Robin van Persie was warming to his theme, imparting knowledge to his youngsters, Shaqueel and Dina, then 14 and 10. “We have been on the kitchen desk in our new home and I used to be giving them a speech: ‘It's a must to discover your ardour as quickly as doable!'” He's, nonetheless, self-aware sufficient to grasp how parental monologues are acquired. “I used to be ‘ardour this, ardour that'. It went on and on and on.”
It was Dina who introduced him up quick. “Yeah, Dad, however what's your ardour now?”
Van Persie, Premier League winner at Manchester United, star of Arsène Wenger's younger Arsenal crew, twice the Premier League Golden Boot winner, had simply stop taking part in in 2019, ending his profession at his boyhood membership, Feyenoord.
“Once you cease as a participant some a part of you dies. It was the factor I did my complete life, my id, who I'm. And that query actually obtained to me. I stated: ‘My ardour is soccer however I can not play any extra. I work for BT [as a pundit] now.' She requested: ‘Is that basically your ardour?'”
“‘I prefer it, I actually study loads from that,'” he stated.
However, Van Persie says, Dina continued to press him, asking: “However is that this your ardour? Do you wish to be the most effective pundit on the earth? No. So what's the second-best factor about soccer?”
His reply: “Being a coach. However then I've to do my badges and I've to return to highschool. I've to do all these idea workout routines and I'm not wanting ahead to that.
“And she or he stated: ‘In the event you inform us we've got to seek out our ardour, you must do the identical.'”
Which is how Van Persie got here to spend lengthy nights writing up theses on soccer ways. He jokes that he barely knew the best way to open a laptop computer earlier than 2020 however later he's fortunately flicking via slideshows illustrating Feyenoord's key values, coaching schedules, private growth plans: fairly the transformation from outdated professional to PowerPoint supervisor.
“Firstly of the teaching course, I had [offers of] assist from colleagues to do all the pieces for me. I stated: ‘Cease! I'll do all the pieces myself, kind each letter. I've to study.' One train, I used to be busy for weeks and actually proud. I despatched it in and the large crimson cross got here again. ‘Not ok. It's a must to do extra.' OK, I get the purpose. Two weeks later I filed it once more. ‘Now I'll get an A.' And once more, the crimson cross. ‘Is that this instructor attempting to check me? Is it as a result of I'm an ex-player?' The fourth time I filed it in and it was: ‘OK, cross.'
“I believed: ‘Do I actually wish to undergo this?' It felt like … torture is an enormous phrase, however you already know what I imply? It was robust. My first thought is to stop. And my daughter was: ‘Oh yeah! You wish to stop in your ardour? Get on with it and do it higher!' So I made a decision to go for it, put my ego apart. That was the second I accepted I wasn't a footballer any extra.”
And that's how we find yourself right here on the historic De Kuip, Feyenoord's stadium, Arne Slot's outdated membership, which Van Persie has inherited. It's now lengthy into the afternoon and he reveals no indicators of wanting to go away. Moderately, he needs to speak in regards to the values he's instilling as coach right here at Feyenoord – they have been high of the Eredivisie earlier than PSV beat Fortuna Sittard 5-2 on Friday night time – and launches a PowerPoint to elucidate their challenge and display the element he obsesses over as a coach.
This participant, he explains, has improved his velocity to 33kph (20.5mph) by making changes to his operating model. All gamers have private growth plans the place they've to speak about their strengths and weaknesses. Footballers are by no means nice on the latter however Van Persie leads by instance, sharing his weaknesses in crew conferences. “The suggestions is that I will be actually direct about the way in which I simply give my opinion,” he stated. “So generally gamers can take that personally. In my view, they need to not. However they will. So I've to do one thing with that. That may very well be a pitfall for me.”
It was most likely helpful he shed his ego on the teaching course as a couple of weeks into his first membership job at Heerenveen, a mid-table crew with a 2009 cup win to their identify, he was on the unsuitable finish of a 9-1 defeat. “We had first half! We have been 2-1 behind however may have been 3-2 forward. So I took off one in all my defensive midfielders. I needed to go for the win. After which all the pieces that would have gone unsuitable went unsuitable. Forty-five minutes later you're like: ‘What simply occurred?' That was an essential studying second for me. I realised that we must always have a safety-net possibility, a Plan B, generally simply three minutes of regular soccer. Then we've got an escape and we return to our regular. That's what I realized.”
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ProfileStreet again to Feyenoord: RVP's journey as an MVP
Present
2001-04 Makes a senior Feyenoord breakthrough at 17, wins the Uefa Cup, however falls out with supervisor Bert van Marwijk over his angle.
2004 Joins Arsenal for £2.75m, half Feyenoord's authentic asking value. Arsène Wenger explains he plans to transform the little-known winger, 20, right into a ahead: “We simply really feel there's something actually attention-grabbing there. He has potential.”
