G uus
Hiddink probably did not
appreciate the sentiment but
Leo
Beenhakker, another godfather of
Dutch
football management, decided to press on
with it, regardless. It was the summer of last
year and Hiddink was still to officially take
over from
Louis van Gaal as the manager of
the
Holland national team .
Perhaps,
Beenhakker thought, it might not be
too late. He did not mince his words.
Beenhakker, who is now 73 and retired, told
Hiddink, then 68, that he would live to regret
this latest career move. In short, Beenhakker
said, Hiddink was too old. The game had
moved on, players were different and men
like them needed to know when to walk
away.
Hiddink was never going to listen and he
plunged himself into the task of guiding his
country to the finals of
Euro 2016. Under
Van
Gaal, Holland had unexpectedly made it to
the semi-finals of the
World Cup in
Brazil,
where they lost to
Argentina on penalties . It
was Hiddink’s second spell in charge of the
national team, with the first having come in
the
1990s. Under him, they reached the
quarter-finals of
Euro 96 and the semi-finals
of the
1998 World Cup. As ever, Hiddink was
confident.
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Chelsea sack
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Guus
Hiddink to replace him
The manner in which his second coming
unravelled was shocking and the wounds
continue to feel raw. His
Oranje lost away to
the
Czech Republic and
Iceland in
Euro 2016
qualifying Group A and there was also the
home draw with
Turkey, to set alongside the
home win over
Kazakhstan and the home
and away victories over
Latvia.
His team was a directionless mess and the
Dutch federation, who almost never sack
managers, had wanted him out after a matter
of months
. In the wake of the defeat by
Iceland in October of last year, the criticism
was brutal.
Ronald de Boer, the former
Holland international, called Hiddink
“outdated”.
Those that followed him closely said it was
almost painful to watch and, by extension, a
small mercy when the federation did part
ways with him last June. Hiddink felt
wretched about it all. “I am sorry it went this
way,” he said, after he left his position.
Under his successor,
Danny Blind, Holland
would fall short of the finals in
France.
Beenhakker was perhaps right, although he
took no pleasure in it. Since his departure
from the Holland job, Hiddink has tried to
enjoy a break but, given who he is and how
he is, he has also stewed. He had envisaged,
to borrow a line from a longstanding friend,
“to have another type of farewell.”
- published: 19 Dec 2015
- views: 61