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UEFA Cup for Dick Advocaat

May 14th, 2008 | By: Jan | 12 Comments »

I’ve got to be honest with you… I’m not a big Dick fan. I mean…I am not a big fan of Dick… I think he is a bit of a…eh…a wannabe Dick, you know?

Ok, he was interesting as a player. He was successful in his younger days with SVV (who??). And he did win the Dutch league, the Scottish league and the Russian league. So…he knows what he’s doing.

He managed Oranje. Twice. With a lot of flak from the fans.

Why was that?

For starters, the WC1994 campaign in the US was supposed to be Johan Cruyff’s turn. But when he demanded a salaries comparable to what he’d make at Barca for 2 months and the right to form his own technical staff, the KNVB (Rinus Michels) quickly turned him down, saying JC demanded too much.
And the Little General - Rinus’ mini-me - was quickly dusted off and presented as the new manager. Dickie didn’t do too bad in the US, but when he came home gloating that at least we were among the best 16 nations in the world (what??), the fans en masse asked for a bucket. To puke in.

His EC2004 stint wasn’t a success either. He alienated popular assistant coach Willem van Hanegem and refused to allow Rafael van der Vaart a chance in the team. His Robben - Bosvelt replacement is text book stuff for aspiring young coaches ( “Never, ever take your best man off the pitch if he doesn’t signal to the bench he is injured!”).

On top of that, Dickie is scared. Never plays on his own team’s strength. Preferring counter-football which is un-Dutch. And in interviews, the man acts like Bambi’s mother and thinks every question is an attack on him. I vividly remember a game where Oranje conceded a goal after a corner. Before the match, Advocaat spoke about their strength in the air. After the match, the journo asked: “And again they (can’t remember who - Jan) scored from a setpiece, Dick.” Advocaat snapped as if he was bitten by a snake and repied: “Hey, I told the players about that, so that wasn’t my fault!!”

If I was a player, I wouldn’t be too impressed with that.

And then there’s Dickie’s love for money… It’s been mentioned here before I believe…

A typical and cramps-inducing example is the way Dick sollicited for a job in the EPL during the press conference right after the UEFA Cup finals last night!! He quickly jumped up the bandwagon declaring that playing in Manchester wetted his appetite to come back to Great Britain. I don’t think that’s etiquette really…

But, the man won. His Zenit dominated the play against an unwilling and unable Glasgow Rangers. The Scots did get a huge opportunity in the first half and a very decent one in the last minutes (scoreline was 1-0 then, so that equalizer would have mattered). But all in all, the St Petersburg squad deserved the win.

Let that be an example for the NECs, NACs and FC Groningen’s of this world. Zenit started in the Intertoto competition and snatched up the silverware.

Well done, Big Dick!

Here’s a funny clip on Dick advising Dutch comedian how to park a car. It’s in Dutch, but images speak louder than words :-). Enjoy!

Tags: Dick Advocaat, Freek de Jonge, marco van basten, Rinus Michels

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Comments

By goose | May 15th, 2008 at 1:45 am

Ive made a 180 on Advocaat…. never liked him but now i do… think hes a good manager and i like the fact that he is still so insecure

and say what you will but Zenit is a great team to watch….(Rangers were pathetic)

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | May 15th, 2008 at 2:42 am

@goose: 100% agree,i have exactly the same feeling with advocaat. zenit was so great,especially arshavin. advocaat won the russian championship and the uefa cup wirh him. they eliminitad villareal,marseille,bayer leverkusen,bayern. for me advocaat is the coach of the year. very strange feeling.

Posted from Hungary

By ferenc | May 15th, 2008 at 2:43 am

sorry: with them

Posted from Hungary

By Caleb | May 15th, 2008 at 9:10 am

Goose - why the sudden 180?

Posted from Canada

By Miguel Rosado | May 15th, 2008 at 10:00 am

I also didn’t like Advocaat and I criticized him very much after the EC ‘04 but he has shut my mouth haha and I have to admit that he’s a great coach. Looking back at the EC ‘04 and comparing Dick with Marco, Dick called all the important players and wanted to play attractive football he even played Robben who wasn’t that match fit and he didn’t take Ruud out against Germany with 30′ left to play as Marco has done. I didn’t know he was Rinus Michels’ assistant at the EC ‘88.

By goose | May 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

@Caleb;
1. time heals…after the Robben incident had no respect left for Advocaat (esp. since it was a substitution of a coward), its been 4 years now
2. the same point Miquel makes…after vBasten i have a new appriciation of our other Bondscoaches
3. Advocaat has proven to be a good coach, again and again, i cant be blind for that
4. i have a new appriciation for managers who have had to work to get to a certain position…Advocaat was at best a mediocre pro player, he was an assistant for many years (btw Miquel, dont think Advocaat was assistant in 1988, think it was deRuiter, ill need to check, anybody knows??)
ive really come to dislike all these old pro’s whith too much time, too much money and who need the attention and dont need to prove anything and still get all the big teams

Advocaat is a true workingclass hero!!

btw Jan; you should check uitzendinggemist, look for ‘andere tijden sport’, a special on 1988 festivities in de grachten

Posted from Netherlands

By pim | May 15th, 2008 at 1:33 pm

notice the guy in the orange shirt giving the players the finger (the picture above)

By tjeerd | May 15th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

Excellent video, they sacrificed a car for that piece.
Body work in Holland is very expensive, 2 years ago I dinged my rental and got a bill for Euro 1900.00. Wow! They took it off my credit card, I eventually got reimbursed by my insurance, whew!

By Jan | May 15th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

@Pim: well spotted mate :-)… Hahahaaaa… That is very funny!

@Goose: thanks for the link. I was looking for images of that on Youtube, the canal festivities and all. That was awesome tv I remember.

And yeah, in 1988 it was Nol de Ruiter (former Utrecht coach) who was Rinus’ assistant. Dickie was assistant in 1992 on the EC Sweden. He then moved on to become the big Dick in 1994.

I read/hear what you’re all saying and yes he achieved a lot blablabla but I still don’t like him

Posted from Australia

By lars | May 16th, 2008 at 7:37 am

haha i gota be honest with u im not a big dick fan either! cant wait for the euro 2008 and holland vs italy, its the only thing thats keeping me sane at the moment with my bloody finals exams!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By Caleb | May 16th, 2008 at 8:53 am

I have to admit, I’m not a fan of dick.. and I don’t really like Advocaat either

Pim - nice spot!

Posted from Canada

By goose | May 17th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

@lars; good luck with the exams..dont get your hopes up too high for the Italy game…good change that the result of your exam will be more positive than Oranje’s result v Italy

Posted from Netherlands

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