2005-12 Wins the FA Cup in 2005, hits 35 targets as captain in 2011 and wins Golden Boot and Participant of the Yr titles in 2012. Indicators a brand new deal in 2009: “I simply can't image myself in a special shirt.”
2012-2015 Joins Manchester United for £22.5m (pictured). Wins the title in 2012-13 however is hampered by accidents.
2015 Joins Fenerbahçe on a three-year deal for an undisclosed price.
2018 Returns to Feyenoord on a free however retires a 12 months later. Indicators off with 102 Netherlands caps. Begins teaching at Feyenoord.
2024 Joins Heerenveen in his first head coach function – then takes the Feyenoord job in February this 12 months.
There's a rising membership of former teammates in his enterprise. He's nonetheless in contact with Cesc Fàbregas, teaching Como, fifth in Serie A. “Even now we've got a improbable connection. He wasn't the quickest, however he was all the time on time. He was studying the sport and areas so properly, that imaginative and prescient, method, composure on the ball. And just a little bit nasty as properly! I preferred that.” Van Persie just lately reconnected with Jack Wilshere, now managing Luton. “Mikel Arteta as properly. Me, Jack, Cesc. Who's subsequent?”
Proper now Feyenoord appears like a long-term challenge. His son Shaqueel, now 18, is on the perimeter of the primary crew and the entire household are having fun with being again residence once more. However naturally the Premier League may come calling. “I believe the English league in each doable method is the most effective. I felt that as a participant and it's even improved, is much more demanding for gamers and coaches 1761997923. So, yeah, by no means say by no means.”
All of the enter he has from employees, information and laptops is a way from the old-school administration below which he grew up. “We had nothing again within the day by way of all these instruments. If we performed a Champions League recreation, we'd take a look at AC Milan for possibly 10 minutes. Then it was: ‘Go and play. Specific your self.'”
In the event you needed to have a who's who of mentors, then Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson and Louis van Gaal is kind of the brains belief. Van Persie ponders how Ferguson “had the managing abilities to maintain not solely 27 millionaires completely satisfied, however the entire constructing. The entire of Carrington was excited, completely satisfied, proud to work there. That's the crew tradition he created with [chief executive] David Gill. Again within the day, you had one coach and one director. Wenger had it as properly, with [vice-chair] David Dein. In the event you take a look at Wenger and [his chief scout] Steve Rowley they have been principally doing the identical and not using a laptop computer.”
Wenger annoyed Van Persie initially. Arsenal had taken an enormous danger in shopping for him at 20 given he was an undisciplined Feyenoord reserve – he admits that in right now's data-driven age “I don't suppose Arsenal would signal me” – and he struggled to make the beginning XI. Wenger known as him in. “Robin, why are you not a high participant but?”
“Inform me,” Van Persie begged. However no reply was forthcoming. The supervisor was setting him a puzzle to resolve. A number of days later Rowley, who died in 2022, took Van Persie apart. “He confirmed me a recreation I hadn't performed in however Dennis Bergkamp did, after they beat Man United 2-0. Steve stated: ‘That is the participant you may turn into!'” Rowley apparently then paused for impact, earlier than including: “Inferior to Bergkamp, clearly!” And identified not solely his compatriot's positional self-discipline but in addition his health club classes, massages, food plan. “It was the eye and love they [Steve and Arsène] gave me, belief to maintain creating and getting higher.”
To finish the teaching pantheon he made a pilgrimage to see Pep Guardiola at Manchester Metropolis earlier than he launched his personal profession at Heerenveen. “I had lunch with him, there have been a few water bottles on the desk and he was shuffling them, saying: ‘He strikes in right here and he strikes proper. He ought to go, he ought to commit, he ought to come out.' And he was shifting his leg like this …” Van Persie faucets his foot repeatedly and manically, as apparently Guardiola does when animated. “And he was speaking about connections on the pitch. I arrived fairly drained after a protracted day however I used to be buzzing. Watching the teaching, he was on Kevin De Bruyne, sharp as a knife. It gave me power. And my good friend, who is aware of him higher, stated to me afterwards: ‘That is the one method if you wish to be a coach at this stage.' And I used to be considering: ‘How can I give everybody from the washing woman to the director the sensation they've such an essential influence on the membership, that we're doing this collectively?'”
A part of the reply once more got here from Dina, now aged 16. Her ardour is equestrianism, particularly dressage. Van Persie is intrigued, watching her in competitions and preparations. “So I requested her: ‘Why do you place a lot effort into brushing the horses, washing them, cleansing them, going to the dentist. This horse is taken care of higher than me! Clarify that to me.' And she or he stated: ‘It's discovering that connection. The horse has an affect through the video games [dressage competition]. I'm constructing a friendship with the horse, so the horse trusts me after I have to depend on the horse.' And I used to be like: ‘OK, that really is smart.' That's what I'm doing now with my gamers. If we belief one another we will carry out higher.”
