The technical staff of Ronald Koeman at the Dutch national team should not have become the technical staff of successor Frank de Boer, is the conclusion of Nico-Jan Hoogma, who will stop as director of top football at the KNVB next year. Hoogma, who is ultimately responsible for the Dutch national team, the the Dutch women, Young the Dutch (men and women) and the Under 19s, believes that the turnover at the Dutch, with three national coaches in three years, is inevitable rather than too great.
“We knew about Koeman’s dream to one day work for Barcelona. Eric Gudde anticipated this well with a transfer fee in his contract in case FC Barcelona would come. Then I chose De Boer and that was not the success we had counted on at the European Championship. In the entire process prior to his appointment, the low point is in my functioning as director of top football,” Hoogma admits on Wednesday in conversation with The Telegraph.
“I made a wrong analysis and therefore made a wrong estimate with the maintenance of the entire staff of the Dutch after the departure of Koeman. I thought, because the staff under Koeman functioned so well, that just replacing the national coach was enough to continue the development at the Dutch. That was a miscalculation.”
An important condition of the KNVB to be able to continue the ‘Koeman line’ was the retention of the current staff, with assistants Dwight Lodeweges and Maarten Stekelenburg and goalkeeper coach Patrick Lodewijks. De Boer saw that too and during conversations with Lodeweges, he thought back to his collaboration with Hennie Spijkerman at Ajax. “I got energy from Spijkerman and I get the same energy back with Dwight,” said De Boer at the time.
Hoogma, in her own words, put that right, together with Gudde, by appointing Louis van Gaal as national coach and granting his wishes. “With qualification for the World Cup, it was still exciting after that 2-2 in Montenegro, Van Gaal did an excellent job. I find it too easy to say that with the available player material it was a simple job. That’s what the outside world sometimes makes of it. Louis is a nice person and a great trainer to work with as a director.”
Hoogma joined the KNVB as director of top football at the beginning of 2018, after being general director at Heracles Almelo for eleven years. It will be the second time in a year that a top position at the KNVB will be made available. Last year Gudde stopped as director of professional football; he was succeeded by Marianne van Leeuwen. It is not yet known who will replace Hoogma. Van Leeuwen expects to officially open a vacancy in February.