Dutch legend Metgod's fond memories of time at Forest

Barry Roche
This is Nottingham
Sunday 23 November 2008

Portsmouth manager Tony Adams last week appointed former Nottingham Forest and Holland midfielder Johnny Metgod as his new first team coach.

The Dutchman became a legend at the City Ground, fondly remembered for his stunning free kicks, none better than the one that flashed past West Ham and former England keeper Phil Parkes.

Johnny Metgod had a fantastic career spanning 20 years and six clubs.

But the Dutch midfielder will be best remembered on these shores for the time he spent in the red shirt of Nottingham Forest in the mid-eighties.

Metgod began his career at small Dutch club HFC Haarlem, which also produced another Dutch legend in the shape of Ruud Gullit.

But after only one season with the minnows he transferred to the better-known AZ Alkmaar where he spent six very successful seasons winning the Dutch cup in 1978 and 1982 and the league and cup double in 1981.

Metgod hit the big time in 1982 when European giants Real Madrid brought him to the Santiago Bernabeu.

But the big man describes his two-year stay with Real as "frustrating."

"I still struggle to work out the logic of some of the things that happened at the club during my time there. Especially the attitude of manager Alfredo Di Stefano.

"Di Stefano, who is one of the greatest names in the world of football, just wouldn't communicate with his players. He didn't exactly inspire confidence," he said.

His work on the training ground also came in for some criticism.

"His training regime was so predictable. Regardless of the circumstances, the squad rigidly worked out for 90 minutes and the pattern of the session never varied from one day to the next.

"That is significant looking at Real's record when he was at the helm. They lost three cup finals and didn't win a championship.

"Also in Spain the crowds are much more critical and far less tolerant of failure. So imagine what the noise was like from 60,000 to 70,000 (or even 100,000 against Barcelona or Atletico Madrid) spectators.

"Because when they weren't satisfied, they let you know with a series of cat calls and whistles which were ear-splitting.

"It's also fair to say the Spanish press can go overboard at times. Two daily sports papers are produced in Madrid alone and each of them is as thick as a telephone directory.

"So there is plenty of space to fill, which inevitably means that some of the things that are printed occasionally fall short of being totally accurate," he added.

But his time at Real is still something that Metgod will look back on with a great sense of pride.

"In the future when I'm sitting by the fire wearing my carpet slippers, I'll be satisfied in the knowledge I was able to figure in the history of one of the world's most famous clubs,' he said.

Then in stepped Brian Clough in August 1984.

Clough and Forest paid the Spanish outfit £300,000 to acquire the services of the Dutch playmaker.

And the contrast between life at Real and Forest could not be greater.

"Life at Forest was completely the opposite. There was a magnificent team spirit which was generated from the top – and that meant Brian Clough.

"It's worth mentioning that he's the one who persuaded me to sign for Forest in the first place. They had originally shown a little bit of interest in signing me before I went to Madrid and when they came back two years later with a concrete offer it didn't take me long to make up my mind.

"Brian Clough had his own way of doing things which weren't the type of things that you were taught as a young player but he was very successful and he won trophies to prove that. For a club like Forest to win two European Cups back to back is an absolutely massive achievement."

Moving from a city like Madrid to live in Nottingham was something that Metgod found very easy.

"Playing for Forest and living in Nottingham reminded me very much of when I started playing at AZ Alkmaar. They weren't the biggest club around but they tried to do everything in the right way in order to become successful. And to play for a club like that and live in a wonderful place like Nottingham was very special to me."

In 1987 Metgod turned down the offer of a new contract at Forest to join Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs paid £250,000 for the Dutch international, who was equally at home in the centre of midfield or defence.

"It was a difficult decision to leave Forest because I enjoyed my time there very much. But as a professional footballer you always want to see if you can go one step further. It doesn't necessarily mean it was the right decision but that's what I was thinking at the time.

"I wanted to see if I could become a better player and, in my mind, joining Spurs gave me a chance to see if I could do that."

However, Metgod was immediately put under pressure by the media who suggested that he had been brought to White Hart Lane as the 'new' Glenn Hoddle, who had left the club for a spell in French football the previous season.

He had a disappointing start to his Spurs career starting only two out of the first nine league games before being sidelined with a hernia injury that required surgery.

"That was the first time in my career that I picked up any type of serious injury. During my rehabilitation from surgery, David Pleat, the manager who signed me, left and was replaced by Terry Venables.

"I missed the first four or five weeks under the new manager and to pick up from there was very difficult.

"I got a few games towards the end of the season but it didn't turn out to be the move I hoped it would."

Metgod made only five league starts and a further seven as a substitute during the 1987-88 season before being sold in the summer of 1988 to Dutch giants Feyenoord for £175,000.

He never really got to show the Spurs fans how good a player he was during his time there but he was able to do so when he returned to White Hart Lane in the UEFA Cup in 1992.

Metgod captained Feyenoord to a 1-0 aggregate win producing two outstanding performances.

His time in Feyenoord proved to be a very successful one, winning three Dutch cups and captaining them to the league title in 1993.

"Leaving England was not really something I wanted to do because my family and I were very settled there," he said

"But I'd had a very disappointing season and then Feyenoord came in with a four-year deal, which at the age of 30 is not something that happens very often.

"If there had have been an option to stay in England then I seriously doubt if I'd have gone back but as it turned out it was a good decision."

He made the decision to hang up his boots in 1994 after being offered the chance to take charge of Feyenoord's excellent youth academy.

The highly-prized role meant Metgod was in charge of the development of players between the ages of six and 18, something that Dutch football relies greatly on.

The move from playing into coaching seemed like the natural thing to do for Metgod.

"When you have been involved in football your whole life and it's the only thing you know how to do, it is very hard to think about doing anything else," he said.

"I wanted to give all my experience to younger players who have their whole career ahead of them. I just wanted to influence them in a certain way that would help them become better players."

It's that influence that Portsmouth will now be relying upon.