Rambo gets stabbed in the back

Thursday 15 January 2009

It was summer in the Austrian Alps and Gertjan Verbeek was hanging between two ropes, high above the ground. All Feyenoord players had already done the survival course once, but the coach wanted to do it again.

He spit in his hands and up and away he was.

His players watched from a distance.

The Feyenoord coach had hardly started in July but within days he had three nicknames: Highlander, Rambo and Braveheart.

It seems an innocent anecdote, but one that was exemplary for Verbeek's tenure at Feyenoord.

His predecessor Bert van Marwijk years ago spoke of the importance of social intelligence.

Footballers are clever and shrewd, Van Marwijk argued.

The smallest details can determine whether a coach is taken seriously or not.

"The wrong or too tight pair of trousers can undermine your credibility. Players can be lethal."

Reflecting on Verbeek's tiring relationship with a large portion of his players that was the root of the problem.

The man from the city of Deventer is a vivid, straight forward man, but he is also a character and one with an extensive manual.

In the fitness room he liked to show off how many push ups he could do, he interfered with the coffee lady, rebuilt dressing rooms and was very outspoken about medical affairs.

It made Verbeek into the man he is, but his stubbornness also marked his early exit.

When results didn't come nuisance about his attention for less important matters.

According to the players there was too little attention for the essentials: football.

On the other hand no one in the pale, colorless squad stood up to turn the tide.

Juxtaposed to the stiff-necked Verbeek's stood a squad without balls.

Discussions would end in mutual misunderstanding, while Verbeek lacked tactical awareness according to the players.

One nuisance strengthened the other.

Slowly but surely the coach was transformed to a caricature and the man himself never really seemed to notice.

"Only today I felt I couldn't turn the tide anymore," he said last night.

Instead of straightening their backs and coming out into the open, the players stabbed their coach in the back.

The coach was attacked in the media by leaking the growing discontent to the media.

But the players made one massive false judgment: the supporters chose the side of the coach and blamed the players who have been failing for more than a year now.

Startled the players decide to blame the media, in the form of a statement read out by captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst, but that statement lacked any form of open support for their coach; above all the players defended themselves.

To not have to lie players like Hofland, Makaay, Tomasson did not speak to the press in the weeks that followed.

Verbeek's popularity among the fans was understandable.

His presentation in public was well-behaved as he never walked away from questions or discussions.

No matter how poor Feyenoord's performances were, the man would always analyze things open and honest.

His image of a street fighting man - never shying away from hard work - did the rest.

It forced the Board of Directors into a nasty split.

How do you fire a coach who is widely supported by the crowds? A coach you have appointed yourself?

The Board desperately tried to enter into a dialogue with the main players and attempted to adjust things here and there, even though they knew better.

During the training cam)p in Turkey Peter Bosz saw that things could not be fixed anymore.

The Director of Football spoke to many people and noticed time and again that the relationship was broken, cynicism, misunderstanding and a giant rift between the players and their coach.

Symbolic was the day that Feyenoord were chased of the training ground by a thunderstorm.

One man kept believing that the storm would blow over while his players had already sought shelter.

Gertjan Verbeek was the last one to walk to the bus.

Alone.