Dick Advocaat appointed head coach
Dick Advocaat has been named Feyenoord’s new head coach with immediate effect. The former Netherlands national coach, who has been an advisor to the Feyenoord coaching staff in the past, agreed a deal until the end of the season. The club has also made sweeping changes among the technical staff, with Jean-Paul van Gastel, Roy Makaay and Denny Landzaat all leaving immediately. Advocaat’s assistant coaches will be Said Bakkati, Cor Pot and John de Wolf.
The experienced Advocaat’s career as a coach already includes some glittering highs. As a club coach he has won four national championships, as well as a UEFA Cup and a Super Cup with FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. Most recently, he worked for FC Utrecht, but he has also coached Fenerbahçe, PSV, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, AZ, Glasgow Rangers and Sparta Rotterdam to name but some. On the international scene, Advocaat has led various nations at two World Cups and two European Championships. Feyenoord and Advocaat have crossed paths in the past, too. Advocaat was advisor to head coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst from February to May 2016.
New assistant coach Cor Pot worked with Advocaat at FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, Fenerbahçe SK and Sparta Rotterdam. The club’s management has also added John de Wolf to the technical staff, to ensure that Advocaat’s entourage includes someone with deep Feyenoord roots.
‘If I can help the club, I’m happy to do so,’ said Advocaat on Wednesday. ‘As I did for a short while in 2016 by advising Giovanni van Bronckhorst when things were going less well then too. I am looking forward to meeting the squad tomorrow and getting on the pitch with them.’
‘After the departure of Jaap Stam, we had to act fast,’ said technical director Sjaak Troost. ‘When a coach with the huge record of Dick Advocaat is available and ready to help the club this season, the club management doesn’t need to think it over for too long, of course. With his experience, authority and passion, and with a largely new team of assistants, we are confident that we will find a way upwards.’
‘Departing assistants owed great thanks’
Sjaak Troost stressed that the departure of Van Gastel, Makaay and Landzaat does not mean that the club blames them for the current difficult period. ‘The club management is taking this step – which I clearly understand is very unpleasant and unexpected for them – purely based on the conviction that the first-team squad needs a new impetus. With the departure of Jaap Stam, it was time to change the staff in several positions. And I explicitly say that this has nothing to do with their individual qualities and the trio’s efforts.’
‘Feyenoord thanks Denny Landzaat for the past one and a half years,’ continued Troost. ‘We certainly owe Jean-Paul van Gastel and Roy Makaay a huge debt of gratitude for their many years of dedication to the club, as players and as members of the technical staff.’
New assistant coach Cor Pot worked with Advocaat at FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, Fenerbahçe SK and Sparta Rotterdam. The club’s management has also added John de Wolf to the technical staff, to ensure that Advocaat’s entourage includes someone with deep Feyenoord roots.
‘If I can help the club, I’m happy to do so,’ said Advocaat on Wednesday. ‘As I did for a short while in 2016 by advising Giovanni van Bronckhorst when things were going less well then too. I am looking forward to meeting the squad tomorrow and getting on the pitch with them.’
‘After the departure of Jaap Stam, we had to act fast,’ said technical director Sjaak Troost. ‘When a coach with the huge record of Dick Advocaat is available and ready to help the club this season, the club management doesn’t need to think it over for too long, of course. With his experience, authority and passion, and with a largely new team of assistants, we are confident that we will find a way upwards.’
‘Departing assistants owed great thanks’
Sjaak Troost stressed that the departure of Van Gastel, Makaay and Landzaat does not mean that the club blames them for the current difficult period. ‘The club management is taking this step – which I clearly understand is very unpleasant and unexpected for them – purely based on the conviction that the first-team squad needs a new impetus. With the departure of Jaap Stam, it was time to change the staff in several positions. And I explicitly say that this has nothing to do with their individual qualities and the trio’s efforts.’
‘Feyenoord thanks Denny Landzaat for the past one and a half years,’ continued Troost. ‘We certainly owe Jean-Paul van Gastel and Roy Makaay a huge debt of gratitude for their many years of dedication to the club, as players and as members of the technical staff.’