GvB Interview in The Times

[Uilleam 5,948]

HENRY WINTER | GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST INTERVIEW

 

Giovanni van Bronckhorst: You have to be an obsessive as a manager, it is a sacrifice you need to make

Giovanni van Bronckhorst learned from the likes of Cruyff and Advocaat but he also brings a modern approach to life at Rangers as he prepares to start a new campaign

Henry Winter, Chief Football Writer

Saturday July 30 2022, 12.01am, The Times

 

Van Bronckhorst enjoys Scottish Cup success with Rangers in May

IAN MACNICOL/GETTY IMAGES

 

The long, distinguished list of managerial talent emanating from the Netherlands is remarkable, ranging from Rinus Michels to Johan Cruyff, from Leo Beenhakker, Dick Advocaat, Frank Rijkaard, Guus Hiddink and Louis van Gaal, from to Bert van Marwijk, Erik ten Hag and Gio van Bronckhorst. It’s particularly remarkable for a country of only 17 million people. “18m! 18m!” Van Bronckhorst immediately interrupts. “Close to 18m now! I saw it in the papers this week!”

It’s a very Dutch intervention, very direct and delivered with a smile as we talk on Friday afternoon. Van Bronckhorst has just finished preparing Rangers for the start of the Premiership season, away to Livingston at noon on Saturday. Earlier in the week, Van Bronckhorst held an open training session at Ibrox and 6,000 fans braved the squalls of rain. They want proximity to the players, to the club they love, but also a glimpse of Van Bronckhorst at work.

Against all odds, he guided Rangers to the Europa League final against Eintracht Frankfurt in May and, although they lost, 100,000 fans travelled. They believe in Van Bronckhorst, who played for them with distinction, and hit a few piledrivers from 1998 to 2001 having left Feyenoord, before heading on to Arsenal, where he won the title under Arsène Wenger, and then Barcelona, where he won the Champions League under Rijkaard (against Arsenal).

 

Van Bronckhorst celebrates scoring the opening goal during the 2010 FIFA World Cup semi-final match between Uruguay and Holland

LARS BARON/GETTY IMAGES

 

After a final hurrah at his beloved Feyenoord, and retiring following his 106th appearance for the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup final, Van Bronckhorst launched himself into coaching, first with Feyenoord, then with Guangzhou in China and last mid-season back at Ibrox when Steven Gerrard moved to Aston Villa. His team faded against Celtic in the league, but won the Scottish Cup and took over Seville.

 

So why do the Dutch make good coaches? Is it the country’s culture of studying and questioning? “We have our thoughts on football,” Van Bronckhorst replies, “and we have a rich history with not only the Dutch national side but also club wise. We are quite successful for such a small country. For myself, it’s the development from when I was young, first in the academy at Feyenoord, working with great coaches from the Netherlands. One of my coaches was Wim Jansen, a great coach and also a very important player in the 74 squad [of Michels] when Total Football began.

“From the age of eight, I was taught in that way of playing by Jansen. He was talking about [passing] triangles and making the pitch big when you have the ball and making it small when you’re chasing the ball.” It shaped his thinking. “When you develop in a certain way of playing that will always stay with you.”

As a player, Van Bronckhorst moved seamlessly through a range of positions in keeping with Total football. “Cruyff started it and also Feyenoord taught me,” he continues. “I started as a left midfielder in the academy and towards the end of my time in the academy I played also as a central defender, building from the back, and as a left winger.”

 

Van Bronckhorst, right, challenges Michael Owen during his playing days

DENIS DOYLE/GETTY IMAGES

 

That accelerated his understanding of the game. “I was exposed to all the different positions to ‘sense’ the position but also to learn about each position,” he reflects. “And now, it’s a very big part of our coaching: our set-up with and without the ball. That’s the influence I had as a boy and with all the coaches I had: Beenhakker, my coach at Feyenoord, Van Gaal, Van Marwijk, Rijkaard. I’ve had the privilege to work with great managers.”

 

Wenger looms large in his thinking and influences. “Well, he was the first coach I had who was not only specific about football but also the way you live, your rest and your food,” Van Bronckhorst explains. “Wenger was the first one I encountered with low fat food in the training ground at Colney. We couldn’t have fizzy drinks. We did yoga. He was the one with the total mindset to be football player.

“He was also the first talking about data, how many metres you’ve run, how many sprints you had. That opened my mind as a football player. Apart from, of course, Wenger’s technical and tactical knowledge what always stuck with me in the time I was at Arsenal was to invest in the hours when you’re not on the training ground.”

