, England, France…they’re so far back it hurts my eyes. We’re the World Champions Talking about Football!! Thanks to all of you

Stijn Schaars is back. And how! AZ is leader in the Dutch league and has it’s own version of Steven Gerrard. “Everything needs to get out of the way in my ambition to be successful.”

The world leadership isn’t used once in the interview. But the drive, the passion and the love for the game is omnipresent. Stijn Schaars is a winner. Maybe not in words, but most definitely in his actions. Stijn Schaars, the captain Fantastic of AZ Alkmaar.

Liverpool has Gerrard, AZ has Schaars. Although he’s not a kid from Alkmaar he does motivate, direct, makes the play and guards the vibe in the dressing room. In many ways, he does resemble the Liverpool captain. Like Gerrard, the 24 year old international needs to be constrained before his fanatic play creates more injuries.

“Coach Van Gaal thought I was too wild in my first year. I didn’t believe him. I thought, “but I’m a good player…”. But he was right. I just went into challenges without thinking. Challenges I now know I had to stay out of. Sometimes, it doesn’t make sense to go in with 100%… When you’re 3-0 up, you don’t want to injure yourself or collect a card. Van Gaal also taught me to pay attention to which player has possession. Some players aren’t that good and will lose the ball even if you just put some pressure on. You don’t have to go all out in every situation. I injured myself too many times with ridiculous tackles at the wrong moments…”

AZ and Van Gaal are ambitious and so is Stijn Schaars. But his personal ambition is to play 30 games in a row. “Do you know I never ever did that? Play 30 games without injury. I’m 24 years old and I have been through 4 operations already. I realized I was too vulnerable and I had to adjust my training program to gain strength.”

Last season, Schaars was fully committed to recovering from a huge ankle problem. AZ is happy now, with Schaars back in the team, although last season he was also present behind the scenes.

Some call him a maniac, but in his eyes this mentality is needed to reach the top.

“In terms of money we are less than the Top 3. Feyenoord isn’t rich either at the moment, so maybe we do belong to the top 3, but we should make ourselves aware that although we can’t spend what Ajax or PSV can spend, we are still AZ. We don’t have to talk ourselves down. We may not be able to win in terms of payments, but we can win in terms of unity and mentality. We need to invest in ourselves and each other. Make sure what other players’ strong and weak points are and compensate those. That’s the team process. And Van Gaal works hard on those aspects. We can make a difference in that way.”

He looks at his team mates and smiles… “We don’t need to be the underdog anymore, I think we have something like 15 internationals in our squad.”

Schaars has no problems sacrificing himself. Even in Vitesse’s youth program, he rather played in service of others. “I am a team players. The best compliment I can get is where people see me as the player enabling others to shine. I love that. Obviously, I like to excel too, but my biggest quality is to enable others to play great. And I am totally fine with that.”

When he was injured, he refused to do interviews. But he was at the club every day. “When you play, you think it’s all normal to be a pro players. Sometimes, it’s good to be left out so you realize what a blessed life we lead. I did my recovery at the club, so I would feel the hurt when AZ lost.”

Schaars is pretty opinionated and tells everyone what he feels. “Some guys are introverted, I am extroverted. I love expressing myself. But someone like Maarten Martens is more a silent type, although we share the same commitment to the team. He has the same drive and winners’ mentality. It doesn’t mean I’m more valuable than him, just because I’m louder.”

Last season, Louis van Gaal was ready to leave AZ. David Mendes, Kew Jaliens and Stijn Schaars stepped up to the plate and convinced both Van Gaal and owner Scheringa that AZ needed Van Gaal.

“I am convinced that Louis would have left if we hadn’t made a move from the players group. We need a top sport mentality here and Louis brings that. The reason why we went to Scheringa to convince him to not let Louis go was for the club. Van Gaal can be a tough task master, but that’s a good thing. Van Gaal has exactly that what AZ needs. The fact that we had that horrible season last year was purely because we, the players, couldn’t execute his vision. We felt it was wrong to allow your strongest asset to walk away. Unacceptable. But, of course Van Gaal isn’t a saint and he will leave one day, but at this point in time Van Gaal is the big star of AZ and we need him to get AZ where it wants to be.”

AZ will become the winter champs. Does this mean your gamble worked out? “Van Gaal took the risk, not me. He could have gone anywhere in Europe and make 5 times more money and play Champions League football every year. Most coaches would have, you know…”

According to the Spanish media, KJH will earn 3.6 million euro per season. Not bad. He will surely be able to find a new hairdresser in Madrid? Hunter’s contract commences on January 2 and the royals hope to be able to present their new player on that day.

Which means that Klaas Jan played his last game for Ajax against Sparta, the match inwhich he got injured.

