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“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects”
Thursday 19th July 2001:
I adjusted my tie and quickly checked my appearance in the reflection of a glass door in the hallway. Everything looked fine from the outside and hopefully no-one would be able to sense the mass of butterflies that seemed to be churning in my stomach. The three men ahead of me had been through this before and they were much calmer about the upcoming proceedings. I followed Herman Wessels, Freek van Beusekom and Theo Vonk down the corridor and through the door at the end. The room on the other side was brightly light – so bright in fact that I momentarily stopped and put my hand up to my eyes whilst they adjusted to the light. I watched where the other three men walked and saw that there was a long table with four chairs along one side. They faced out onto a crowd of about twenty-five people. The brightness came from half a dozen spotlights mounted on television cameras. I took a deep breath, then swallowed and walked over to my allocated seat at the long table. It was time for my first press conference.
The three gentlemen that I was accompanying sat either side of me. On my left was Freek van Beusekom – Managing Director. On my right was Herman Wessels – Chairman and to his right was Theo Vonk – Director of Football. Each had a small sign in front of him announcing his name and position. I too had a small sign in front of me. Herman Wessels cleared his throat and looked out at the members of the media assembled in front of him.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for your attendance. We are here today to make an announcement regarding the manager’s position – a post that has had many people in discussion over the past three weeks since the departure of Rini Coolen and his team. We are pleased to announce that the board and senior leadership have made a selection and it is one that we are all unanimous upon. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with the new manager of FC Twente Enschede, Peter Buissink.
Herman rose to his feet and held out his hand to me. I also stood and took his hand, giving it a firm shake. Cameras clicked and flashed as the photographers got their shots of the welcoming moment. We kept the pose for around five seconds and then we both sat down together. Herman then picked up a piece of paper and again looked out upon the crowd.
As you all know, Peter Buissink is one of the Holland’s brightest managerial prospects. His playing career began right here at FC Twente where he played 66 games for the club over two seasons. We were unfortunately not able to hold onto a player of his talent and he moved on to PSV Eindhoven where he played 112 games over three seasons. In that time he won the first of his 58 international caps for Holland. A big money move to England followed that and he spent the next eight seasons at Chelsea where he appeared 422 times and won most of England and Europe’s footballing honours. Of course two years ago he returned to Holland as player-manager of First Division FC Eindhoven and he completed his playing career with 72 appearances for that club. During those two seasons he consolidated the club in Division One and then had the heartbreak of seeing them lose out on promotion in last season’s play-offs. With Peter’s decision to retire from playing, we felt that he was now in a position to turn his talents to a club in the Premier Division. I am pleased to say that we beat off several clubs in obtaining Peter’s services and we have confirmed a four-year contract with him as a sign of our confidence in his abilities. So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado I’ll throw the microphone over to Peter and let you ask him about his thoughts on his new position and our prospects for the upcoming season.
I took the microphone from Herman and looked out upon the faces of the media. Already there were several hands raised to ask me my first question. Time to get on with my new job then, I thought. I pointed to a reporter in the front row and prepared myself for the interrogation that I knew was going to follow.
01-14-2005, 04:23 AM
“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects” Post #2
The city of Enschede is located in the east of Holland, just 5 kilometres from the border with Germany and 130 kilometres east of the main city of Amsterdam.
FC Twente’s home ground is the Arke Stadion, a 13,500 all-seater stadium.
FC Twente came into existence on 14th April 1965 with the merger of Sportclub Enschede and its local rivals Enschedese Boys. As Sportclub Enschede they had won the old Dutch championship way back in 1926. Most of FC Twente’s honours have come back in the 1970’s when their star was much brighter in Dutch football. Their best finish in the Premier Division was achieved in 1973/74 where they were runners-up to that year’s champions Feyenoord. Indeed they only lost the title on the final day of the season when the two teams met each other for the right to claim the title. A 3-2 victory to Feyenoord in Rotterdam meant that FC Twente had to settle for the runners-up position. That runners-up placing saw the club contest the UEFA Cup in 1975 and they reached the final after a superb two-legged victory over Italy’s Juventus. Their opponents in the Final were Germany’s Borussia Monchengladbach and the first leg finished 0-0 in Germany. However FC Twente choked in the home leg, losing 5-1 and only receiving loser’s medals for all their efforts.
The club has won the Dutch Cup twice, firstly in 1977 when they defeated Zwolle in the final and secondly in 2001 when they beat PSV 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw. They also had two losing final finishes with losses to Den Haag in 1975 and Ajax in 1979. Relegation from the Premier League occurred in 1982 and was followed by a season in the First Division in 1982/83. A runners-up place saw FC Twente return to the Premier Division for the 1983/84 season – a place which they have held until this very day.
