“We are surprised this morning with the announcement that Ruud will stop as head coach of PSV with immediate effect.” With those words, general manager Marcel Brands kicked off the press conference on Wednesday after the sudden departure of Van Nistelrooij. The PSV club management is facing a hell of a job, because in addition to Van Nistelrooij, his assistants Fred Rutten and André Ooijer are also leaving. Football zone already takes on the role of technical director Earnest Stewart and lists ten possible candidates.
Brands did not want to say much about Van Nistelrooij’s succession during the press conference. “It is still so fresh that we have not even thought about it for a second. In recent months we have only been concerned with how to solve things. With Ruud. We have not spoken a word about another trainer.” Club watcher Rik Elfrink took an advance on PSV’s search on Thursday. “After the experiences with Schmidt, the preference was clearly for a Dutch-speaking trainer and someone who embraces the PSV way of thinking in a number of areas.”
Adil Ramzi
Given that, Adil Ramzi could be an option. PSV can go for the same route with the former midfielder that was taken last year with Van Nistelrooij. After an internship in PSV’s youth academy in October 2015, Ramzi was appointed a youth coach at the club a year later. Another year later he became a trainer of the Under 16. After he started working as an assistant coach at Jong PSV two years ago, he was able to take over from Van Nistelrooij as of this season. In his first season as responsible, Ramzi finished fourteenth in the Kitchen Champion Division. On Tuesday evening, he and his team won the Premier League International Cup at the expense of Crystal Palace.
Phillip Coco
Someone who knows what it’s like to win prizes with PSV is Phillip Cocu. The current head coach of Vitesse was already at the helm of the Eindhoven team between 2013 and 2018 after he was active in the youth academy and was an assistant to the main force. Cocu won the national championship three times with PSV, won the TOTO KNVB Cup once and the Johan Cruijff Shield twice. Outside the Philips Stadium, things are not exactly going smoothly with the trainer’s career of the former midfielder. Service contracts at Fenerbahçe (2018) and Derby County (2019/20) ended in a sof. He is also not very successful at Vitesse.
Phillip Cocu knows what it’s like to win prizes with PSV.
Peter Bosz
A name that is already being carefully circulated is Peter Bosz. The 59-year-old Apeldoorner recently openly applied for a job at Ajax, but has not yet received a call from Amsterdam. Bosz is a Dutch-speaking trainer with foreign experience, but he still has the stamp that he is not a prize-winner. The only medal? Champion of the first division with Heracles Almelo in 2004/05. “He represents a completely different approach. Playing football, the line after Schmidt and Van Nistelrooij would then go from left to right and back,” said Elfrink. Does Stewart dare to bring in a trainer who has an almost empty trophy cabinet?
Pascal Janssen
His name has already been frequently linked to Feyenoord, but due to Arne Slot staying on, there is (for now) no future in South Rotterdam for Pascal Jansen. That future could well lie in Eindhoven, the city where he previously worked. Jansen previously acted as head of youth academy at PSV, trainer of the U23 team and the A1. In 2018 he decided to make the switch to AZ, where he was slowly prepared for the real work. After Slot’s departure, he was put in charge. Last season he finished fifth with his team, this season he is still competing for third place. He also reached the semi-finals of the Conference League. Jansen recently extended his contract with AZ and is now fixed until mid-2025.
Pascal Jansen will undoubtedly be on a list at PSV.
Ron Jans
He wanted more time with his grandchildren and reading books, but when Earnest Stewart rings the doorbell at Jans, he probably won’t slam the door immediately. The 64-year-old Zwolle resident is working on his last season at FC Twente and has often indicated that he would like to take it easy. But will he also be able to resist a possible lure from Eindhoven? Jans won the TOTO KNVB Cup and the Johan Cruijff Shield with PEC Zwolle. He recently had ‘exploratory talks’ with FC Emmen, but that interest has never been very concrete. Jans and Stewart have the common denominator that they both have a past in America.
William Jonk
If Wim Jonk had a stable period anywhere in his football career, it was at PSV. The current head coach of FC Volendam won the national title, the cup and the Johan Cruijff Shield three times with the team from Eindhoven. After Schmidt’s departure, Jonk’s name was already linked to PSV. Including by Aad de Mos. “That’s a nice compliment, but it’s not an issue now,” Jonk said at the time. The 56-year-old former player had a difficult start to the season with Volendam, but recovered this calendar year and is assured of another year of Eredivisie football in the fishing village. Jonk’s contract with Volendam will run until mid-2026.
John van den Brom
John van den Brom has had a good season with Lech Poznan and is no stranger to Stewart. The Polish formation is third in the league and reached the quarter finals of the Conference League. Van den Brom was appointed by Stewart at AZ in 2014. “John is a trainer with a good eye for talent,” Stewart said at the time. “At AGOVV, he was at the cradle of the careers of Chadli and Mertens. In Arnhem, Van Ginkel really broke through under his leadership. He is a coach known for his sense of team spirit. At ADO, the players went through fire for him .” The latter is exactly what Van Nistelrooij seemed to lack.
John van den Brom was appointed by Earnest Stewart at AZ in 2014.
Maurice Stein
Someone Stewart has probably already had contact with is Maurice Steijn. The Sparta Rotterdam trainer had a PSV mercenary under his wing this season with Shurandy Sambo and will undoubtedly have shared his findings with the American. Whether the PSV technical man will also make a call to talk about a possible trainership remains to be seen. Steijn did not have happy periods at NAC Breda and Al-Wahda, but rose to great heights with Sparta. After last season’s miraculous escape, he secured participation in the play-offs for European football this season. It is the icing on the cake after an already unprecedented season at Spangen.
John van Bronckhorst
Earlier this season, Giovanni van Bronkhorst was disappointed to receive his Rangers FC players at the Philips Stadium, prior to the Champions League meeting. “I have to be honest, I’ve been involved in football for a number of years and I’ve never experienced this,” he said RTL7. The former defender eliminated PSV in the billion dollar ball, giving Van Nistelrooij and PSV an extremely sensitive blow. Three months and a historically poor Champions League campaign later, the curtain fell for Van Bronckhorst in Scotland. Perhaps a warmer welcome awaits him soon and he will succeed in playing for the prizes with PSV in addition to Feyenoord.
Carl Hoefkens
Carl Hoefkens was active as a player in the Premier League and was at the helm of Club Brugge as a trainer. The 44-year-old Belgian was put in front of the group last year after the departure of Philippe Clement. In Belgium he is seen as a personality, a born leader. However, his employment with Bruges only lasted six months due to disappointing results. He did impress in the group stage of the Champions League by overwintering for the first time in club history in a group with Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and FC Porto. That has not been possible in Eindhoven since 2015/16.