New controversy around Dick Advocaat?: ‘I find it a corrupting attitude’

In the past week, a lot has been said about the fact that former PSV coach Dick Advocaat decided to return as head coach of Curaçao at the expense of another former PSV coach, Fred Rutten. Even on the popular show Vandaag Inside, the soap opera surrounding the island’s head coach position has come up a few times already.

Johan Derksen let it be known on Tuesday that he was not charmed by the way Advocaat returned. ''Advocaat has let that team down twice. The urgency was always attributed to serious family circumstances. I have heard from well-informed sources that it was not really that much. It had more to do with homesickness than with sad family circumstances. And once he has calmed down again, he wants to go along and will start at home trying to influence people. Public opinion then swings and they go and chase Fred away. And Dick doesn’t want to give any explanation or clarification about it. I think he has behaved scandalously!'', said Derksen Tuesday evening in Vandaag Inside from Curaçao.

After the broadcast, Dick Advocaat then called the presenter Wilfred Genee and Genee returned to that call with the former PSV coach on Wednesday evening. ''I had Dick Advocaat on the line and he also wasn't too happy with yesterday (Tuesday)'', the presenter notes during the Wednesday evening broadcast, to which De Snor responds: ''I don't care about that.''

After that, Genee goes into the fact that his colleague said that the situation with Advocaat's daughter was not too bad. ''That remark about his daughter didn't go over well. And I can well understand that'', says Genee.

After that, Derksen keeps insisting that it had more to do with homesickness than family circumstances. ''The second time there were medical problems with his daughter, and they were serious. The first time they weren't. He wasn't doing well then; he had homesickness. He told us that in our show, that Viola Holt had died. His wife wasn't feeling entirely well at the time. He said he suffered a lot from it and that he went back'', according to the bearded analyst.

Where Derksen clearly attacks Advocaat, the born Hagenaar is protected by Genee. ''But the other time: he said, the doctor told me that it’s going to take a very long time and that it can’t be combined with Curaçao. You can’t say that he ran away from that'', says the born Frisian.

Yet Derksen remains steadfast in his opinion. ''I'm talking about the first time. The second time there was indeed a reason to leave. If he then leaves twice and someone resolves their problems in order to step in, then you shouldn't come back in through the back door. Then he should have said no'', to which Genee replies: ''At the moment when Fred Rutten himself decided to leave.''

After that, De Snor once again brings up the role they played in Rutten’s departure. ''Do you find it strange after all that publicity? We were at the front, right—what a big mistake it was for us. Yesterday I talked at length with the boss of Corendon and he says it doesn’t deserve a beauty award, but it couldn’t be any other way in the interest of Curaçao. The population and the players wanted it. When Dick was back on board, the shirts flew out the door. The football association needs the money. If Dick is such a big guy: then he should have said at that press conference: 'yes guys, it all went a bit chaotic and it’s extremely crappy for Fred Rutten, who is actually the one who’s paying the price''', according to Derksen.

After that, Genee takes it up once again for the 78-year-old coach. "He also said to me: Fred chose to leave in the end, and then I decided to do it for real," the presenter said.

Yet Derksen is not having it. ''I find you the lawyer of Advocaat. I don't think that's your job. You won't fool me, and I won't take back a word of what I said yesterday. I think it's a ruinous attitude on Advocaat's part. He has damaged a colleague. The problems Fred Rutten has resolved, and through the back door they end up with Advocaat again,'' concludes the bearded analyst.