"Opposition against Verbeek was unanimous"

Friday 16 January 2009

Not one single player at Feyenoord supported coach Gertjan Verbeek, who was sacked on Wednesday, captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst said on Thursday.

"After Wednesday's morning training Verbeek came to me and asked me to ask the squad for their opinion about him. He wanted to know whether the players still had faith in him. The verdict was unanimous: no one wanted to go on with him. I told him that."

"It was the hardest day in my career. This is not why I came back to Feyenoord; to go and tell the coach that the squad has no faith in him. That was very tough both for him and for me. None of wanted this to happen. But we could look each other in the eyes. I think it took a lot of courage of him to ask after the opinion of the players. But it was too late to straighten things out. It's a shame."

Van Bronckhorst emphasized that Wednesday's poll was the first questioning in the squad about Verbeek.

Less than a month ago the skipper denied that there had been a poll then as was reported by the Algemeen Dagblad.

"But that wasn't true. But the discontent about Verbeek wasn't new. A month ago we were still talking about things and we really though that we would be able to solve things. But a month later nothing had changed. The chemistry between the coach and the players and with that the atmosphere among the players only got worse. I am a sensitive person and I am not the only one in the squad. When you drive to the club filled with reluctance it's a signal. Hopefully we will move in the right direction at this moment."

Names
The carousel of names of possible replacements for Verbeek and Director of Football Peter Bosz is turning at full speed at the moment, but according to the club no candidates have been approached.

Former club icon Wim van Hanegem said he would be willing to help the club out for the rest of the season, after which he said NEC coach Mario Been should take over.

Of course the name of Leo Beenhakker has been mentioned as well.

The current boss of the Polish national team was coach between 1997 and 2000 and helped the team to the last league title in 1999.

He helped the club out for seven days two years ago when Feyenoord fired Erwin Koeman only days before the playoffs.

Beenhakker said he is not unwilling to help "his club".

"It's a tragedy what is happening at the moment, especially for Gertjan Verbeek. This is bad for the club and that hurts. But Feyenoord will never go down. What is key now is to name the right people in the right place. Wise policy is needed on, off and above the pitch. Of course my hands are itching. I know what is going on there now and I have a bit of experience with it. But I think Feyenoord should do some serious thinking. The right solution will then emerge automatically," Beenhakker said.

Besides the main popular candidate Mario Been other names that have been mentioned are Co Adriaanse, Rinus Israel and Frank Rijkaard.

Guus Hiddink's name has been mentioned as the new Director of Football.

Former Feyenoord defender John de Wolf came up with a surprise: Tony Adams.

"He would leave his current club Portsmouth for two clubs: Arsenal and Feyenoord."