Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Interview: How I became QPR boss and what is next for me THE BEAMING, mega-watt smile is never far from being plastered across his face, but Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink insists no one should be fooled by that happy-go-lucky exterior. By Paul Joyce PUBLISHED: PUBLISHED: 22:30, Fri, Jan 22, 2016 “Stubborn Dutch boy, I am,” he says by way of offering a different insight into his character. It is a quality that is already serving him, and his employers, well as he carves out a niche for himself in the world of management. If becoming QPR’s fifth manager in the past 12 months did not pose enough problems in itself, then losing his best striker unexpectedly last week hardly helps his task of rejuvenating the London club’s fortunes and forging a team to be “proud” of again. And yet as Hasselbaink prepares for today’s game with Wolves, he will still be thankful for the small mercies at his disposal, in contrast to his first step on the ladder at Royal Antwerp. “It was a big club, but it was in the second division and I had to everything by myself. I had to do everything,” he says for emphasis please log in to view this image please log in to view this image “The money was poor. No fitness coach, only a goalkeeper coach and a first-team coach. No assistant, no analyst. I had to look and prepare matches on a little DVD thing. “I loved it. It was the best thing ever that I have done because I was struggling, but I had to do it myself. I had to put so many hours in. My family was still here in London, I was in Belgium. “The hardest job I had to do was managing up. But we had three owners and all three owners were all so difficult to keep together. “One put me in and he was in charge of the football. The other one was in charge of the finances and the other one was the father of the one who was in charge of the finances and, actually, he would run the show. “But after one bad result they were straight on top (of me). The one who was in charge of the football had put me in, so he was backing me and he had the last say. “But it was very hard. Very hard. It taught me a lesson that you need to work for good people. “I did that for a year and obviously we know Burton came up. Some people will say it was a risk but it wasn’t. It wasn’t. And the rest is history.” Among those who advised Hasselbaink to work his way up, rather than trying to break in at the top, was Steve McClaren, who has become something of a mentor. “I was fortunate to have worked with Steve,” he said. “I know you guys (in the media) sometimes think a little bit, err, but I absolutely love him. “I think he’s one of the best coaches, one of the best managers who I have worked with. I had him at Middlesbrough when I was a player and he was the first one I had as a coach. I worked with him at Nottingham Forest. please log in to view this image “He took me to Forest and I learnt a lot from him. I still speak a lot to him and it’s somebody that I really respect and ask for certain information. “So working with him was very important for me.” Hasselbaink was at St George’s Park on Monday working towards gaining his Uefa Pro-Licence by undertaking a module on media training. A mock press conference saw him answering questions about a want-away striker unhappy at seeing his dream move blocked by his club. Roles had been reversed 72-hours earlier to an extent with Charlie Austin informing Hasselbaink he wanted to move to Southampton. Austin had six months left on his contract and QPR had little option but to bank the £4m fee. please log in to view this image Austin’s departure adds to the rebuilding job Hasselbaink, who helped to lead Burton to promotion to League One last season, must oversee. Yet he is enthused by the challenge. “It is a nice club,” he said. “It is a club that everyone really likes. It has always had a lot of talent: Les Ferdinand, Sinclair and that raw, urban kind of talent. That is what we have to bring back. “We have to change the mentality of the club. It has been hit a bit and we need to get that mentality back. We need people to be happy putting that shirt on playing for QPR. We are working with a group that is happy but we need to bring in younger people and make QPR proud. “It’s not just about getting to the Premier League. It is being able to stay there in the right way, in the financial right way. That’s the most important thing and that’s what the fans need to know. “That it’s going to be in the right way and also obviously we haven’t produced (our own players) for a long time and for a club like QPR that’s a disaster. It’s a disaster.” If Hasselbaink gets youth development right, there could also be positive spins-off for English football as a whole. “For me it’s a normal thing because I am from Holland,” he said. “I have been here in England for almost 20 years and I feel that I’m a little bit British. Three of my four kids have been born here. “They go through the English system, they are British. They don’t speak Dutch, they speak English. “My wife is English so in a way I feel also the obligation to give something back to the English FA by trying to bring through English players. English young players. “I think there is a generation now that is coming but you guys need to keep on going with that. And that’s what we have been doing in Holland.”
