ark Van Bommel seemed to have
a bright future as coach of PSV,
the club he served so successfully
as a player. And who knows what
might have been? But after a year
and a half in Eindhoven his career
ran ashore as he was sacked unceremoniously.
The Eindhoven club isn’t known as a coaches’
graveyard, with the last boss to get his marching
orders being Fred Rutten in 2012. However, general
director Toon Gerbrands eventually felt he had no
other option, explaining: “The decline is too large
and unworthy of PSV.”
When Van Bommel was sacked PSV had won
only two of their previous 12 games in all competitions
and had slumped to fourth place in the Eredivisie, 10
points adrift of leaders AZ and Ajax. The Eindhoven
side had also been eliminated in the Champions
League qualifiers and then knocked out of the
Europa League following heavy defeats against
LASK and Sporting.
The axe finally fell after a 3-1 defeat at Feyenoord,
who had themselves just replaced Jaap Stam with
Dick Advocaat. Yet it had all started so well for Van
Bommel in the summer of 2018.
Despite lacking any coaching experience at senior
level PSV opted to promote him from the youth
section with the idea that he could walk the same
path as his predecessor Phillip Cocu, who as a
rookie coach served for six years and won three
championships and one national cup. And was there
a better candidate than the former PSV captain whowon four titles and the cup in nearly 200 matches?
A super-charged start saw PSV win 16 of their
first 17 league games last season, a run that put them
in pole position at the winter break. The joy, however,
didn’t last long. Their lead faded and Van Bommel
made crucial mistakes – such as continuing with
three defensive midfielders against an Ajax side who
had been reduced to 10 men. A 3-1 defeat in that
game meant their championship hopes were over.
On top of that, Van Bommel also had a difficult
relationship with his side’s star forward, Hirving
Lozano. However, with the Mexican departing for
Napoli last summer, Van Bommel could look forward
to a fresh start in 2019-20.
But the club made some awful mistakes in
the transfer market, with defenders Toni Lato (on
loan from Valencia), Olivier Boscagli (Nice), Timo
Baumgartl and the returning Daniel Schwaab (bothafter the resignation of Gaetano
Micciche in November following an
investigation into his 2018 election.
Thursday January 9
ENGLAND: Tottenham Hotspur
say England captain Harry Kane is
unlikely to return to training until
April as the striker needs surgery
on a hamstring injury suffered
during Spurs’ loss at Southampton
on New Year’s Day.
HOLLAND: Sergino Dest, who
was born in Holland but has an
American father and has played
three times for the USA, leaves
Ajax’s winter training camp in Qatar
as he does not feel safe due to
the political tensions between
the United States and Iran. The
19-year-old defender’s decision
follows a similar move the previous
week by the USA national team,
who cancelled a trip to Qatar after
Iranian general Qasem Soleimani
was killed in a US air strike.
RUSSIA: Viktor Kassai of Hungary,
who was in charge of the 2011
Champions League Final when
Barcelona beat Manchester United
3-1, is to run the Russian Football
Union’s refereeing department
following a series of high-profile
disputes over the standard of
decision-making in the league.
Friday January 10
OLYMPICS: FIFA president
Gianni Infantino is elected to the
International Olympic Committee.
Saturday January 11
SPAIN: Malaga sack coach Victor
Sanchez four days after he was
suspended following the publication
of a video on social media.
Sunday January 12
ENGLAND: Sergio Aguero’s hat-
trick in Manchester City’s 6-1 win
at Aston Villa is a record 12th treble
in the Premier League for the
Argentinian and takes him to 177
goals in total, making him the
competition’s highest-scoring
overseas player.
Monday January 13
SPAIN: Barcelona sack a coach
in the middle of the season for the
first time since Louis Van Gaal in
2006, dismissing Ernesto Valverde
and replacing him with former Real
Betis boss Quique Setien, despite
being top of La Liga and having
won the title in his two previous
campaigns. Former Barca
midfielder Xavi had been tipped
to return and confirmed that he
had spoken to the club’s sporting
Van Bommel
pays price
at PSV
Coach sacked by underperformers
Argumentative
...Van Bommel’s
relationship with
referees did not
go down wellNew No1...
Lars Unnerstall“The decline is too large
and unworthy of PSV”
The club’s general director, Toon GerbrandsM
Holland