Thought I'd post this here also since I mention Ronald Koeman. please log in to view this image For decades the world knows the Dutch for their 'Total Football' style of play in the 70s. Bringing in a Dutch manager meant attractive and a attack-mind way of strategy. Those days are long gone however. Louis van Gaal has recently been appointed as manager of Manchester United and now Ronald Koeman might become the successor of Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton. Which is very odd if you look at the performance of Dutch coaches abroad in the 2013-2014 season. Most of them got sacked, relegated, or their contracts were not extended. Most of them are still unemployed and might even be lucky if they find a new job in the Eredivisie. It is odd to see that Dutch managers are so highly regarded but once they are abroad, fail to live up to expectations. I'm starting to think that the clubs and fans think that the managers of today are still able to implement some form of total football into their side. A good example of that is Peter Bosz. This charismatic manager had two good seasons at Heracles Almelo and one half decent season at Vitesse. Always playing a 3-4-3 formation and all of a sudden was linked to Zenith St. Petersburg earlier this season. The Russians went with Andre Villas Boas in the end. But I couldn't fathom why they would even consider Bosz for the job as he has been successful with mid-table clubs so far. And all the clubs seem to be after Frank de Boer also. But given this season's track record, should any club go for a Dutch manager? please log in to view this image Frank de Boer was linked with Tottenham, didn't get the job. Time for some oversight, round up the renowned managers and what they did last season. Bert van Marwijk, won the Uefa Cup with Feyenoord and managed the Dutch national team for six years. He led the Orange squad to the World Cup final in 2010. After a year and a half of unemployment he took the job at HSV Hamburg, and did worse than his predecessor and was fired after just 4 and a half months. And don't get the idea that it was because HSV played 'tikki takka' football, I wouldn't even call it football. please log in to view this image Bert van Marwijk, sacked at HSV Huub Stevens is another Dutch top class manager, but he got sacked at PAOK Saloniki, took the job at Stuttgart where he managed the team for 10 matches. Avoided relegation with the team and resigned straight after when the season was over. Another Dutch top coach in the Bundesliga was Gert Jan Verbeek. Sacked at AZ in September, the pragmatic and stubborn Verbeek went to Nürnberg, and was sacked again in April after having lost 8 of their last 9 matches. The club would relegate later on. I couple of example's of the decline of the Dutch school of football can be found in England. Martin Jol was sacked at Fulham, and so was Rene Meulensteen two months after. Remember Guus Hiddink? When Anzhi Makhachkala ran out of money he fled Russia with his pockets filled with money, Meulensteen took over at Anzhi and was sacked two weeks later. Hiddink will manage the Dutch national team after this World Cup, but all of the above mentioned managers are unemployed. And I can add Frank Rijkaard to that list, he's been unemployed for the past one and a half years and recently told the media he is retiring as a manager. Also sacked at their clubs outside the Eredivise: John van de Brom(Anderlecht), Mario Been(RC Genk) and recently Clarence Seedorf has been added to the list. A total of 8 Dutch managers got sacked or resigned in the past year. Maybe Louis van Gaal can turn around that too even though he was sacked at FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich. A lot of managers are dependent on how he performs at Old Trafford, as he will be the last Dutch manager remaining at the top to show the world what Dutch managers can do.