please log in to view this image Dominic Fifield @domfifield Friday 22 January 2016 22.30 GMT Close of business after a day of seminars and lectures at St George’s Park and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink can finally relax. Tackling the various modules of the FA Uefa pro licence course would normally be draining enough but, between sessions, the Queens Park Rangers manager has been pounding the corridors of the national football centre overseeing club affairs from afar. He has made regular checks to his staff back at Harlington, not least seeking updates on the progress of Conor Washington’s £2.8m arrival from Peterborough, a move confirmed the following day. The Dutchman, appointed on 4 December, has sanctioned the loan of Ben Gladwin to Bristol City, selected an under-21 side for a friendly against Chelsea and relayed to David Oldfield and Dirk Heesen, his assistant and first-team coach respectively, the drills that will await the squad in the morning. Fitting studies for his coaching badges around delivering first impressions, all in the middle of the transfer window a few days after his main striker forced through a move to Southampton, has left Hasselbaink dizzied. “It’s not ideal because, in a new job, the players need to see you every day and there are still lots of little things we are trying to do, so it is demanding,” he says. “But I love it. It’s something I need. I may have a lot of other things to do but I need to do this course. This is part of my education.” Such is Hasselbaink’s reputation in the game as an elite Premier League player and the positive impression he made in charge of Burton Albion that it is easy to forget he is a novice manager still learning his trade. The pro licence course, an 18-month commitment that concludes in June, will prepare him to coach in the top flight. The task he has taken on at QPR will offer a proper schooling in the demands of management in the upper echelons. The club, relegated last season, loiter in 15th place in the Championship with realism steadily swamping optimism when it comes to talk of promotion. The new manager secured a first win in charge, at the ninth attempt, at Rotherham last Saturday, and confronts Wolves on Saturday, but he is setting targets for the long term. It never reached anything approaching that level of social media outrage with Austin, but Hasselbaink, when tackling his role-play, was still able to call upon something akin to first-hand experience even after seven weeks in the role. “With Charlie it was a different situation,” he says. “He had six months left on his contract when I came in. He was one of the first players I spoke with to find out where he was, mentally. He told me he wanted to stay until the end of the season, so we made our plans with Charlie in the team. Then, last Friday, he told me he’d had an offer from Southampton and saw his future there. Our leverage of saying no was minimal, so the club and the owners made the decision to let him go. He went with our blessing and it opens up the space for someone else.” Washington, a former postman during his time at St Ives Town, arrives with 13 goals in his last 15 games at Posh. At 23, he can help spearhead a new, rejuvenated Rangers. The playing squad are adjusting to Hasselbaink’s methods, with training intensified and brought forward half an hour. “It was very comfortable before, but if you want to be successful, training has to be harder than the games. When I first came to England the sessions were just about maintaining [fitness levels] but now clubs train players to make them better. That is the mentality we need at QPR. “The players understand what we are doing. I think they wanted it. You see it in their body language. Players want direction. I’m just a stubborn Dutch boy, really, and I know what I want. But, if you have a vision, you have to be able to demonstrate to the players why you are doing things a particular way and, if people don’t understand, I’m not scared to explain it.” He has developed those ideas over a fledgling coaching career that began with Chelsea’s Under-17s and has since crammed a spell on the staff at Nottingham Forest under first Steve McClaren, then Steve Cotterill and Sean O’Driscoll, a year in charge of Royal Antwerp and a promotion campaign with Burton into the third tier. The 43-year-old rates McClaren as “one of the best managers” under whom he has worked, yet Antwerp was the real eye opener. “A big club but in the second division in Belgium and I had to do everything,” he says. “We had no fitness coach, no assistant, no analysts. Just a goalkeeping coach and a first-team coach. I had to prepare matches on a little DVD machine which messed up my eyes … but I loved it. “It was the best thing that I’ve ever done because I was struggling and had to prove myself. I had to put so many hours in. My family were still in London, leaving me just to get on with it in Belgium. “The hardest job I had was managing up. We had three investors, of whom one [Saif Rubie] was effectively in charge of the football operation. He backed me, but after one bad result the other two [the chief executive Gunther Hofmans and Hofmans’ father-in-law, the investor Jos Verhaegen] were straight on top of me. It was very hard but it taught me a lesson: you need to work for good people.” QPR will pose a different kind of challenge but one Hasselbaink will not shirk. The tag of Restoration Man is one he will embrace.
Good read. Didn't catch what is next for JFH but hope it includes both getting us to and keeping us in the PL. For starters.
I like his comments but if we are to achieve all this, we need stability both in manager and behind the scenes with the club. This year hopefully proves to be a 'steadying of the ship' approach with a good push next season.
Another long interview with JFH in the Times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/share/uuid/3a7656d0-c102-11e5-b5a8-3973db8fde66 Spoiler: says something nice about Henry.
"It taught me a lesson that you need to work for good people." Good work there...buttering up Tony. Let's hope he is right and he ends up with a good relationships all round, which will help the club move forward.
Good read, says some good and positive things. I just hope he is given the time and financial backing to see his visions through
There does seem substance there. Much more confident than when we had Ramsey. However, he has to better Sir Neil. Realistically I would.like to see him given until Christmas 16 - unless we are plummeting towards League 1!
I think we need to wait and see what shape the team takes next season, this summer will be a key period in getting things right. The bottom line is we need to bring in at least six players who will improve the team in the positions we are currently weak in. I still think next season will be part of consolidation and if we see improved performances in terms of passing and movement and being difficult to beat we will be heading in the right direction. Patience, something many of our fans don't seem to have these days, is the key...