It cannot be ruled out that Ronald Koeman might one day become manager of FC Groningen. Hans Nijland, former managing director of ‘The Pride of the North’, revealed in the Radio Milko podcast on *Dagblad van het Noorden* that the national team manager once promised him this.
Nijland was managing director of Groningen for no fewer than 23 years: from 1996 to 2019. He has since stepped down, but he still regularly looks back on his time as director.
For example, on the near-signing of goalkeeper Ronald Koeman Jr, who was then still between the posts at TOP Oss. “He wasn’t even the first-choice goalkeeper. We discussed him briefly at the time, but we were pretty much full of goalkeepers then. So it didn’t happen,” Nijland recalls.
“I actually spoke to Ronald Koeman senior about it personally at the time. In hindsight, of course, we should just have gone ahead with it.”
Nijland thinks it’s impressive that Koeman Junior, now Telstar’s goalkeeper, continues to perform well despite the pressure that comes with his surname. “The cameras are always on him. Last weekend too, with his father Ronald also present in the stadium.”
“That’s nice, but for a lad like that, it’s enormous pressure. His surname too. So I think he’s absolutely brilliant. And in terms of goal kicks and play, he’s simply on a par with our keeper Vaessen.”
Nijland therefore argues that Groningen should sign Koeman junior now. “It would also open doors for Groningen again. And who knows, if Lukkien leaves in two or three years’ time, Ronald Koeman might be the right successor to become Groningen’s manager.”
“Ronald promised me that once, actually. It was around the time of Martin’s death (his father, ed.), and we were all sitting together. Ronald was there, and Erwin. And I remember Ronald saying at the time: ‘Gosh, Hans, wouldn’t it be lovely if Erwin and I could play for your little club again?’”
Ronald Koeman played a total of 97 official matches for Groningen between 1980 and 1983. At the Euroborg, a stand has been named after him, his brother Erwin and their father Martin: the Koeman Stand.