Friday 26 June 2015 06:38, UK
After a health scare in August, Dutch legend Marco van Basten took the unusual decision to step down as AZ head coach to become the club’s assistant manager. Adam Bate caught up with the three-time Ballon d’Or winner to find out about that decision and more...
They say management is a drug. Those who have it taken from them will talk of ‘taking time out’ and spending it with the family but they soon end up doing it again. Perhaps it’s the pursuit of power. The manager who wants a better job. The assistant who wants to be a manager. The pundit on the television who is just looking for a route back into the game. One last job.
In this environment, it takes a strong man to reveal his vulnerability. But that’s precisely what one of the game’s greats did last autumn. Marco van Basten had been entrusted with the role of head coach at AZ before stress-related issues forced him to re-evaluate. It was Van Basten himself who suggested he take the No 2 role there instead.
I’m more worthwhile to the club now than when I was the first-team coach. I love working with the players. Getting them together and talking about situations.
Talking to Van Basten this summer, he’s frank about the situation and clearly enjoying his new position at the club. At 50 years old, there are no regrets. “It’s not easy being the first man as a trainer,” Van Basten told Sky Sports. “Now I’m the second man I feel much more comfortable. It’s easier and I prefer it.
“I feel more comfortable in the situation I am in now. I feel I have much more freedom as I have a different responsibility. I’m more worthwhile to the club now than when I was the first-team coach. I love working with the players. Getting them together and talking about situations. That is what I like.”
Passion for coaching
Van Basten’s enduring passion for coaching is obvious. It’s particularly telling that he talks of being able to do more of it now that he’s no longer in charge. It’s reminiscent of the old line from the late Labour MP Tony Benn about quitting the House of Commons so that he could concentrate on politics.
While Benn’s words were part witty aside, part acidic barb, Van Basten almost surprises himself with the irony of the situation. “There is a lot of pressure on the coach that’s for sure,” he agrees. “Twenty-five years ago they seemed to talk a lot more about the players than they did about the coaches. That seems to have changed a little bit.”
Twenty-five years ago Van Basten was on top of the footballing world. A back-to-back winner of the European Cup with AC Milan - he still describes himself as “half Italian” - it’s an achievement no team have matched in the quarter of a century since. The complete forward, he was the star man. A third Ballon d’Or award in 1992 equalled the record of Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini.
But the following year, in the rebranded Champions League final, he played his final game as a professional, aged 28. Some put his career-ending ankle problems down to Italian defenders, but Van Basten disagrees. “I didn’t have a problem with the defenders. I had a problem with the doctors. Once they started operating on me, I never came back.” He’s more deadpan than bitter.
Despite the disappointments, he’s left more memories than most. And yet, there’s little desire to dwell on them. The famous volley in the Euro ‘88 final, often repeated never replicated, won Holland their first and only major tournament. But Van Basten appears content to shrug it off. “It’s a long time ago,” he says. “You need some luck also. Sometimes these things just happen.”
There has long been a theory that great players don’t become great managers and it’s apparent that Van Basten is a man who feels he has nothing to prove. Contrast that with the unflinching drive of compatriot Louis van Gaal, a 63-year-old who is, by some accounts, still striving to make amends for an unfulfilled playing career. It can lead to conflict.
One can only imagine Van Gaal’s fury when Zlatan Ibrahimovic once challenged the then Ajax technical director with a withering put down after being given different advice by Van Basten, the Swede’s childhood idol. “I don’t know who I should listen to,” said Ibrahimovic. “Van Basten - who’s a legend - or Van Gaal.” All men are not born equal.
Perhaps Van Basten does not have the temperament to be a great manager but that doesn’t mean he’s not a great mind. He thinks about the game and few have more experiences upon which to draw. It’s easy to appreciate why Ibrahimovic was impressed. “I have worked with Johan Cruyff, with Rinus Michels, with Arrigo Sacchi and with Fabio Capello,” said Van Basten.
“Sacchi was a good coach. He wanted to play pressure football. The good thing was that he created a good group with lots of discipline. Working together was the key. You had to do your work to help the team and that was all important. Michels was more of a general. He would organise situations well but he wasn’t that dominant.
“I think the person I learnt the most from as a coach was Cruyff because he was always talking about tactics – how to play, where to play and when to play. I think that helps a lot of young players, which is good. He was the most important trainer for me. Of course, I’ve seen a lot of great trainers. But you have to do it your own way.”
Van Basten has not been afraid to do that as coach. Upon taking charge of the national team in 2004, he axed the likes of Edgar Davids, Patrick Kluivert and Clarence Seedorf in favour of young and inexperienced players. At the time it was seen as a curious move, but as Van Basten has shown in his subsequent roles at Ajax, Heerenveen and AZ, first and foremost, he’s a teacher.
I think the person I learnt the most from as a coach was Cruyff because he was always talking about tactics – how to play, where to play and when to play.
“The difficulty in Holland is that every year you have to start with a new group because every year 40 per cent of the players who you work with are already sold, gone or in another situation,” he explains. “You are beginning the season starting from zero again. That’s difficult because it’s difficult to build. The first part of working with a team costs you the most energy.
“Maybe that helps Dutch coaches and players because they have lots of experience in knowing what is required on the field. There are lots of technical conversations. Once you’ve worked with a player for a year, things are easier. You don’t have to talk as much as during the first year. If you have to do a lot of these things starting from zero perhaps that makes you a better trainer.”
Improving players
AZ could be the club that feels the benefit of that. Untroubled by the peripheral stuff, Van Basten can concentrate on improving players. It’s the reason why we’re unlikely to see him in England. Despite his urge to work with the most talented players - he’s on record as saying he could help Mario Balotelli - the intensity of the Premier League could well keep him away.
“I don’t know because I’m happy at the moment,” he says when specifically asked whether he would consider a coaching role in England. “On one side it’s nice to work with the big players because I’m used to working at the highest level. But on the other side, working with the big players also brings the highest pressure and that causes problems.”
There are always the meetings with Ronald Koeman, on family holidays or on the golf course, when he can hear about his old friend’s adventures, achievements, stresses and strains at the sharp end. But for now, the great Dutch striker is happy away from the spotlight. Marco van Basten. Proof positive that not everyone in football is pursuing power and glory at all costs.