Wenger was, still is, obsessive about football. Van Bronckhorst understands. “Managers have to be ‘obsessive’ because it takes a lot of hours of the day being a manager. That’s a sacrifice you have to make. You can only do that when you have the passion for it and the support from home.’’

 

Van Bronckhorst says managers have to be obsessive due to the long hours

IAN MACNICOL/GETTY IMAGES

 

His background, reflecting his parents’ Indonesian roots, helps him move even more easily in the modern multi-cultural, multi-lingual dressing-rooms. “Yes, it’s important. The first time I had it was at Rangers where we had so many different players from different countries.” He thinks of the era of Lorenzo Amoruso, Claudio Reyna and Jorg Albertz, among others. “We had Italians, Americans, Dutch, German players. You always have differences in culture and habits but a big part of being successful as a team is you gel together really well and perform.”

That also occurred with Carles Puyol (Spain), Ronaldinho (Brazil), Deco (Portugal) and Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), among others, in that 2006 Champions League glory. “The coach I had at Barcelona with Rijkaard really understood the way of managing a [diverse] group like that.”

 

Dressing-rooms are even more polyglot now, demanding more from a manager. “With all the different cultures you have to have a different approach,” Van Bronckhorst says. “With players from Holland you can be quite direct. With players from South America you have to be careful in the way you approach them personally or in a group. Man-to-man management is getting more important now. I’m direct but I make sure the best way to approach a character.

“It’s also about changing generations [in society]. My eldest kid is 20 and 16 the youngest and there’s a difference in bringing up the kids now and what they have, with social media, with everything around them. It’s the same with young players in your team. Concentration levels are less than the older players. I make sure when I talk to them it’s quite short and quite direct. And if you see my squad now I have a 40-year-old [Allan McGregor] and I have an 18-year-old [centre-back Leon King], one or two generations between them so I also have to take that into account when I address those players.”

 

Van Bronckhorst was attracted to the values and culture at Rangers

IAN MACNICOL/GETTY IMAGES

 

As a manager, Van Bronckhorst draws on lessons absorbed from his parents. “I was brought up with these important values: the respect you show to other people and treat people the way you want to be treated. These are values I take into account bringing up my own children together with my wife. It’s also the way I act in the club. I’m very strict. I was brought up a very strict way. Also the Dutch way is very strict but you have to adjust to the culture you’re in. I learned that in China.

“But because I was at Rangers before, I knew the values and the culture, so I had a good feeling from the start. Rangers’ values are the same as I have. You see it everywhere from the players, the directors and the board — we want to keep our standards high and always respect other players, other teams with the same dignity as we treat ourselves.”

Living up to the standards of the past is vital. Van Bronckhorst’s players emerge from their Ibrox dressing room and funnel down a corridor full of pictures of club legends like Jim Baxter, John Greig, those who shaped Rangers. They then gather in a tunnel etched with images of the countless trophies won. “History is a very big part of this club,” Van Bronckhorst says. “We are celebrating 150 years of Rangers this year.

“I find the history inspirational because I like being around the old players of the club, the legends. John Greig is one of the legends — the legend — of the club. I love being with him because he tells so many stories of the past and that’s one of the things I love about this club, all the history, all the memories.

“The more I hear those memories, the more involved I feel. We had the 150 year anniversary on Wednesday in the Civic Hall and I met Walter Smith’s wife and the son of [Willie] Waddell, the coach who won the European Cup-Winners’ Cup [in 1972]. I love being and talking with those people because it’s part of the club, it’s why the club is so successful and so known. We are all here to write history for the next generations.”

 

He almost did in Seville. “To actually have 100,000 people supporting us there is crazy,” Van Bronckhorst says. “I’m very aware of the support we have throughout the years, the fans are amazing, they come in numbers wherever we go. That’s an important part of this club. In the end, it wasn’t the game when we won the second European trophy but if you talk with all the people who went there and the memories they made with their families, with their dads, with their sons it’s amazing to give them the experience and memories that will last forever. I’m privileged to be part of this club again now as a manager.

“I’m only the 17th [full-time] coach in Rangers history! 150 years! It’s amazing. It’s an honour. I continuously want to improve as a coach. That never stops. I want to keep the standards high, keep working hard and keep bringing silverware to Rangers.”

 

Livingston v Rangers
Today, Tony Macaroni Arena
Kick-off 12 noon.
TV: Sky Sports Main Event from 11am

 

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/giovanni-van-bronckhorst-you-have-to-be-an-obsessive-as-a-manager-it-is-a-sacrifice-you-need-to-make-39m3n5n0r

Edited July 30, 2022 by Uilleam

[Tannochsidebear 2,420]

That was a super read. Exactly what you will never get from a Scottish rag.