Michel van Egmond has been the most popular sports writer in the Netherlands for years. With biographies about Wim Kieft and René van der Gijp, among others, he scored several bestsellers in a row. With his new book Watching football with Van Basten he takes a completely different tack. A series of unique reports takes the reader through various sports topics. Football zone visited the writer and started talking about Van Egmond’s new book and Feyenoord’s current successes.
By Justus Dingemanse and Gino Ragueb
Van Egmond is preparing for a new episode of the podcast KieftJansenEgmondGijp when he sits down for a conversation. In it he explains the choice of the title of his new book. “They’re actually a bunch of separate stories, and then you have to choose one for your title. This title refers to my completely unsuccessful debut as a World Cup analyst at NOS.”
“Yes, that was not a very successful performance,” said the 55-year-old writer, who also sees the benefits of his job. “You can turn your failures into something new, just like a pastry chef can. Fortunately, I was able to turn this mistake into a story.”
Van Egmond calls it his most personal book to date. His books are often focused on one person, but this time it has become more of a reportage form. “That’s a style that suits me. Now I am a little more visible myself. Apparently not much happens in these passages, they are actually fleeting encounters,” says Van Egmond. “But I have attached all the associations that come to mind to that.”
Van Egmond has always had a passion for football, who knows where his interest in the sport comes from. “What football means to people fascinates me so much. Much more than the game itself. I recently saw someone who thought it was so nice that Ajax was last that he had a tattoo made of it. He will walk with teletext page 819 on his body for the rest of his life. I can also really laugh about what football does to people.”
There are more aspects of the football world that Van Egmond can enjoy. “Something that perhaps attracts me most is the enormous gap between the romantic image that the outside world has of football and the gray reality. I think of the situation where a player kisses the logo of his club. Then all the supporters think that he loves the club as much as they do, while the player is most likely concerned about the money. Actually, such a player should kiss his bank account.”
After the conversation about his new book, the current successes of Feyenoord under Arne Slot are discussed. “Slot has really been crucial for Feyenoord from day one when he joined. The bar is raised every day. He has not only improved the team, but the entire mentality around the club has also changed,” says Van Egmond with admiration. The writer then also gives the people of Rotterdam a warning. “We have seen how things at Ajax have collapsed like a house of cards in a short period of time. Slot has shown how it should be done, but someone else should be able to fill it in when he leaves.”
Gijp and Kieft are full of praise for Van Egmond and have built up a very good relationship with the writer. “We always went to dinner The Harbor Club“, says Gijp about the collaboration for his biography. “I received 10,000 euros in advance and I said: ‘We will only stop going when the money runs out.’ Every now and then we really had to involve some people, so that we were eating with a group. We always had a good time there.”
Van Egmond has even more ambitions after this new way of writing. An ambition he has had for some time is to write a book about the first footballer to come out of the closet. He still hopes that one day that will come his way. Outside of that, he especially hopes that his new book will be well received. “If enough people appreciate this, I would like to continue writing in this form. Then I will look for more stories in the football world.” Watching football with Van Basten is now available everywhere, including via the Publisher Inside website.