Dean Gorré opened a book on Sunday morning about his forced departure as national coach of Suriname. At the end of July he was unexpectedly evicted. In the program Good morning the Dutch the trainer responds to striking statements by Roy Samuels, board member of the Surinamese union. Surinamese international Ryan Koolwijk also discussed Gorré’s departure in the broadcast and discussed a letter drawn up by the player group.
Gorré said that when he was appointed three years ago, he had the dream to force qualification for the Gold Cup with Suriname and to allow players with a double passport to play for Suriname. Ryan Donk, Ridgeciano Haps, Warner Hahn, Sean Klaiber and Nigel Hasselbaink, among others, gave in. With a new batch of players, Suriname qualified for the Gold Cup for the first time in history. At the final tournament, Gorré’s team did not progress beyond the group stage. At the end of July it was announced that the Surinamese football association said goodbye to the national coach.
Board member Roy Samuels lashed out at Gorré in a statement about the dismissal. According to him, the national coach was more abroad than in Suriname. Samuels said Gorré was away for a total of 355 days from 2020 to August 2021. “If it were up to me, Dean would have been gone a long time because of his behavior. He has a difficult behavior. He was given plenty of space to work, but he lived in his own world and thought he could be above the board. And that was his death blow,” said Samuels at a press conference, which was shown on Sunday’s program ESPN.
“I don’t think that man knows how many days there are in a year,” Gorré responded on Sunday morning. “That means I spent ten days in Suriname. Everyone knows it isn’t. I am always in Suriname. As everyone knows, you had to deal with the coronavirus in 2020. In March I was able to catch the last flight so that I could be with my family in England during that period. I actually stayed at home for half a year. The moment there were flights again, I went to Suriname. Then I just finished everything. So what that man is talking about clearly shows that he has no level and that those kinds of people withhold football in Suriname.”
Gorré has the Surinamese player group on his side. When the football association announced its resignation, the selection issued a statement in which the association is accused of many things. Koolwijk explained this statement live in the broadcast. “The things you brought up are correct,” says Koolwijk. “We had to train for the game against Canada, but nothing had been arranged. The trainer was then able to quickly arrange a training field to do something. That was not good. In preparation for the Gold Cup, we did everything on artificial grass, while you play on grass. I think it is useful that you train on grass. We had to deal with such things.”
The Surinamese selection made these accusations to the football association.
Koolwijk indicated in the broadcast that an incident took place during the Gold Cup, which he did not want to elaborate on. Gorré gave more information about this: “There was a situation that I was confronted with by the board at the Gold Cup. One of the players had Covid. All protocols had been observed and he was allowed to rejoin the team. The board then simply decides: he is not allowed to come.” The Surinamese union did not give any text or explanation about that decision. Gorré subsequently made his position available: “If he didn’t come, I would stop. Then the team said: then we stop too. And then it reconnected. But that break was already in sight.”
Kenneth Perez listened in amazement to Gorré’s story. “Ryan probably also speaks to many Surinamese players who may want to play for Suriname. When you hear this, how the board handles the situation, Dean’s story, Ryan’s story… Then it will only become more difficult for the Surinamese association to bring players who play football in the Netherlands to Suriname? Because who wants this?” Koolwijk agrees with Perez: “What Kenneth says, he is right. Suriname is still in its infancy. Mistakes are made there and that’s okay. But you want to see improvement.”