Vitesse mourn after firing "a great man"
Wednesday 31 December 2008
Vitesse called Hans Westerhof a
"great man" but still conclude that the differences
of opinion between the coach and the club's management
are too big to deal with the problems of the club successfully.
"It's a shame, but an evaluation
of the situation has shown that there is no base to
proceed with Hans," General Director Paul van der
Kraan said.
And so the management of Vitesse
decided on Tuesday afternoon to fire Westerhof.
Main reason is the disappointing
results this season.
Vitesse are 15th in the league
halfway through the season.
"Of course Hans is not the
sole responsible for the bad results this season,"
Van der Kraan continued.
"The entire technical staff,
the players and the management are to blame. We all
have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves where we
have failed."
Director of Football Marc van Hintum
says that's a "terrible shame" that Westerhof
got fired.
"In July we started the new
season full of expectation and faith. This would be
the season we rebuilt this club. In the past six months
it didn't go as we expected and we do not agree on the
way to solve our problems. That is why we are forced
to part with a great man and a very dedicated coach."
The former coach of FC Groningen,
Willem II, Ajax and PSV said he was not very keen on
the job when Van Hintum asked him to succeed Aad de
Mos.
Westerhof did not consider himself
– after five years in the USA (Chivas) and Mexico
(Guadalajara and Necaxa) – to be best candidate.
Looking back on his six months
at the club he more or less repeated his words.
"I stepped in in the blind.
I did not know the players and I did not know the opponents.
That didn't make it any easier."
Off the record players called Westerhof
'too soft' and 'old fashioned'.
As a coach he only ever won silverware
with his amateur club ACV Assen, with which he won the
overall amateur championship in 1986 and 1987.
He finished third in the Eredivisie
with unfashionable FC Groningen in 1991 and came second
with PSV in 1993.
At Ajax he was the coach who let
Rafael van der Vaart make his debut as a professional
in 2000.
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