PSV signed Romario after lifting the
European Cup. Did you have to treat
him any differently to other players?
Lucas Santos, Streatham
Right after Romario had top-scored at
the 1988 Olympics, I went to Rio with
our general manager, Kees Ploegsma.
We were well prepared, as we knew
exactly when he’d land and waited for
him almost literally down the aircraft
stairs. We knew he wanted to move to
Europe, and also that Barcelona and
Real Madrid were keen. He decided to
join us, which I really appreciated.
He wasn’t a difficult guy, but at the
start of the second season he returned
late from holiday and I had to manage
that. I’d planned an intense schedule,
and after one session I spoke to the
whole squad. I said, “Guys, you worked
well today, so we’ll skip the afternoon
session... except you, Romario.” In the
end, we didn’t train – we just went for
a nice stroll in a nearby forest. [Laughs]
He was highly appreciated in the
squad because he was a pleasant guy,
but at some point I sensed that other
players – especially the midfielders –
weren’t overly happy with his lack of
defensive work. I spoke to him about it
and he asked me to organise a session
where he could show his defending.
I created a four-a-side game with him
as the last man, and he started putting
in tackles everywhere. Everyone was
flipping over! After a while he was like,
“Guys, you see how Romario defends.
Now Romario plays as a striker again...”
What went wrong at Fenerbahce?
Was that environment particularly
hard to manage in?
Craig Flower, Macclesfield
It wasn’t that easy, no. It was my first
managerial job abroad and Fenerbahce
are a massive club. I found the Turkish
football climate very challenging, with
a lot of external influences. The results
weren’t always good, and at one point
fans were coming onto the training
pitches with sticks. I wasn’t hurt, but it
was quite threatening. I remember the
players standing together in the centre
circle like bisons to protect themselves.
I had a two-year contract, but it had
a clause which allowed me to leave
if a big Italian or Spanish club came in
for me. That happened when Valencia
approached me.
What happened with Edgar Davids
[right] that meant you had to send
him home from Euro 96?
Matthew Theobald, via Twitter
For the first match against Scotland,
Danny Blind was suspended and I put
Davids in his position. So when Danny
came back for the Switzerland match,
I chose to leave Davids on the bench.
After the game he caused a media stir
when he said I was crawling up Blind’s
ass or something. I can handle those
things, and sometimes they get over-
published, but this continued to fester
and I sent him home.
But there was much more behind it
than that. Some of the Ajax lads had
frustrations about the financial system
at their club. Their wage and bonus
structure had three levels, depending
on your status and years in the first
team. I didn’t know about that, but it
exploded during that time and several
Ajax players moved on that summer.
In the media, stories started to appear
about the ‘cabal’ and a so-called racial
divide in the squad, but that wasn’t the
case at all.How did you feel about the famous
Euro 96 photograph of Dutch players
sat supposedly separated by race?
Oliver Youngman, Blyth
I was really upset about it. I can handle
criticism, but that picture just wasn’t
right. We had a lunch with the press
in attendance, and then that photo
was taken. There was one table with
supposedly only black players, but if
you look, you’ll see Richard Witschge
was there too. It was published by
a quality newspaper in Holland and
I let them know what I thought
about it. They rectified it in the end.
Everything fell into place at the
1998 World Cup. Our qualification
campaign started extremely
well, and at some point I got
a call from Davids’ agent,
saying he was open to
a comeback. I realised
that I could use him
well but it had to beon my terms. At first he wanted to play
only on the left and we couldn’t come
to an agreement, but when the World
Cup was looming and he had moved
to Juventus, I received another call
from his agent. This time I invited him
for a meeting in Amsterdam at 8.30am
on a Monday. I knew he had a match
in Italy on Sunday, so I could see how
keen he really was. At exactly 8.30am,
the buzzer went and there he was!
Once we sat down, I told him about
some rules I had implemented
after that chaotic Euro 96.
Edgar was like, “Yeah, that’s
cool, we do that at Juventus
as well.” In the last 16, Edgar
scored the winner against
Yugoslavia two minutes
into injury time. I still
have a picture of us
embracing after that
match, which I put
up in my hallway.What made you call out Real Madrid
for not being professional enough?
Graham Pidgeley, Shrewsbury
The start wasn’t too bad, as we won
the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo- a prestigious trophy at the time. But
almost every week, I’d go for a glass of
wine with the president, Lorenzo Sanz,
and as his son was in the squad, at
some point Sanz asked me about his
progress. I said Fernando was a great
guy but not yet in my starting line-up
because I had world-class defenders in
Fernando Hierro and Manolo Sanchis.
Sanz understood and reaffirmed that
I was the one who chose the team.
But he kept asking me about his son,
suggesting I could give him more
minutes. In one of those meetings, he
said we had to talk about the possible
extension of my contract, so it was
a hidden message: if I had given in,
I could have signed for another year or
two. But I didn’t want to do that, as it
YOU ASK
Clockwise from right
Pioneering Holland’s
European Cup-winning
trenchcoats; Begbie:
The Eredivisie Years; the
love between Guus and
South Korea is mutual;
just a normal day at
Fenerbahce (pitchforks
not pictured); Captain
Hiddink couldn’t steer
the Turks to glory in his
one season at the helm8 June 2022 FourFourTwo