Co Adriaanse sacked at Twente…

January 3rd, 2012 | by: Jan | Comments(14)

….Umbrella Man is back. This was the message that reached me via Skype.

And because of this, I will leave Johan’s criticism on Bert for another day.

Because in simple terms, this is what happened. Co Adriaanse was fired because he is too headstrong and to adventurous. It sounds simple, but that is how it is. Six months after his victorious entry. Chairman Joop Munsterman almost exploded with joy on that summer day, standing next to Co, with a glas of pink champagne.

It is as if Louis van Gaal is fired, because he is rigid. Or talks too loud at press conferences. It’s like sacking Cruyff because he knows better. Or firing Van Hanegem because he has cynical humor. Or sending Hiddink home because he wants to earn too much.

You don’t need a PhD to know that Adriaanse is unpredictable, headstrong and relentless. And that he loves to attack, with four of five forwards. Once a club is ready for this and has the players and staff who can stomach, than you want to appoint Co. If not, please do not offer him a contract.

The Twente board made a conscious decision this summer to recruit Adriaanse, a coach who demonstrated for decades to love to gamble. And a coach who doesn’t allow others to tell him how to do things.
So, recruiting Co Adriaanse means recruiting his one man show. The whole circus. And you get a coach who likes to put all his chips on attack. If you don’t want that jazz, get another coach.

When Co was at AZ, he played with two playmakers. Barry van Galen and Ken Perez. And it functioned beautifully. Co loves creative players ( he was the one who pushed Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder at Ajax into the senior squad when he was head coach there). But, when Twente lost Bryan Ruiz and Theo Janssen, who did they sign? Willem Jansen and Leroy Fer. Good players, but two muscle men who love running. Which is the opposite of what Co likes to see.

And sure, Adriaanse isn’t without faults. He really clung to Marc Janko, the tall Austrian striker. And he did commit tactical suicide against Benfica and PSV playing with too many forward thinking players. And he kept on experimenting with his midfield. Slowly, the players and his staff lost confidence in him.

But the main question for me is: did the club actually believe they could change Adriaanse? That he suddenly would listen to his assistants and players? That he was able to manage this season without the brains of the team?

Not that long ago, FC Twente was seen as a new sort of club. A new model top club, which was able to position people on the right spot, both on as off the pitch.

By appointing Co Adriaanse and sacking him after six months, FC Twente has demonstrated to be just another football club, like so many others…