Lets get to know Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

Totallyqpr · Dec 4, 2015

Just read about the appointment on the Guardian and a Scum idiot has posted this:

Best of luck Jimmy, one of the most underrated, yet finest, strikers to ever pull on the Hallowed Blue Shirt. Spam hopes that unlike Paul Ince, Chris Ramsey and Chris Houghton he is given sufficient time to make his mark, as the current number of young black British managers is shockingly low for our supposed 'national game.'

Surely we shouldn't have to put up with their stupidity on the broadsheets?

Bigchazqpr · Dec 4, 2015

after reading that, i like the cut of Jimmys jib.

QPR999 · Dec 4, 2015

NorwayRanger said: ↑

This is a great in-depth interview and a must read if you like to get to know what makes our new manager work.
Simply put he sounds quality. Think we're on to a winner here.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink: I must prove myself at Burton - but one day I dream of managing in Premier League

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - It may seem strange fit, two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner now at League Two club, but Dutchman meticulously planning his future

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Anglophile: England is Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's home Photo: ACTION IMAGES

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By Henry Winter

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink still possesses the competitive edge he had as a goal-plundering, cartwheeling striker for the likes of Leeds United, Chelsea, Middlesbrough and Holland. He still has that drive that saw him learn from and then escape the “chaos” of his teenage years.

Now 43, Hasselbaink pours all his many experiences, all his ambition, into managing Burton Albion. It may seem a strange fit, a two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner now at a League Two club, but Hasselbaink is meticulously building his managerial career, just as he did his playing career.

“I played in a World Cup (France 98) but I’ve never seen myself as a great player,’’ reflected Hasselbaink, sitting in a suite at the Pirelli Stadium. “I was never a technical player like Gianfranco Zola, Eidur Gudjohnsen or Dennis Bergkamp. I couldn’t do what they did. I don’t put myself in the bracket of a Thierry Henry. But I’ve always worked very hard, every training session, every game.

“I had to exploit my strengths: pace, power, knowing where the goal is and being sharp. I was always very relaxed before the game, but when that whistle went, I always played with an edge, a little bit of anger, aggressiveness. I had the feeling that I always had to prove myself.”

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Hasselbaink never gave less than 100 per cent

Yet Hasselbaink still does not believe this desire was shaped by a difficult adolescence which saw him involved in an Amsterdam gang and eventually despatched to a detention centre for robbing some concert-goers of their Public Enemy tickets. “From 12 to 19 it was chaos because I was indisciplined. My mother was very loving but very strict and didn’t really want me to play football. She wanted me to be more at school.

“I learned a lot from the mistakes, not only the Public Enemy mistake. I went to a detention centre. I was 16. It was scary, yes. It was a place where younger boys went to cool off and get some education. It was good for me to go through. My schooling and focus became better. Because I wasn’t responsible when I was younger is why I’m so responsible now.”

His father had stayed in Surinam when the five-year-old Hasselbaink moved to Holland with his mother and siblings. “I didn’t know my father. It is maybe sad. I had no feeling when my mum told me my dad had passed away. I didn’t regret not going to his funeral. I had no relationship with my father.

“I wouldn’t let my kids go through what I went through. I’m very close to my children. They need a father. I spend all my free time with them.” He has four daughters, the eldest by an ex-girlfriend in Holland. “I separated from the mother of Ghislaine but I’ve always had a good relationship with Ghislaine.” Now 19, Ghislaine is studying fashion in Alkmaar while Hasselbaink lives with his English wife and daughters aged eight, six and 16 months.

“I am a bad loser, not towards the opposition or my players, but with myself but when I come home, I have three small kids flying at me, jumping on top of me so I have no time whatsoever to reflect. My kids don’t take prisoners. My wife will not let me be moody because it is not fair on the kids. When I walk into the house, I have to switch off. So that’s my therapy. The kids keep me grounded. They sit in the box here and shout ‘come on Burton’. I can hear them.”