Technical manager Danny Blind: “It’s not sure yet, but it’s realistic that Klaas Jan won’t wear the Ajax jersey anymore. There’s two games to go until the 2nd of January and I’m not sure we should take the risk in playing him.”

Ajax expects to have Huntelaar’s successor in Amsterdam already: Dario Cvitanich. Blind: ,,Cvitanich
was signed early in April already because we feared Klaas Jan could be going. We will look around for another signing, but we don’t plan to spend a lot of money.”

Danny Blind was positive about Huntelaar’s move to Madrid. “He was with us for three years. So, this is a good step up for him. I think he deserved this transfer. At Ajax, we’ll do deals when we like the contents of the deal, the condition, but timing is important too. We went far to keep Klaas in Amsterdam, in our negotiations with him, but it didn’t pan out. There’s always tensions when you’re dealing with these kinds of big deals, but Real Madrid operated professionally and sincere. The communications were open and respectful.”

Coach Marco van Basten has mixed feelings. “I do think he deserves this and I am happy for him, but from my perspective, I wanted him to stay until the summer. I wanted to win the title with him, and I know he wanted to do the same. But, it’s logical that Real came. And when a club like Madrid knocks on the door it’s very hard to keep it shut. We also have to look towards the future and we can’t risk that for one player.”

In the summer of 2008, Ajax said no to an offer of 40 million euros from Manchester City. Van Basten was pleased with that position, but seems to have accepted that the pulling power of Madrid was stronger.

“Congrats with this fantastic club. And cool that you’ll be playing with your mates. Enjoy!”

That was Van Basten’s text message to injured striker Huntelaar, who moves to Spain for 4,5 years.

Huntelaar: “I received so many warm messages from people at Ajax. That is so cool. They all seem to understand why I leave. It’s hard for me to express my feelings, you know? I’m happy, euphoric, but also sad. And grateful. I don’t know…”

Hunter: “It shoots through my mind all the time: soon I can put on that famous jersey. Play in Bernabeu. I think all players would have that. That stadium, man… I signed for 4.5 years, which apparently is the maximum contract period. I didn’t know that. I wanted to sign for 5.5 years, hahaha…”

” I am happy, but also busy, packing my bags. We’ll go to Madrid on Wednesday. And what do I wear when I sign? I do have suit, but I never wear it so it could easily be too small. I’m annoyed that they didn’t let me know they’d finish the talks so quickly, because I could have gone into town to get a new suit.”

Indeed, the pace inwhich this deal was closed is remarkable. 24 hours after the rumors, the deal was done. Chairman Calderon gave manager Mijatovic carte blanche to sign the prolific international.

A part of the amount will be paid to SC Heerenveen (2 million euros).

Ok, you know I’m a fan… But I got to watch them play the full 90 minutes last night against Roda JC ( 0-4 victory), so I can judge Feyenoord better than I can, say, Ajax or AZ…

The good thing about seeing Feyenoord play (and win) was that to me, it’s clear Feyenoord is not in trouble. The players and technical staff didn’t look like a bunch of people in crisis. Verbeek was smiling, cool and collected and the players never hid themselves, never seemed agitated or scared…

Apart from a mediocre and tense first 20 minutes, Feyenoord kind of impressed me…

And sure: Roda JC played weak (they played at home) and sure, Liverpool or Arsenal or Inter Milan play much much much better football on bad days than Feyenoord on a good day… I know all that…

But, with the youngsters Fer, Biseswar and Wijnaldum in midfield, the (to me) unkown El Ahmadi next to Gio and lost son Dwight Tiendali back in the squad (he came on for the injured Greene) I don’t think Feyenoord has to worry…

Serginho Greene is not the man for right back. Full backs need to…well…be able to play football and Greene is horrible on the ball. Tiendali will without a doubt start the next game and hopefully will keep even Lucius on the bench. Tiendali sees the game well, is tough in the challenges and most importantly, he can engage himself in build up. Remember, this Ajax-developed talent moved to FC Utrecht and played an impressive campaign with Foppe de Haan’s U21 champions team. Feyenoord signed him and when the youngster had some mistakes in his first match, the fans hated him. Their actions and boo-ing made him so insecure that he asked to be allowed to leave. Feyenoord loaned him out and this season Verbeek said he didn’t need him. But he also said he’d give him a chance to prove the coach wrong. Well, Gertjan, here you go… Good to see him back!!

Then there’s El Ahmadi… Man, how I enjoyed his game! He reminds me of Redondo and Senna. The agile, smart, lightfooted holding midfielders… His head is always up, reading the game. His first touch is impeccable. He is quick, tough in the challenges and he can take on one or two opponents at the time, having had two wonderful dribbles in to the box (resulting in one goal…). A guy to keep an eye on!

