PSV seek redemption in former hero

The managerial musical chairs that has been going on for the past few weeks set many heads a-spinning and has given many a pundit sleepless nights. One of the less controversial appointments in this regard is the replacement of Dick Advocaat as PSV’s head coach by former Barcelona midfield maestro Phillip Cocu.

It was a more or less telegraphed move given the deflating culmination of PSV’s season; they were piped to the Eredivisie championship by perennial rivals Amsterdam Ajax and were beaten in the final of the KNVB Beker by AZ Alkmaar. It also represented the ultimate student-master takeover with Cocu taking over from the man who essentially kick-started his professional career by signing him up for the Red-White Army while in his early twenties.

In seeking to nip visions of instant glory in the bud, Cocu has made it clear that he sees his task as a long term restructuring project. “I am someone who likes to learn step by step”. This is in line with the club boss’s desire to strengthen the youth system and build for the future. With the champions league slot they earned this season being viewed as a ‘great windfall but…secondary to priorities’ don’t expect fireworks from the former Dutch champions in Europe. The staff around Cocu will be to the Philips Stadion dugout and so will a number of the players as PSV set down the path that lead Barcelona to four seasons of domestic and European dominance.

This will not be music to the ears of faithful supporters of the Barbantian club as they’ve had to bitterly endure the sight and sound of Ajax victory parades for two seasons in succession while contenting themselves with Thursday night football. They, as much as the club’s hierarchy and players long for a return to the glory of the eighties and nineties when they bagged the Eredivisie countless times and tasted European success. But with the positive air now flowing through the Philips Stadion, added to the more solid financial foundation, it might not be too long before PSV Eindhoven is once again etched on the big ears.