Dutch football union: Mistakes were made in national coach selection
Dutch football union KNVB acknowledges that mistakes were made in the selection procedure for the national team's new coach. "In business, it is good to have three candidates follow a trajectory next to each other. In football that can't work, that is really a mistake I learned from", interim-director Jean Paul Decossaux said to the Volkskrant.
A lot of controversy surrounded the appointment of Dick Advocaat as national coach. There was confusion among the candidates and a lot of critique on how technical director Hans van Breukelen handled the situation. "One leaks, the other has an interest and the third has a journalist in his car", Decossaux said about the candidates. "Then you create chaos."
He also said that he should have gone with Van Breukelen to talk to the candidates. "Let's admit that error." Decossaux takes the blame for all the fire Van Breukelen took during the procedure. "He was not well supported, not at all by me. If you have to put a percentage on the question of why it failed, 60 to 80 percent will be not his fault", he said. "I'm sorry for the lack of protection for Hans. We dropped him at some times."