Wesley Sneijder understands that FC Utrecht does not want the new head coach Henk Fraser to go to the World Cup in Qatar next season as assistant national coach. The current coach of Sparta Rotterdam is currently working as the right-hand man of national coach Louis van Gaal at the the Dutch squad, but the final tournament later this year will pass him by. A successor to Fraser has not yet been appointed by the KNVB.
“Logical”, concludes Sneijder on Tuesday evening in the Champions League broadcast of RTL7† “If you only took the World Cup, you might think: For those four weeks, you know† But you have a long run up to it, don’t you.” Presenter Humberto Tan hooks in right away: “You hardly have any preparation, it is a maximum of ten days.” Sneijder immediately makes an observation: “You have to focus elsewhere. and then you can’t fully focus on the club. I think it is right that Utrecht has said: ‘Yes, if you want to become a trainer, then under these conditions'”, said the former midfielder.
Wesley Sneijder thinks it is logical that FC Utrecht will not let Henk Fraser go to the World Cup.
“You can also say: ‘It is an added value for the club, because your players see the trainer on the bench at a World Cup'”, Tan immediately points out. “I was already shocked that Sparta thought it was good”, Jan Boskamp adds, which immediately leads to a reaction from Tan. “It’s different as a head coach than as an assistant, isn’t it?” Boskamp responds to this again: “But you are the head coach at FC Utrecht. Then you have to make sure that the club runs well.” Tan adds that “it’s an opportunity you can’t take away from any trainer.”
“How does he stand in that? Because we don’t know that either,” Sneijder continues. “He thinks it’s a shame, but he’s resigned to it, because it’s a club he wants to work for,” Tan replied. “You just create something again and he (Fraser, ed.) thinks it’s all good, dude. He creates something again, huh”, Sneijder responds with a joke. Finally, Tan wants to know who should succeed Fraser at the Dutch, “Because that is the next challenge for Van Gaal and the KNVB. Or does it not matter?” Sneijder answers very clearly: “No, it doesn’t matter.” Tan wants to know what the assistant national coaches did during major tournaments, when Sneijder was still international.
“Pretty little”, according to the 134-time international. “We also had Phillip Cocu, who did something with the players. And Frank de Boer did more training sessions. But it’s Danny Blind now anyway. And the third assistant is just a bit in front of the group, between the group and into the staff. It’s a very good and fun position, but someone has to want that who I think is now without a job. You don’t go looking in November, then you get the same story,” concludes Sneijder.