Johan Derksen could have started working at Go Ahead Eagles three years ago. In conversation with The Stentor the analyst of Veronica Inside tells that the club from Deventer would have liked to appoint him as general manager. However, for various reasons, the now 72-year-old Derksen did not want to work with Go Ahead.
“Yes, to be honest I was surprised by the call”, reveals Derksen, who did not immediately say ‘no’. “But after a night’s sleep I was actually already out. It wasn’t for me.” Apart from the fact that the analyst had no ambition to take up the proposed position, it would not have been financially attractive either. According to Derksen, the club could not compete with the ‘John de Mol-CAO’, with which he refers to his then lucrative contract with Talpa.
“I say everything in interviews. That only causes unrest,” Derksen continues. “In addition, if you are ultimately responsible at a club, you can no longer tell opinion stories on TV.” Derksen also prefers to avoid possible confrontations with (angry) supporters. “If one of your players makes a personal mistake and you lose once, you will be smashed into the diamonds. I have little interest in that. That’s why I already announced the next morning that I’m not doing it. And they fully understood that at Eagles.”
The story of Derksen is confirmed by the club opposite The Stentor. “I had a telephone conversation with Johan,” acknowledges Hans de Vroome, then interim director in De Adelaarshorst. “Whether he would feel like working for us as director. I think he is an interesting man, with substance and a lot of knowledge about football. Anyway, after a short interview it was soon clear that he did not want to. It never came to a direct conversation.”