'I don't care': Dick Advocaat holds court back in Glasgow as ex-Rangers man savours 21 not out
Dutchman still going strong as he prepares to make history with Curacao
When Dick Advocaat signed on for duty at Rangers in June 1998, Scotland were still involved in a World Cup and preparing for a must-win meeting with Morocco.
This clash, which Scotland lost 3-0, remains their last match on this stage although an amendment to this regrettable statistic is pending. It’s a measure of how long ago all this was to think that Advocaat was still only 50 when he blew into Ibrox like a whirlwind and quickly started earning his Little General nickname.
A young(ish) manager with a new head of hair, his brief was to wrench the title back from Celtic. He did this and more. A treble in his first season gave the fans what they wanted though it came at a cost - and we are not just talking about Tore Andre Flo.
Signed for £12 million from Chelsea in November 2000, the striker remains Scottish football’s record signing. Advocaat certainly left his mark on the sporting landscape. “That had a lot to do with David Murray,” he said, when speaking to reporters at an eagerly awaited press conference at Hampden on Friday. “He was the president at that time and he was so successful with his company and so enthusiastic about everything.”
Now 78, Advocaat’s return to Scotland in a working capacity with Curacao is as welcome as it is unexpected given the sad news earlier this year that he was stepping away from the head coach role due to his daughter’s cancer diagnosis. However, player unhappiness and pressure from sponsors meant the Dutchman was reinstated last month at the expense of compatriot Fred Rutten, who was quietly jettisoned after defeats to China and Australia.
Advocaat is now on the verge of making history at this summer’s World Cup by becoming the tournament’s oldest-ever manager. It’s not as if it’s even close. The record is currently held by German manager Otto Rehhagel, who was a sprightly 71 when he led Greece to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Advocaat was asked whether this made him proud. “No, not all!” he exclaimed, in that explosive manner familiar to journalists who dealt with him back in the day. “Honestly, I don’t care because I don’t feel that age,” he added. "Everybody is saying that, but I don’t feel that.”
Next question! He was warming to his task as he scanned the Hampden auditorium, perhaps recognising some old faces from all those years ago. Indeed, it was pointed out to him that 27 years ago to the very day he was celebrating securing that treble with Rangers following a 1-0 win over Celtic in the Scottish Cup final.
Advocaat: You have to be careful tomorrow!
Not that he was about to indulge reporters with warm memories of that particular afternoon. “What I remember was the game when half of the stadium was orange,” he said. “The reason being we had three or four Dutch players and they did really well.”
Someone pointed out to him that this was the following year’s cup final versus Aberdeen. “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I just remember the colour… I was quite successful in this stadium, you have to be careful tomorrow!”
Perhaps he has also forgotten that his last visit to the stadium as a manager was when his Netherlands side lost 1-0 against Scotland in the first leg of a Euro 2004 play-off. At the time this was interpreted as Advocaat showing generosity towards the country where he once lived. The idea players like Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wesley Sneijder were going to go easy on Scotland again in the second leg was violently trashed. The Dutch were 6-0 up within an hour.
The next time he faced a Scottish side it was as manager of Zenit St Petersburg against his beloved Rangers in the 2008 Uefa Cup final. Any sentiment was reserved for afterwards over a drink with opposite number Walter Smith, the man he had replaced as Rangers manager, after Zenit's commanding 2-0 victory.
These jobs are included in the 21 – count ’em - positions Advocaat has held since departing Rangers, when he moved upstairs to accommodate Alex McLeish’s arrival from Hibs. They range from manager of the Netherlands (twice – he was also in charge for a stint pre-Rangers) to South Korea, Sunderland, Iraq and Russia. He might have some explaining to do before being allowed through immigration in the United States next week. Pity any Border Force Officer who asks him to step aside.
Curacao have based themselves in Florida before games against Germany, Ecuador and Ivory Coast. They are enormously newsworthy participants. As well as having the oldest coach, the team from the tiny Caribbean island are the smallest country in terms of both population and area to have qualified for the World Cup. What is possible once they are there? With Advocaat back at the helm, who knows? What he doesn’t know about being at a major finals isn’t worth knowing.
“This is the third time (in total) that I have been at a World Cup, and three times at the European Championships,” he said. “So this is not the first time. I know what to expect. We are not the favourites. But we know that even if you are not the favourites you can surprise, and today, with three points or even two points you can go on (into the knockout phase). It can be special.”
It’s already pretty special. “The goal was to qualify for the Gold Cup a year ago and that is what we did,” he added. “From that moment on they started to believe in even more. It is a very hard-working team. Besides the game, they enjoy their life. They are laughing, the music is there and maybe more! But in the game they know what to do. As a coach that makes it a little bit easier.”
It sounds like he is a bit more relaxed and hands-off when it comes to squad discipline, certainly when compared with his iron-fist Ibrox days. He once stripped Lorenzo Amoruso of the captaincy after falling out with the Italian defender.
Midfielder Leanrdo Bacuna, whose brother Juninho played a handful of games for Rangers under Giovanni van Bronckhorst a few seasons ago, was asked during Friday’s press conference if he was happy to see Advocaat return.
What else could he say with the boss sitting with arms folded beside him? “Of course!” the former Aston Villa player replied. “When he came in he brought a structure to the team and with this structure we achieved getting to the World Cup. It is a comfortable feeling. I didn’t want him to leave to be honest.”
Comfortable? Advocaat? It seems The Little General has changed his disciplinarian ways. As he himself noted, not entirely approvingly, it’s inevitable given how football has moved on.
“If you see our staff - and it’s not even as big as Scotland’s - it is not only 26 players but also 26 people around you,” Advocaat pointed out. “Doctors and that kind of thing. In that way a lot has changed.”
And yet so much has also stayed the same. It’s heartening to see the likes of Advocaat and Martin O’Neill prevailing and in the case of these two specific examples, prospering. Surely a 78-year-old is not going to spoil Scotland’s World Cup send-off at Hampden seven days after a 74-year-old clinched the double in the same stadium?
Advocaat and O’Neill were once Old Firm rivals, of course. The Dutchman now regrets advising Murray to invest in a new training ground rather than buying two players, which was the choice the Rangers chairman presented to him. According to Advocaat, “O’Neill was still training on university (pitches)” and was therefore able to splurge on signings, with the result that Celtic won the treble. This hastened the Dutchman’s ‘promotion’ upstairs. “That was a mistake by me!” he said. Admitting fault? It seems Dick really has changed.
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