His journey to Burton has been quite an adventure. His playing career took him to Telstar and Alkmaar in Holland, Campomaiorense and Boavista in Portugal before moving to Leeds United for £2m, Atletico Madrid for £12m, Chelsea for £15m and then Middlesbrough before ending at Charlton Athletic and Cardiff City. Along the way he scored nine times in 23 appearances for Holland.

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Hasselbaink moved from Chelsea to Middlesbrough

‘I consider England home now. I’ve been here from 1997. I love Leeds. They have really magnificent supporters. That club should be in the Premier League with that support. But there are still problems and it does hurt me. That’s where it all started for me. Leeds supporters want to see their players having a proper go, working hard, and that’s why they took me as one of their own.

“I stayed in contact with Lucas Radebe. He’s had a tough time. His wife passed away through cancer and he had heart trouble. He’s an amazing guy, who’s done a lot for the community in South Africa. To hear about his experiences put things in perspective.”

So did events on a Leeds chartered flight on March 30, 1998, taking off from Stansted after a 3-0 defeat at West Ham. “I was sitting next to big Robert Molenaar. We went up in the air, and the engine exploded. I was by the window next to the engine. It was on fire. That was a horrendous day. I thought that was it. I thought about my loved ones.

“Luckily, the pilot could turn back and land on the grass, nose in, and we had to jump off the plane. George Graham had stayed in London and when we next came in, he said: ‘We lost the game but that was our result, boys, that we got everybody safe out of the plane’.”

Hasselbaink continued to impress as a striker, despite having to contend with some “very difficult” centre-backs. “I never really liked playing against Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell or Jaap Stam, who were quick, strong and intelligent. Normally you try to find a weakness. I couldn’t find it with them.

“I could see John Terry’s potential on my first day at Chelsea (in 2000) – because he kicked me in the first training session. I knew straight away he’d make a living out of the game. Dennis Wise was the best captain I had because he looked after everybody. He always had the best interests of the players at heart. He was the first one to lead when things were going wrong and the last to show any weakness.”

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Dennis Wise was the best captain Hasselbaink had

At Chelsea, Hasselbaink continued to learn that all types of characters make up a squad, including those with personality flaws like Winston Bogarde, who sat on a lucrative contract not worrying about playing, and the cocaine-using Adrian Mutu.

“I know Bogarde really well,” recalled Hasselbaink. “He lost the passion. It’s totally opposite to my beliefs. I’m too ambitious to lose the hunger. I just love the game too much. Mutu was a good friend. I never knew he had those habits. I’m really against that. I was really surprised seeing him decline like that. He had great ability. His problem was he was such a superstar in Romania, was sent a private jet to fly back to Romania, didn’t have to show his passport, being picked up by police cars driving in front of his car, his pictures on all the buses and metro. He was a good-looking guy, getting women. Sometimes it is too much for people. I don’t envy him.

“What I missed when I stopped playing was the dressing-room and the banter. The banter is different in a foreign dressing-room but the same vibe. There’s more banter here, mickey-taking, music. The music! Hard-core rap and House, aggressive music at Leeds and Chelsea and they still listen to it here. I’m growing out of the music, so now when they go out, and I’m still in the dressing-room, I go: ‘turn that off!”

“I like the football in Holland but with the football in England there is always something going on, the spectacle, end to end, so much energy and the supporters making so much noise.”

His influences began early. “I admired Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Ronald Koeman, Ruud Gullit, Gerald Vanenburg and Jan Wouters - he was ‘the breaker’. Dennis Bergkamp was always a gentleman, very calm, dry humour, knowing that he’s the main man but always transmitting that in a good way.”

Hasselbaink is very conscious of his country’s strong coaching tradition. “I’m aware there have been really good coaches and managers coming from Holland – Johan Cruyff, Rinus Michels, Leo Beenhakker, all successful abroad as well as in Holland.

“I played under Dick Advocaat with the Dutch national team. Advocaat is a little bit fiery, quite defence-minded, with a lot of experience. In 98, Ronald Koeman was the assistant of Guus Hiddink. Ronald was always good with the players, always talking to them, always with an arm around the shoulder, always interacting.”

