KOEMAN
First comes an apology. Ronald Koeman has arrived on time
for our early evening meeting but explains he is not yet ready to talk.
It has been a hectic day at Finch
Farm, Everton’s training base, and, at 5pm, Koeman is still in his dark blue
training kit.
We should be sitting down to talk
now, but the Dutchman wants to delay things by a further 20 minutes so he can
freshen up.
Already this feels different.
Koeman’s weekly press briefings are usually short and he gives the impression
of wanting to be out of the room as quickly as possible but, this time, it is
clear he is ready and willing to talk.
And that is what he does when he
returns. The primary reason for this interview is because Koeman is fronting an
anti-smoking campaign but no subject is off limits — not even the topic that
has already had Evertonians whisper and speculating: is this job just a
stepping stone?
This is the theory. Koeman raises
his stock by getting Everton back into Europe and, on the back of two
impressive seasons at Southampton, Barcelona become interested.
RONALD KOEMAN'S
MANAGERIAL CV
2000-01: Vitesse
2001-05: Ajax
2005-06: Benfica
2006-07: PSV
2007-2008: Valencia
2009: AZ
2011-14: Feyenoord
2014-16: Southampton
2016-: Everton
Given he scored the goal that
clinched their first European Cup at Wembley in 1992, Koeman drops Everton in a
flash.
‘No!’ Koeman says firmly, his brow
furrowing and head shaking. ‘No, no, no, no. No. I don’t think so. No. One
time, when I went to Valencia. They always speak about Koeman and Barcelona.
Everyone knows I have a relationship with Barcelona. Everyone says: “One day
Koeman will be the coach in Barcelona”.
‘I had a little bit in my mind that
when I went to Valencia (in November 2007), it was maybe a good step to do the
next step to Barcelona.
'But now I’m more experienced. You
cannot plan what is going to happen. You cannot plan your life. In life
everything is possible. In football everything is possible.
‘You can’t say “I go
to Everton, in one or two years, I go to Barcelona.” No, no, no. Why? Maybe
Everton will be bigger than it now is. Maybe Luis Enrique is doing fantastic
for the next three years and they don’t need a coach. No! The best thing is to
believe in the project: how Everton is.
‘It is not the final moment in this
project. Of course not. I signed for three years. I don’t think I signed for
three years and will be out after one year. No!
‘I signed a three-year contract at
Southampton. I left after two. Why? They didn’t accept (me going into the) last
year of contract.
‘They said “No, no — we need to know
what the future in this club is with the manager.” I said “I don’t know.” You
know football? Maybe today the sun shines, maybe tomorrow it rains. I’m in love
with Barcelona, life there is fantastic. It was my best period playing. But
Everton? I’m happy here.’
He looks it. These are still early days in his reign and
there have been teething problems, like missing out on players such as Moussa
Sissoko and Lucas Perez and suffering defeats to Chelsea (5-0) and Burnley
(2-1) that have made Koeman, by his own admission, 'not a nice man to be with
on Saturday night'.
Yet Koeman has made an impression.
He has raised standards around the club, imposing rule changes like the working
day beginning for players at 9am not 10am. But he’s also raised eyebrows with
some frank assessments, like his assertion that bitter rivals Liverpool can win
the league.
There was also a declaration that
star striker Romelu Lukaku needs to one day join a bigger club to fulfil his
potential, but he is not afraid to say things how he sees them. It is why
Farhad Moshiri,
Everton’s majority stakeholder, described him as ‘ruthless’.
‘Nah! That’s not
true,’ Koeman says with a telling smile. ‘Ruthless? Maybe in some decisions.
‘Sometimes it is difficult for me.
The nicest message you can give to a young player is “you will make your debut
on Saturday”. But also you need to make difficult decisions. It’s part of the
job.
‘If there is a press conference, of
course I will know some likely questions but I don’t spend all morning
preparing for it. I am myself. I try to be honest, I try to give messages that
are good for the club but of course I have a soft side.’
When he first set out as a manager,
at Vitesse Arnhem in 2000, Koeman — who as a central defender scored a scarcely
believable 253 goals in his glorious 17-year career — admits it was a struggle
to work with players who didn’t remotely have his ability.
‘I would ask myself: “how is that
possible? How do they not see the pass?” says Koeman, who took the plunge to go
on his own after working as Louis van Gaal’s assistant at the Nou Camp. ‘In the
beginning I had problems.’
The problems, though, are more
easily put into perspective these days. Valencia taught him just how capricious
football can be — he was in charge at the Mestalla for 168 days in the 2007-08
season: 'It was short, like (Gary) Neville!' — but it was an issue closer to home
that really changed things. Not long after he was sacked, his wife and
soul-mate Bartina was diagnosed with breast cancer. He had 18 months out of
football, to look after her and their three children, Tim, Debbie and Ronald
Junior, who is now a goalkeeper in the Dutch second division with Oss.
‘She had two years of treatment and
that was not nice, but it was good to be out of football because every day I
was at home,’ says Koeman.
‘Everything is OK now, there is not
any problem any more, but it was a hard time. At that time, football was not
the main thing.
‘It was not the most important thing
in life. She was a smoker.
‘She stopped after that. Johan
Cruyff had a heart attack. He stopped after that and started on Chupa Chups
(lollipops)! That is another reason for the campaign — Cruyff and my wife — but
everyone knows it is bad to smoke.
‘If I can help and support the campaign
then we will do it.
‘One time at school (making inhaling
sound) I did not feel well after that! Of course I was crazy about football,
football was everything, and I knew I couldn’t smoke. Cruyff used to smoke at
half-time! The two don’t go.
‘The moment you get
the sack is not nice, it is difficult, but you learn from positive experiences
and you learn from negative experiences.
‘Finally it’s not a problem. It is
part of the job. Everyone knows this is the business of football. It is harder
than 30 years ago. But if you don’t like it, don’t do it.’
And Koeman loves it. He expected to
enter retirement at 50, to indulge his passion for travelling and playing golf
and enjoying good red wine, but here he is today, working to restore the sheen
to one of England’s sleeping giants.
‘Sometimes it is difficult,’ says
Koeman.
‘My children are living in Holland.
My wife is travelling between here and Holland (to run the family cosmetic
company). The children are older. 21, 28 and 30 in January. That’s not a
problem. But you miss things.
‘If your child is not happy or they
have a problem, there is distance.
‘OK, it is one hour by a flight but
it is not the same. You have to sit on the side and it’s difficult. You think:
“Is that what I really want?” But then there is football. I’m still crazy about
football. And in life, you need a challenge.’
And there are challenges at Goodison
Park, one of which revolves around Ross Barkley. After another omission from
the England squad — his third in a row — the gifted midfielder finds himself in
a fight to show his potential.
Koeman has not indulged Barkley
since he arrived in June, dropping him for a game at Manchester City, dragging
him off at half-time in another match at Sunderland.
He has been bemused by the constant
questioning of how he has handled the 22-year-old — but the topic must be asked
again.
‘OK,’ Koeman replies. ‘You can give
the answer if I ask you. Tell me about Ross Barkley.’
It is put to Koeman that Barkley at
times has looked like his confidence has been hurt and that the weight of
expectation has hung heavily. Koeman considers this, agrees in part and then
airs his view.
As has been the case through the last 30 minutes, he is
forthright and honest.
‘I understand it is difficult,’ he
says. ‘I understand the expectation. He is a boy from the club. Of course he is
someone I can see improve. I am really involved in his process. Of
course.
'But, finally, it is up to the
player. We can support, we can help, we can show clips. But…. finally? It is
the player.’
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