Johan Derksen discusses in Greetings from Grolloo the appointment of Xavi as head coach of the Netherlands national team. De Snor takes aim at one person within the KNVB who was involved in the search for a new national coach.
"You can't say he doesn't have a good CV," Derksen says as he begins his analysis of Xavi's appointment as the new head coach of the Netherlands. "It is a big name, although he hasn't done that much as a coach yet, little experience. What speaks in his favour is that he grew up with the Cruyff philosophy. So Xavi would fit in well in the Netherlands."
He quickly adds: "I still find it strange to appoint a foreigner. Because I think that is an indictment of the KNVB's own coaching education. And an indictment of the Dutch coaches, that they are being passed over."
Derksen is also baffled by who made the call. "What I also find strange is that Nigel de Jong and Clarence Seedorf (member of the supervisory board for professional football with a focus on technical football matters, ed.) are the ones deciding who becomes head coach," he says, unimpressed by the KNVB's search for a successor to Ronald Koeman. "And I know for certain about Seedorf that he is very rancorous towards all sorts of people in football. People who, in his view, have always obstructed him. A frustrated guy who dislikes a great many people. And who will keep precisely those people out."
He goes a step further when Peter Bosz's name comes up. "It is also incomprehensible that Peter Bosz was never discussed. Seedorf is dissatisfied with all the national coaches he worked with. He had a fantastic international career, but he never really showed it in the Netherlands national team. So I find it strange that he, with all his grudges, is allowed to decide who the head coach is," Derksen again says in Monday's podcast.
For now, Derksen is giving Xavi the benefit of the doubt. "But I find it unworkable that you bring a Spanish-speaking guy to the Netherlands to make him head coach. He doesn't speak English, which means he cannot communicate. He then needs a Kluivert or something as an interpreter. As a coach, communicating is actually your biggest tool."
Finally, Derksen says De Jong and Seedorf had actually wanted to appoint Michael Reiziger. "They noticed that nobody in the Netherlands had any understanding for that. And that everyone in football said: he doesn't have that status yet. Then they came under pressure. They did not dare to push Reiziger through, and so they started looking for a big name instead. To keep public opinion quiet."