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Hasselbaink felt Rijkaard's man-management to be poor

When Hiddink left the national team after France 98, Hasselbaink felt Rijkaard’s man-management to be poor, especially when not explaining why he wasn’t selecting him. “I was a bit disappointed with Rijkaard; I expected more honesty from Rijkaard. I didn’t really get that. That was maybe his style. Louis van Gaal (who succeeded Rijkaard) is a perfectionist; he is somebody who does it his way. Van Gaal has never been short of confidence.”

Hasselbaink understands English respect for Dutch coaches but offers a caveat. “I don't think that everything they do is magical. I wouldn’t want to take the manual from Holland, and say ‘we play 4-3-3’. You can't. If you don’t have the (playing) material, how are you going to do it? It's like saying I need to have vegetable soup every Friday. If you don’t have vegetables how are you going to make the soup? You are going to get a disflavoured soup.

“In Holland, it’s ‘you have to play this way, pass this way, because that’s what the textbook says’. There are a lot of good things from Dutch football but not everything is good. I'm not somebody who thinks I have to do it the Dutch Way. I want to do it the Jimmy Way. That's because I've been here a long time and the English have got a lot of good things.

“What the Dutch are good at is they always try to get triangles on the pitch. Their movement is always good. But the Dutch can't defend.” Stam? “One out of how many? Name me another out-and-out defender? Bruno Martins Indi is not there yet. Daryl Janmaat is an attacking right-back first, before defending. The problem that Holland has is that you have to be able to pass first before you become a defender.

“The pride in defending, real defending, keeping the zero, is gone in Holland. We want to score a perfect goal. The Dutch look at the quality of the football first. That’s why the Germans have won the World Cup so many times. There are a lot of good things about Holland but I want to be successful, and winning is the most important thing. If we win ugly, I’ll be happy.

“In the past, the Dutch have had so many big characters and at their clubs they have been always the main man, so then going to the Dutch national team where they are not the main man is sometimes quite hard. Now England, with all due respect, the individuals are not all the main players at their clubs. Maybe John Terry then and Wayne Rooney now. So you have a better chance to become a team because you have players who are used to giving, putting themselves second.”

This seems strange as Holland did reach the semi-finals of the last World Cup while England went out after two games. “You have to be England and you are not England,” countered Hasselbaink. “England is good at working hard and playing with a high tempo. Why do you want to be tiki-taka? You never have been. Look at the 4-1 v Holland (at Euro 96). Holland had Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf, Edwin van der Sar, Ronald de Boer, Dennis Bergkamp, Aron Winter – a good team - and England absolutely smashed Holland because of high tempo.

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England thrashed Holland at Euro 96 playing high-tempo football

“It might be because you’ve had foreigners as coaches, Fabio Capello, Sven-Goran Eriksson. For international football, it should be a rule that the coach is from the same country. Holland would never have that nor Germany or Brazil. England has a better future than Holland. We might not even make the European Championships or the World Cup and that would be a disaster.”

Always a thinker about the game, Hasselbaink’s early coaching steps were taken in the background at Chelsea and Nottingham Forest before accepting his first managerial role at Royal Antwerp. “I had John Bostock last year at Royal Antwerp. He loved it. It was an eye-opener for him. The problem for English kids is that the football is so good in England, and the pay is so good, why go abroad?”

After leaving the Belgian club, Hasselbaink waited for the right opportunity. “It was a calculated move from me coming here to Burton and because the job was good. I did research on the chairman (Ben Robinson) and the club. I looked at Gary Rowett, Nigel Clough and Neil Warnock, who came through here. It is ‘a launch-pad’ but it is also somewhere where you’re given the time to grow. I’ve come here to take the club forward, and to improve the club on the field and off.”

He is involved in the club’s Memorial Day for Lydia Bennett, the popular teenager who played for Burton Albion Ladies’ team who tragically collapsed and died in November. “Her parents found her in her room. At the time I had an 18-year-old, and to see that happening to the parents is not fair. I went with the chairman to the funeral. Her armband is still in my office.”