For all Dutch readers or those with greater knowledge of Dutch football than myself, feel free to point out any errors or misconceptions that I make. However please remember I am sitting here in Australia and I only have a day-trip to Amsterdam way back in 1986 with which to remember your lovely country.
Save game information: CM01/02 3.9.68 with latest Sawczuk update and the major leagues of Holland, England, Scotland, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain all running.
01-14-2005, 07:24 AM
“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects” Post #3
flipsix3 - Well spotted. It was, of course, part of my 3 month backpacking trip around Europe in 1986. I was running out of time near the end and had to rush through Holland on my way back to England.
Raptor - If I hadn't done my research on FC Twente, I'd think you might have been swearing at me in Dutch. De Tukkers are the FC Twente fans, so I am lead to believe.
01-14-2005, 12:16 PM
“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects” Post #6
The office staff were obviously very efficient here at the Arke Stadion. I reached the door to my office and a new sign saying “Peter Buissink – Manager” was already in place. I smiled, thinking how the person that made name plates for the doors of football managers must be someone who is in constant demand. I went through my newly updated door and took a seat at the desk. Already the secretary had placed the information that I had requested yesterday onto my desk. The first and most important piece of paper listed the players that I had at my disposal for the upcoming season. I ran my eye down the list, taking in the established players that I already knew of and trying to recall some of the lesser-known names that I came to.
Daniel Majstorovic (Sweden) 27 SW/D C
Karim Touzani (Holland) 23 D C
Jordy Koster (Holland) 19 D C
Ramon Zomer (Holland) 20 D C
Timothy Kok (Holland) 19 D RC
Resit Schuurman (Holland) 25 D/DM R
Rahim (Burkina Faso 10 caps/1 goal) D/DM R/L
Jeroen Heubach (Holland) 29 D L
Midfielders:
Bas Sibum (Holland) 21 M C
Niels Wellenberg (Holland) 21 M C
Johan Plageman (Holland) 20 M C
Peter Niemeyer (Germany) 21 M RC
Goncalves (Germany) 21 M LC
Karim El Ahmadi (Holland) 18 M RL
Dmitri Shoukov (Russia) 28 M L
Simon Cziommer (Germany) 24 AM C
Elbekay Bouchiba (Holland) 25 AM R/L
Raymond Fafiani (Holland) 21 AM L
Jeffrey de Visscher (Holland) 23 AM/F R (On loan at Heracles)
Forwards:
Jason Culina (Australia 1 cap) 23 F RC
Tim Velten (Holland) 18 F RC
Guilherme Afonso (Switzerland) 19 S C
Kim Christensen (Denmark) 24 S C
Blaise N’Kufo (Switzerland 7 caps/2 goals) S C
Apart from a couple of key players I had inherited a fairly young team. There didn’t appear to be any need to worry about immediately replacing an aging first team regular, although I wasn’t convinced that I had a squad of great depth with which to do my job. The most obvious shortfall in the playing staff appeared to be the lack of a quality forward to work with N’Kufo and Afonso or to play if one of those two were injured.
In respect of the above, I already had a lead. A contact who’d kept an eye on some young talent in Italy for me over the previous two seasons (when I’d been in charge of FC Eindhoven) had phoned me just two days ago. I’d been right in the middle of my contract negotiations with Herman Wessels at the time but I was confident that I would get the job, so I asked my contact to go ahead and make some enquiries. The player I had in mind was the 21 year old Colombian forward Johnnier Montano. He’d arrived in Italy from Argentina’s Quilmes with a big reputation, but his time at Parma had not gone according to plan. The Serie A club was prepared to cut their losses and release him and I felt that he could be a major asset to a Dutch club where he wouldn’t be under as much pressure as he had been in Italy. I’d call my contact in Italy shortly and see how he had got on chasing down Montano’s agent.
The other major shortfall that I had was that of an assistant manager. I’d already got approval from Herman Wessels to make a selection of my own choice and I already knew who I wanted for the position. Jeffrey Kooistra was a former player who’d gone into coaching in his late 20‘s when injury had prematurely ended his career. He coached under me in my first season at FC Eindhoven and his skills had been invaluable in getting me started on the right foot in my first managerial position. At the start of my second year he’d been tempted down to the amateur leagues with the offer of his first managerial role. I had kept in touch with him and I knew that things had gone sour at the end of last season and he had been forced out despite taking his club to a mid-table finish. It had been three weeks since I had last spoken to Jeffrey and I hoped that he hadn’t made any new commitments in the meantime. I picked up the phone and I dialled Jeffrey’s mobile phone number.
