Coach’s local connections and global experience
• New City mentor Olde Riekerink has been around
New Cape Town City coach Jan Olde Riekerink has worked with a number of SA players in the past‚ including the man he has replaced, Benni McCarthy.
Olde Riekerink was appointed by City on Wednesday after McCarthy was axed after a poor start to the season‚ his promising tenure in Cape Town brought to an end a few months into his third season.
Dutchman Olde Riekerink was in the stands to see his new side beat Polokwane City 5-3 in the Premiership and comes with experience of working at top clubs such as Ajax Amsterdam‚ FC Porto and Galatasaray in Turkey‚ as well as most recently Heerenveen‚ where he was last season.
“I have worked with SA players like Aaron Mokoena‚ Steven Pienaar‚ [Gabriel] Mofokeng‚ though he did not finally succeed. And‚ of course‚ Benni I had at Ajax and FC Porto [where he was assistant coach]‚ so we have these connections‚” Olde Riekerink said.
He says that he knows City owner John Comitis through the Ajax Cape Town connections and is delighted to link up with him again.
“I’m very much looking forward to it‚ I like it here in Cape Town. I know John‚ we spoke about the co-operation on Monday and how we want to work together. I like the project.
“John is one of the reasons I came. I have worked 11 years for Ajax and he knows the way we worked in Ajax‚ that makes it easier. I have watched a few [City] matches. They did not play bad‚ but I see opportunities to grow them.”
Olde Riekerink says it did not take much persuasion to get him to come to Cape Town‚ where he will link up with a couple of Dutch players in the squad such as goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh and Chris David.
“He [John] just asked me how much I want to earn! No‚ I am joking‚ John has a lot of ambition and I know he also has a very good relationship with Benni‚ so it is not easy. But we know each other and that is the reason he asked me‚” he said‚ adding he had been given no mandate with the team.
Olde Riekerink says his time abroad‚ which includes coaching in Ukraine and China‚ has seen him adapt his philosophy from that ”of a typically “Ajaxdeveloped
tactician.
“I grew up in Holland with the Dutch philosophy‚ but I have trained so much abroad that it comes down to the fact that you have to win the game. It is not only about playing good football‚” he says.
“Wherever you coach and train‚ you have a group of players and you have to take care of them. You have injured players‚ disappointed players‚ players with certain talents.
“I might have grown up in Holland‚ but I developed abroad. At Galatasaray there were only internationals‚ and it was about managing them‚ not just educating them.
“This [City] is a combination between [young] talent and players who already have skills.”
Olde Riekerink is unlikely to be on the bench when the team travels to Black Leopards on Sunday as he waits for his work permit‚ with the side to be once again led by assistant coach Vasili Manousakis.