
The Search Is Over!
End of September. Edwin van der Sar has a new job as a manager. Wow this feels very strange and odd. After my interviews with the aforementioned teams, I faced another wide range of choices. The thing is, nothing excited me and I suddenly realised why. It’s because I wanted to stay in Holland and start my career here. I started my playing career here and I realised there was nothing I wanted more than to start managing here. There came two opportunities just as I was flying back home. FC Twente and De Graafschap both sacked their managers. I knew Twente was a step too far too early and immediately got an interview at De Graafschap.
Two days passed and I got a call back from the two chairman offering me the job. It was a basic salary of £1,200 per week for two years but I knew this was it. Guus Hiddink is one of the most famous names associated with the club. The club has won promotion from the Jupiler League 3 times, most recently in 2010 and I plan on bringing back some form of top league stability to this club.
The squad has a lot of young talent and I believe there are some great players here who can take us forward positively. However, finances aren’t in a good place right now and the club is over the wage limit. This will be a struggle to bring in players or to even resign the better players so I will have to be smart in how I deal with this.
I had a great feeling about the club and I accepted the offer. I sped off to the club to sign the contract and meet the rest of the staff.
