Zeljko Petrovic believes that there is zero respect for great Dutch trainers in the Netherlands, he said at Good morning Eredivisie. The former trainer of ADO Den Haag, RKC Waalwijk and assistant coach of Feyenoord, among others, finds it disrespectful how the Dutch media in particular treat trainers such as Guus Hiddink, Dick Advocaat and Louis van Gaal and thinks that there will never be a generation that helping another generation to find a good job abroad.
Hiddink himself also joined the football talk show and was immediately asked whether he has now definitively stopped as a trainer. “No, I am not definitively retired,” said Hiddink. “I’m not going to train a club every day, but maybe I’ll still do a lawyer, you never know. I said I had stopped at Curaçao. People then said I had to enjoy myself. Dick also keeps busy. right. But at this age you don’t have to stand on a field every day anymore. I want to stay involved in football.”
Petrovic then took the opportunity to express his opinion about the disrespect in the Netherlands towards trainers like Hiddink. “Realize that they are greats of Dutch football: Guus Hiddink, Dick Advocaat, Rinus Michels, Louis van Gaal, Bert van Marwijk. Thanks to them, all Dutch trainers have got a job abroad. But we act disparagingly when they are asked somewhere “Greats are always in demand. In England, older trainers are always respected. The only trainers who don’t are those who haven’t been asked for anywhere in the last 15 years.”
“But if Lawyer is asked, then we have to respect that,” Petrovic refers to Lawyer’s job with Iraq. “There is a lot of respect for normal people outside football, but people who have never accomplished anything are not allowed to say a lawyer. Hiddink can say that. They also call Hiddink Guusje, I don’t think that respect. If someone calls Marco van Basten a pancake, it is then we like that here. That is only nice here, nowhere else in the world. Because Van Basten, Hiddink, Advocaat, Van Gaal are prime ministers ambassadors. No, not ambassadors, prime ministers.”
Petrovic therefore does not see it happening that another generation of Dutch trainers will take the helm at major European clubs in the future. “Try to train Real Madrid. Now we have Ronald Koeman, Peter Bosz and Mark van Bommel abroad. We used to have ninety trainers worldwide. Now there are Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians, because we don’t give it to each other. When will there ever be another generation of trainers, as has been the case in the Netherlands, where the second set is helped to get a job somewhere? That will never happen again.”
“Just say Hiddinkje, Advocaatje, Van Bastentje. Carry on as you are doing. There is zero respect. It is nice to write columns about me again on Monday, but Guus knows it too, only he does not want to say it, why is Fred Rutten at home? He hasn’t made anyone angry. You don’t need me and I don’t need you, but I do say what I feel and what I see. I like Advocaat, much more than Guus Hididnk, but I respect Guus Hiddink all my life. That’s the difference. There are different ways to criticize.”
According to Hiddink, there is definitely respect in the Netherlands. “Sure, you get tickled. But you have to be careful not to get hung up on all the opinions. You have to carry out your plan with your staff. I value the opinions of people from the coaching staff. I just can’t against if factual inaccuracies are brought. Then I go back a long time, but in 1996 it was said that there was a racism issue. That was not there at all. There was a pay difference at Ajax at the time. But a photo was published without Richard Witschge , which I think is pretty white, then I think: you shouldn’t do that, then you’re not doing it right.”