The right BROTHERS
Erwin and Ronald Koeman have done their father Martin proud at Southampton
IT IS just as Martin Koeman would have wanted it. ‘Our father was really crazy about English football and always watching Match of the Day,’ says Ronald. Erwin, the older brother, speaks up. ‘And he had mentioned before that it would be nice if us two worked together some day.’
So the Koeman brothers together at Southampton — Ronald as manager and Erwin his assistant — would have been ideal for Martin, himself an accomplished midfielder at FC Groningen.
Sadly, their father died in December 2013 and never witnessed the Koeman family success on the south coast. ‘He was 75 and went for a walk outside, wasn’t feeling well and had a lie down,’ says Ronald. ‘It was a “nice” death, if you’re not struggling, you’re OK and in a split second it’s over.’
We must thank Martin Koeman for this prodigious football family. ‘Right up until his death, he was still involved in football at FC Groningen in the youth academy,’ says Erwin.
Ronald takes up the story. ‘Our father played football at a high level and our interest was always to be professional players one day. On a Saturday afternoon you could watch the German league; you had English football and the FA Cup final. And in England the game was always a fight. It was never, “They play and they will win”. Even when second division teams were playing against a top team, they would have good chances to win the game.’
You don’t often see the Koemans like this. Ronald, 52, is the younger brother, the star of Barcelona in their first ever European Cup win in 1992, when he scored the winner at Wembley.
He won so many trophies — two European Cups and a host of league titles and cups at Barcelona, Ajax and PSV — it is easy to forget that Erwin, 54, was also an integral part of the only Holland team to win a major trophy, Euro 88.
Erwin also won league titles in Belgium and Holland, with PSV, and the Cup-Winners’ Cup, and went on to manage Feyenoord, Hungary and RKC Waalwijk, before joining his brother at Southampton.
They have always been close. ‘We do not have to speak to each other about football,’ says Erwin. ‘We look at each other and we know what we want to do — or not.’ Perhaps the siblings’ success is due to the fact that they always knew their place growing up. ‘My father played one game for the Holland national team,’ says Ronald. ‘And he was always saying, “Wait, wait. Tell me when you have played for Holland”.’ Ronald smiles at the memory. ‘He played 18 minutes, I think. He came on in the second half. But still he would say, “Wait, I played for the national team. You still not”.’
The brothers would play 109 times for Holland, including in that extraordinary 1988 team with Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten. ‘He wasn’t a father who said, “Oh, our sons are fantastic”,’ says Ronald (in action for Holland, right). ‘He always said, “You can be better”. He said to other people that we played well. But to us he said, “OK, the good things you keep; but you need to improve in that and that and that”.’
They grew up playing street football in Groningen. ‘You didn’t have many cars on the street in those days,’ says Ronald. ‘We played everywhere. In the street, on the grass fields, at school, after school, before school. It was an easy present for our parents. They would say, “Give them a ball and they are happy”. It was always football.’
Erwin claims he never tried to bring his little brother into line. Nowadays, though. he has permission to tell Ronald he is wrong. ‘Sometimes about the line-up; or about a specific player. Sometimes we have a discussion about that and that’s normal.’
‘But it’s easy to tell that I was wrong after,’ points out Ronald. ‘You have to tell me before the game I’m wrong!’
In fact, the Koemans’ coaching team — Jan Kluitenberg, Sammy Lee and Dave Waston — seems akin to the old Anfield Boot Room, where robust discussion is encouraged. Ronald prizes the appointment of Lee, even if he initially regretted the decision to give him a job because it made him feel inadequate about his English.
Ronald was spending a week doing intensive English lessons at a former convent when Lee first called him. ‘I was in the school to improve my English. I had the phone from Sammy and I had to say, “Sammy, please talk slowly, slowly”. We had some difficulties to understand him in the beginning.’ ‘Still!’ interjects Erwin. Over their careers they have absorbed the football culture of many countries. As well as winning three league titles at PSV and Ajax
as a manager, Ronald won La Copa del Rey in Spain with Valencia.
As a player brought to Barcelona by the great Johan Cruyff, he was told to room with a skinny Catalan kid called Pep Guardiola. ‘We are still good friends,’ says Koeman. ‘He was always a very normal person. We were all driving Porsches and nice cars and he still had an Opel. And he was very interested in Dutch football because he liked the way they played, Ajax with Cruyff.’
Honed in the Cruyff school himself, Koeman is not, however, obsessed with possession. His tactical approach at Southampton has always built on a sound defensive platform. Since he arrived in 2014, Southampton have the best defensive record in the Premier League.
But the question is how long Southampton will satisfy the brothers. They have seen Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, Calum Chambers, Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Toby Alderweirweld, Nathaniel Clyne and Morgan Schneiderlin depart. But the quality of their recruitment, a combination of the club structure under Les Reed and the Koemans’ own knowledge, puts larger clubs to shame. Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic, Ryan Bertrand, Fraser Forster, Graziano Pelle and Virgil van Dijk have grown into major Premier League figures. Jordy Clasie and Oriol Romeu look to be heading that way.
‘We pay a little bit for our development,’ says Ronald. ‘That’s true. But we are Southampton, we are not Man City, we are not Chelsea. If a big team has some interest for our players, it’s difficult because it’s also the ambition of the players.’
The club keep punching above their weight, however. Eighth in 2014-15 under Mauricio Pochettino; seventh last season; and looking good for the same this season. ‘But still everybody wants to be one of the first four teams in the Premier League and that’s difficult.
‘I think we need to be patient. You can spend more money for even better players, but everyone has more money. And the high-quality players like to go to Man United; they don’t come to Southampton, they don’t come to Everton.’ Still, the Koemans are enjoying the current state of play in the Premier League. ‘Everyone likes the Premier League because we are not like Paris Saint-Germain — champions three months before the end of the season. There is no emotion. Football needs to be emotional. In the Premier League, it’s unpredictable and that’s nice.’ And, doubtless, dad would have approved as well.