Johan Derksen is not particularly pleased with Cor Pot’s performance in the program FC Rijnmond. Pot joined the talk show of . on Monday RTV Rijnmond and spoke about his current position as assistant to Dick Advocaat with the Iraq national team. Derksen makes Pot’s statements about Iraq in the program Veronica Inside off as ‘dumb bullshit’.
In Veronica Inside become fragments of Pot in FC Rijnmond shown. “It is a very special country, people have of course experienced a very unpleasant time. Of course every country is trying to get to a normal life,” Pot said about Iraq. Presenter Bart Nolles pointed out to Pot the fact that on the website of Amnesty International you can read how human rights are being violated in Iraq. “I think those are nice stories,” Pot responded. “On the one hand I agree with you, but on the other hand I don’t. You can also say of the Netherlands that Pim Fortuyn was also shot.”
Nolles went on to emphasize that this sort of thing happens in Iraq ‘twenty times a week’ instead of ‘once every twenty years’. “Not anymore. After Saddam Hussein left, things have calmed down a lot,” Pot said. “You shouldn’t keep judging people by what happened. The people must have a chance to rebuild their country. Then Amnesty International is a bit behind the times, they may not know how it functions now. I will inform them sometimes.”
“I can get really angry about this. That stupid bullshit of that Cor Pot”, says Derksen after seeing the fragment of Pot. “He is in that country in a five-star hotel, where you don’t miss anything. Then you don’t realize that human rights are being violated. He then goes on to say that Amnesty International is lagging behind. John, he goes there to fill his pockets and doesn’t know what’s going on in that country at all. If you don’t know what’s going on, keep your wits about you and don’t go preach this kind of bullshit on television.”
Presenter Wilfred Genee quotes from the travel advice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Iraq, which among other things advises against traveling to the capital Baghdad, advises you to move in Iraq in secure vehicles and warns against violence, attacks and armed militias. René van der Gijp adds that Iraq has the most missing persons in the world. “That Pot is from an airplane. Business class”, Derksen continues. “It is brought by a limousine to a five-star hotel. And he then says: ‘John, nothing is wrong in this country’.”
Another fragment is shown, in which Pot emphasizes that he did not take up the challenge with the Iraq national team for the money. “Dick dies in the harness. Every day he watches matches from the Iraqi league to see if he can pick out a few more players that are better than we have now. I really love that. Dick has often taken me along and that means a certain loyalty. When he asks if I’m coming, I can’t say: check it out. Then I also have to be loyal.”
“Of course I earn a few cents, but it’s not that it’s a very big fat pot. I really do it out of friendship. I really don’t need the money anymore,” concludes Pot. Advocaat and Pot’s first two international matches in Iraq as part of the qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar ended in a draw (0-0 against South Korea) and a defeat (0-3 against Iran). Derksen concludes: “How can a grown man start talking like that? He is the same age as me.”