Hasselbaink admires what he calls Burton’s “family club” ethos, and he himself has been reaching out via the latest social media developments to give those aged between 13 and 24 a “shot” at work experience or even jobs everywhere from Chelsea to Jaguar and the BBC.

“I didn’t come from a privileged background. I know how that one shot of meeting someone can change your life. What’s inspiring is seeing videos of the moment they got their shot through Slenky and hearing some amazing stories of what some have gone on to do since.”

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Hasselbaink admires what he calls Burton's "family club" ethos

He takes an interest in people, a skill that inevitably helps in management. “I do know characters. I do know a lot of cultures. I’ve lived in different places. I speak Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and English. I like to know about the Muslim culture, about Christianity. That benefits me. That gives me the edge over a lot of managers. If you want to work in this industry you need to know people, know languages, know how people function. I have a boy from Holland from a Moroccan background so we have to sort out halal meat for him.

“You are more than a manager. Back in the day you could talk to players in a strong way, and they’d listen. You could even get (grab) them by the ear. Nowadays you can’t. You have to find what gets them hungry: for some it is financial, some just want to play football. We do a lot of background checks on players first.

“I want to know everything about them before they sign. A manager taught me a very important lesson: ‘Jimmy you have to love your players.’ I do love my players. I love going to dinner with them, talking to them.

“We are doing well here because I’ve got good staff and players who have taken things on board and are willing to give everything. We are organised, we are disciplined.”

He is focused on guiding Burton up but inevitably there will be other clubs tracking his progress. “I am very ambitious. If you want to succeed, you have to put the hours in, do whatever it takes. I have to do Burton justice. They’ve given me a great opportunity and I’m really grateful to them. I love coming in every day with a smile on my face and working hard.

The future? “Managing in Holland is not in my dreams because I love England.” He would love one day to manage in the Premier League, competing against the best. “I love Jose Mourinho. Mourinho is a tactician. Arsene Wenger’s football is always magnificent.” One day. “Hopefully, but let me crawl first, then we start walking, then running, and hopefully one day, I can sprint.” Sprinting has always come naturally to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ay-I-dream-of-managing-in-Premier-League.html
Click to expand...

Nice find Norway. Here's a view of him from a Burton fan in an interview conducted by Clive ...

The Burton Albion view on Hasselbaink - Interview
Friday, 4th Dec 2015 20:05 by Clive Whittingham
LFW’s tame Burton Albion fan Steve Eyley returns, white handkerchief in hand, to bid Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink a fond farewell and give the QPR fans a few pointers on what to expect.

How do you assess JFH's time in charge of Burton?

SE: He’s been absolutely excellent. He’s certainly taken us to a different level since he came, using much the same style as his predecessor Gary Rowett who’d also been successful here. The players work hard and run through walls for him. He has a restricted budget for players so we are overachieving with the lot we have, top of League One presently, which is mainly down to him and his tactics. We actually play a little bit more football than we did under Rowett.

You seem to win a lot without scoring many goals, how would you describe his preferred style of play?

SE: We’re very tight and disciplined at the back and in midfield. We create plenty of chances but haven't been taking them this season. Defence is definitely the key for him though.

There was a stat last month that we have created more chances than any other team in the league but taken the lowest percentage of them. For a former striker of his calibre, it's an oddity that we only have three strikers in the squad, and two of those haven't scored yet.

Read the rest of this interview here ...

http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/41263/?

Didley Squat · Dec 5, 2015

" ..............it's an oddity that we only have three strikers in the squad, and two of those haven't scored yet."

Now I know why he came to us.
Were the perfect fit for JFH.
Can't wait for the next game.

Sooperhoop · Dec 5, 2015

I heard Charlie in an interview this week saying as JFH was a striker he is particularly looking forward to working with him. I have a feeling that with Warnock having found a better team shape and with Faurlin and Sandro giving us a stable and fluent base of the team JFH will have an excellent starting point to move us on.

Being QPR, I'm cautiously optimistic...

Lets get to know Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink

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