[quote author=peterhague link=topic=42345.msg1203235#msg1203235 date=1287708022]
kingjulian>
figurehead
[/quote]
Nah mate, i'm not buying it.
This is his career so far:
Netherlands - roaring success. That Holland team played some great football, but they did have some fantastic players too. They went out in the semi-final on penalties. They defeated a very strong French team in the tournament too.
Rotterdam - Failed. He was working at a club in financial crisis. We all know how difficult that can get, having seen it first hand at our club.
Barcelona - Success. Barcelona had finished 4th, 4th and 6th in 2000, 2001, and 2002, and they were at least 30 points behind the league winners in each of the seasons. Some of the stars such as Kluivert and Overmars were simply not performing anymore. Players were identified to be moved on, and some new players were brought in and some of the youngsters on the fringes were promoted to be central figures to the team. After 3 very good years, Barca had become accustomed to winning and in 2006 they finished 2nd despite of a very strong start, and some dressing-room unrest between players and Rijkaard was claimed as the relation-in for the loss of form in the run. From that point on Rijkaard was on borrowed time, and he was eventually fired the next term.
Gala - I don't know much about this. But these are the facts. In 2008 season Galatasary finished 5th and 20 points behind the leaders. Rijkaard took over and lead the team to 3rd placed finish in 2009 and they were 10 points behind the leaders. In spite of getting out-spent by Fener, Besiktas etc, he has managed to keep the team in third place even in 2010. So his sacking, from where i'm sitting, seems more knee-jerk/engineered than a failure.
You sound like you hold him responsible for all his failures but give the praise to someone else for all his success. He is not a chancer....far from it.
These are the facts
He is young,
He is accomplished,
He is quite experienced for a manager his age.
These are what i infer from his career so far
He is not afraid of blooding very young players in the first team,
He likes to set his team to play attacking football and win games,
He can compete at the top end on a shoe-string budget and has not ever complained about a lack of spending at any club he has been.
I agree that this is a gamble. But this seems a safer bet than, any thing else at the moment.
I think, i'll be happy with his appointment. Especially if the other option is Pellegrini, who has done nothing and is probably at the end of his career.
I'm amazed that some posters discredit Rijkaard winning the league by saying "La-Liga was weak" etc, but Pelligrini's only credible achievement in Europe was getting Villareal to finish 4th, 7th, 5th and 2nd in the same weak La-Liga.
