#3 Poor leadership in the dugout and at the KNVB
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The Dutch teams over the years have had some of the most iconic footballing managers in recent memory. Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff, Ernst Happel, Dick Advocaat, Guus Hiddink and Louis Van Gaal just to name a few. These people knew how to get the best out of their sides and, more importantly, they knew how to deliver success. Since Rinus Michels last left in 1992, Van Gaal has had the job twice, as has Hiddink, as Advocaat, with only Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Bert van Marwijk and Danny Blind taking over in between.
This is part of a major problem that the Dutch now have. Relying on certain managers is one thing, but replacing them with former players with little to no experience at any sort of level is incredibly dangerous. Now, the managers have failed to an extent in recent years by not even qualifying for tournaments and failing to establish some sort of identity, but the blame must also fall at the feet of the Dutch FA.
Failure to create a suitable youth development project for the new generation, coupled with their own inability to create new managers or even coaches has set the Dutch back years in comparison to nations such as France, Germany and Spain.
Chances are they will draft in Louis Van Gaal to get one of his mates in the hot seat, or one of the backup players from his 1995 Ajax side, and in about 18 months time the cycle will begin again. It’s just poor management from the KNVB to not bring in a suitable replacement or even draft up a suitable list of candidates.
