Willem II made the arrival of Fred Grim official late on Friday evening. Thanks to a position improvement clause, and a cooperative position of RKC Waalwijk, the 55-year-old trainer was able to sign under his continuous contract from and for two years in Tilburg. “I think Willem II suits me well. The conversations I had with Joris Mathijsen and Martin van Geel have shown that we have a lot in common in terms of football philosophy ”, Grim tells Saturday. The Telegraph.
Van Geel and Grim are no strangers to each other. When the general director worked at Ajax as technical director, Grim also worked there as a youth / goalkeeper coach. In any case, the well-cared-for game of RKC under Grim was decisive. On Tuesday the news came out that Willem II was not going to continue with Zeljko Petrovic and after just over 72 hours there was already an agreement with Grim. “Provided football with three attackers and the intention to entertain the audience. That fits very well with Willem II’s philosophy. In the conversations with Joris and Martin it turned out that we are on the same page. ”
Willem II will be Grim’s third club as head coach. From 2012 to 2015 he managed Almere City FC. Before his time at RKC he was Dick Advocaat’s assistant at Sparta Rotterdam. The former goalkeeper of Ajax and SC Cambuur was also the national coach of the Dutch National Team in 2015 and 2016 and, after the resignation of Danny Blind, he acted as interim national coach of the Dutch national team for several international matches. After that he became an assistant to the lawyer at the Dutch.
Grim says he does not do career planning. “You depend on what comes your way. I do think that Willem II is a step up. The club has more options than RKC ”, he acknowledges. “I’ve been in football for a long time and have always found Willem II a great club with a great tradition. A club that wants to play ahead and play well cared for football, as I was always used to at Ajax. It is often said that Willem II is the Ajax of the South. ”
“With my past at Ajax, that will come up more often.” Grim knows what the expectations are for Willem II. In the season that was broken by corona, the club finished fifth, but in the past football year they only narrowly escaped relegation. “It is clear that Willem II has ambitions and that I have ambitions. My focus is initially on sharpening the way of playing that I have in mind and realizing well-kept football, and then it will have to become apparent what we can achieve with that. But of course we don’t want to experience another year at the bottom. ”
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