Wijnaldum was the man, though. He led, he pushed up, he took on opponents, he tried to score from distance, he was everywhere. Only 17 years old… I remember one Vanenburg, Rijkaard, Seedorf making their entrance at that age and see what they ended up doing for Oranje?

According to Verbeek, Wijnaldum was a broken man after the Sparta defeat, but the youngster pulled himself together and played like a seasoned pro. Like Captain Gerrard can, or Guti or Ballack. Wonderful to see. Scoring one, preparing one with a big solo and giving a “lucky” assist to Fer… No wonder he got his applause-replacement.

Makaay was invisible most of the times, but did score a scorcher in the second half (on the edge of the box, slamming the ball in one go against the cross bar, bouncing into the net).

Gio van Bronckhorst deserves a mention too, every pass was pitchperfect and had an idea behind it, while Kevin Hofland ruled at the back.

Even Luigi Bruins, subbed for Fer/Biseswar, came on to show his velvetty touches where ever he could.

Me thinks the future is still bright in Rotterdam….

For more comments on the Dutch Eredivisie: meet me at http://eredivisie.theoffside.com

Demy de Zeeuw was so out of form last month that Van Gaal instructed him to start again in the Young AZ team against Young Groningen.

Tomorrow, the 25 year old will start for Oranje again versus Norway. “That’s football, I guess…”

The life of a football pro has it’s happy moments. While the reserves worked themselves in sweat, the players who beat Iceland were chilling out in the sun, having a laugh and sipping on their sports drinks.

“During that long bus ride from Alkmaar to Groningen with the youngsters, I realized I had to make a change. I was letting the team down, and myself. I needed to plot a different course. I decided to train harder and work harder than ever. Every meter and every ball counted. I’m happy to be back in the first team and very happy that Van Marwijk called me up. Maybe that trip to Groningen was the best trip of my life.”

,He was an unknown, playing for Go Ahead Eagles in the Jupiler League. No big club had him on their scouting lists. Until Van Gaal came by, looked at the way De Zeeuw played and signed him. He was on a rollercoaster, almost helping AZ win the title in 2007. Louis van Gaal: “Players like De Zeeuw are a rarity and sometimes they’re not even used right by the coaches where they play. I saw immediately what unique strength De Zeeuw has. He plays every ball with pace and precision deep. Every ball is an effort to set up an attack. He never did anything without an idea behind it. He is constantly aware, reads the game well and plays without an ego. A rare thing indeed. Sneijder has it. Sno and Engelaar sometimes show it. Schaars has it and De Zeeuw has it.”

The midfielder: “When I came to AZ, everything went well. I had the wind in my sails. I never realized what was happening and when I lost my edge, maybe only 5%, suddenly things went wrong. I lost challenges, was just 10 inches too late, my passing was too slow… If that creeps in, you go from the motor of the team to being a liability.”

He hoped to be able to play some good games on the EC2008 and maybe get himself a transfer to a European top club. But suddenly, Van Basten picked De Jong over De Zeeuw, because the former Ajax player was physically stronger. “I read that in the papers. Van Basten never explained his decision to me and I was very disappointed with that. But I’m not the only one. John Heitinga was distraught when he suddenly lost his spot without any explanation.”

De Zeeuw only played against Romania – gave the assist on Van Persie – and struggled to reclaim his position with AZ in the warm up. And then, Hamburger SV wanted to sign the player, right before the closing of the transfer window.

“Hamburger SV was happy to pay AZ’s price for me, but they couldn’t get the paperwork ready before midnight. That was a huge disappointment for me. It took some time for me to digest it, and I think the Groningen bus-ride was my wake up call.”

He then played a couple of tremendous games against PSV, Heracles, Willem 2 and Sparta, with great assists and wonderful and dominant midfield play. When Van Marwijk saw De Jong getting injured against Iceland after 14 minutes, he immediately called Demy’s name. “I was delighted. Happy as. Don’t get me wrong, Nigel is a mate and it’s really sad for him, but I can’t hide the fact that I was glad to be able to play and show myself.”

“My goals haven’t changed. I still want to be important for Oranje and I’d love to make big transfer one day. Better players than me have gone through similar dips. I want to come back from this wiser and stronger.”

And where in the world can you get a fixture like: PSV – PSV?