01-14-2005, 12:23 PM
“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects” Post #7
I sat back into my favourite armchair and took a mouthful of the cup of coffee I’d just made. It was still a little bit too hot, so I laid it to the side and picked up the list of transfer targets that I was pursuing instead. Theo Vonk and I had been making calls left, right and centre trying to track down the availability of the players that I always kept in my up-to-date shortlist. I’d made Johnnier Montano my number one target, but there were over a dozen other players that I was keen on making offers to.
Marc Geerts (Holland) 21 SW/D/DM C John Barclay (Scotland) 20 D RC Roeland Geraerts (Belgium) 21 D C Kenny Tawse (Scotland) 18 D LC
David Bell (Ireland) 19 M L Greg Sharland (Australia) 21 M L Darren Martin (Scotland) 19 AM R Massimilliano Nerattini (Italy) 21 M LC Danny Szetala (American/Polish) 17 AM C
Johnnier Montano (Colombia) 21 FC Marco Arena (Italy) 20 S C Joseph Cole (Nigeria) 19 S C Vincenzo Folino (Italy) 21 S C Anders Mathisen (Norway) 21 S C
Hopefully I’d have some responses tomorrow, although I’d have to let Theo field the calls as I was heading off to Scotland. That was another piece of previous manager’s workmanship that I had inherited – a half arranged tour of Scotland. Premier Division side Livingston were locked into a friendly with us on Tuesday, but the proposals to play Second Division side Stranraer and First Division side Queen of the South had fallen through when Rini Coolen had left. I’d decided to go with the Livingston match as we needed the game and the fact that we were travelling so early in my managership would challenge some of the players. I was keen to see who took to the challenge and who sat back and went along for the ride.
My coffee had cooled enough for me to drink it now. I picked it up and sipped it as I went through the fixture list for the upcoming season. After the Livingston friendly we had three qualifying group matches in the Amstel Cup. They would follow on immediately after the team’s return from Scotland. Sandwiched in between the second and third matches was the opening Premier Division match of the season – a tricky away fixture against de Graafschap. That was the first of thirty-four league matches that FC Twente would contest over the 2001/02 season. I didn’t fancy looking too far ahead. I’m sure that the games would be upon us quicker than I’d like, but in the style of the true managerial cliché we’d take them on day at a time.
Monday 23rd July 2001:
We’d arrived in Scotland without any hassle and made our way to our accommodation. After a short break the entire group made its way down to Livingston’s youth training ground where we were allotted some time for training. Whilst the first team coaches Eddy Pasveer, Erik ten Hag and Johan Inia took the players for a skills session, I caught up with Theo Vonk by phone and found out about the progress on our proposed transfer targets.
The best news was that Johnnier Montano and his agent had appeared very receptive to the offer that we’d made. Montano would arrive in Enschede on Wednesday afternoon and we would give him a brief trial and a medical on Thursday. Marc Geerts and Greg Sharland had also welcomed our overtures and they would both be arriving on Wednesday as well. Most of the other players that we had contacted were already being wooed by other clubs and their representatives wouldn’t make any commitments until those offers had been fielded.
Danny Szetala, the young American of Polish birth, was another player that was showing some interest in our offer. However the word was out that several of the big English and Scottish clubs were chasing him. With Bolton, Leeds, Millwall, Portsmouth, Rangers and Kilmarnock all in the frame I figured that he wasn’t going to make our offer his highest prospect. As a result I told Theo to tell his agent to call us if he wanted to talk seriously, but otherwise we wouldn’t chase Szetala any further.
01-14-2005, 12:25 PM
“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects” Post #8
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Spav:
_flipsix3_ - Well spotted. It was, of course, part of my 3 month backpacking trip around Europe in 1986. I was running out of time near the end and had to rush through Holland on my way back to England.
_Raptor_ - If I hadn't done my research on FC Twente, I'd think you might have been swearing at me in Dutch. _De Tukkers_ are the FC Twente fans, so I am lead to believe. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Tukkers are people from Twente (which is the easternmost part of the province of Overijssel). They don't get along too well with Groningen fans
Singing die die Tukker Tukker die :cool:
01-14-2005, 05:16 PM
“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects” Post #9
“He’s one of Holland’s brightest managerial prospects” 
It was, of course, part of my 3 month backpacking trip around Europe in 1986. I was running out of time near the end and had to rush through Holland on my way back to England.
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