Willem van Hanegem understands Wesley Sneijder’s decision to stop his trainer course. Sneijder announced last week that he was ‘not in line with the KNVB’ and therefore no longer continued with the training to become a trainer. Van Hanegem places in his column in the General Newspaper question marks with the ‘scribes’ of the KNVB.
“Everyone fell over him. Of course he has to learn something to become a trainer or manager, everyone knows that. But those scribes who went there to explain something to him about an exercise in kicking technique, they’re just looking for such a response. You didn’t explain Mozart how to play the piano, did you?” Van Hanegem wonders. He cites that Art Langeler – the current trainer of PEC Zwolle and former director of football development at the KNVB – called Dirk Kuyt in Zeist.
“Art Langeler, the man who has been making PEC look like some kind of third-grader for weeks. He had to take care of our greatest talents at the KNVB for years,” writes Van Hanegem. “Kuyt and Sneijder were also under fire for illegally taking a gamble. Gambling and certainly illegally in canteens, at sports clubs and you name it, that has been happening for years. Sometimes also with considerable amounts. It may not be allowed, but we shouldn’t pretend that the most terrible thing ever happened here.”
Studio Voetbal: ‘The same as when you go to a restaurant very often and say: ‘I know how the cook works here’
Also in the program Studio Football of the NOS Sneijder’s decision was the subject of discussion. “It’s a bit like going back to school, you get a lot of theory and the practice is a bit less. You spend a lot of time in class, you listen a lot and you have to do a lot of assignments. I understand that it is difficult, most football players are sixteen or seventeen when they sign a contract and have long left school. They are generally not involved in training during their career”, Theo Janssen stated.
“They’re not school benches, are they?” Pierre van Hooijdonk responded. “No, you are sitting with colleagues and former pros. I really liked it, especially because you’re sitting together”, Janssen replied. “It is hard work, but you have to work harder at a club than on the course. We’ve all been through good trainers, but that doesn’t mean you’re a good trainer.”
“It’s the same if you go to a restaurant very often and at a certain moment say: ‘I know how the cook works here’. A lot of football players often underestimate it very much and want to get back to the same level too quickly. where they played as a player,” continued Van Hooijdonk. “We have enough examples: Phillip Cocu got Guus Hiddink with him, Giovanni van Bronckhorst got Advocaat next to him. That means that at that moment you are not fully capable enough to lead one of the three top clubs in the Netherlands. Get off the football field and Speaking to a group is quite another.”
“I think he will do the course, but not in the Netherlands. Maybe he will do it somewhere where he can steer it more”, predicted Janssen. Van Hooijdonk then pointed out that Jaap Stam and Clarence Seedorf also wanted customization. “They will meet you if you have played a certain number of international matches, so you will have to show a certain discipline to get your trainer’s diploma,” Ibrahim Afellay pointed out at the accelerated trainer course for former internationals. “You can’t go to school and say, ‘Give me that piece of paper’ without taking an exam. It doesn’t work that way.”