Allright then, it was PSV 1 – PSV 2… And the juniors really wanted to take the game to the big boys, but they simply couldn’t… PSV is on to the next round . PSV 1 of course…

Feyenoord had a shaky start. A horrible warm up season, lots of injuries, a first competition loss, a UEFA cup upset at home but also a very promising battle against rivals Ajax. Gertjan Verbeek hoped to see his team further push up the confidence against Top Oss (longtime ugly duckling in Dutch pro football).
Feyenoord won 3-0. But it wasn’t easy… It took extra time (30 minutes) after a goalless game. Roy Makaay scored the first and young Polish signing Michal Janota scored two in the last minutes.
This time around, it was the veterans who let the team down: De Cler, Gio van Bronckhorst and Roy Makaay already seem to be in Groningen or Sweden with their heads, although the Top Oss goalie deserves the credits for keeping the score goalless for a long time. And the cross bar…

FC Twente, Heerenveen, Roda JC…all the usual suspects eased through…

In Spain, apparently, Rafael van der Vaart scored his first hattrick. I saw Bruce posted the link to the goals and I will happily view them….now!

Laters

Evander Sno came through the Ajax youth system but left for Feyenoord at 18 years old. The defensive midfielder was never used in the Feyenoord 1 squad and was hired out to NAC Breda.

He made his move to Celtic and was praised as one of the world’s new talents. He made a promising debut for Celtic and played the CL games against AC Milan.

Sno signed a new deal at Van Basten’s Ajax for three years.

He is a regular in the U21’s team and was used in 9 different spots in his career, one of them being striker for Foppe de Haan’s Jong Oranje. He scored three goals as a striker.

Evander Sno – named after Evander Holyfield, the boxer – is 21 years old.

Jeffrey Sarpong is 20 years old – born in Amsterdam – and the player of Ghanaen descent midfielder played for Ajax all his life. Sarpong was courted by Chelsea when 7 years old but chose to play for Ajax. He is a regular in the U19 Oranje squad. His fave player in the world is Kaka, and his aim is to play alongside the Brazilian master.

20 Year old Gregory van der Wiel started his career at Ajax. I assume he has a Dutch father (the surname) and a Suriname born mother, but I’m just guessing here.

Leroy Fer is a 18 year old Zoetermeer-born player, who started his career at Feyenoord.

I couldn’t find a profile on Wijnaldum, but apparently the name Wijnaldum comes from a little village in Friesland, The Netherlands (!).

Apparently, Diego Biseswar is of Indian descent (Tiju) and born in Amsterdam. He even played for Ajax and Telstar in his youth before he moved to Feyenoord.

With these players, and Vlaar, Marcellis, Huntelaar, Drenthe, Maduro, Rodney Sneijder, Amrabat, Emanuelson, Aissati and Afellay you wonder what can go wrong in the future.

Oh, and we do still have some older players out there, with at least 6 years ( = three big tournaments) in their legs… Some guys called Van der Vaart, Robben, Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder, De Zeeuw, Schaars… Darn it… It’s good to be Dutch

The Feyenoord fans had a great day against Volendam (5-0 win) and didn’t mind the draw against Ajax, yesterday. And the player who gave his team wings in both games was on the list to be sold. Diego Biseswar has found a second lease on life at Feyenoord.

Biseswar had two goals and one assist against Volendam and was instrumental in Feyenoord’s game against arch rival Ajax. With sparkles in his eyes, he tells his story. Sometimes humble, sometimes euphoric. The youngster had a chance to make a so-called “long-nose” to all present, but the Feyenoord player wouldn’t think of that. He hadn’t played that well and still has a long way to go and a lot to learn. And he though coach Verbeek was right to start Biseswar on the bench this season, “because I must do much better than this,” he said.

It sounded surreal out of the mouth of the much criticized talent. He wasn’t disciplined, was too lazy and arrogant. Twice, the Rotterdam club hired him out (Heracles and De Graafschap) and twice he failed to make an impression.

“He is a fascinating, special kid,” says Gertjan Verbeek. “Diego is always happy and smiling. No complications whatsoever. And that has it’s plusses and minusses. But I can’t just load him up with tactiical tasks. Than he’ll freeze. But if you allow him to play his game, he can do wonders. As you’ve seen today, again.”

“I just want to grab my opportunity now. I have played more this season than last,” he reflects on last season under Van Marwijk, who never used the youngster despite all the injuries.

“I don’t want to look back. I love it how Verbeek puts his confidence in me. He played me in our tournament, while management had told him I could leave. I even went on a test week to Sheffield United, but it didn’t result in anything.”

With Gertjan Verbeek at the helm, it seems Feyenoord can finally cash in on their youth development. The club that saw talents like Bouhatar (NEC), Leonardo (NAC and now Ajax), Evander Sno (Celtic, now Ajax) Van Persie (Arsenal), Drenthe (Real Madrid) and Loovens (Celtic) leave Rotterdam because they didn’t get a real chance at Feyenoord again has an interesting group of players on the verge of breaking through.

Verbeek doesn’t look at names or reputations, but picks those lads that will do the job. Whatever their age or history with the club.

The future is bright in Rotterdam.