Frank de Boer was only a Premier League manager for 77 days, and four games, but he’s unlikely to be forgotten anytime soon.
De Boer’s time at Crystal Palace is the shortest-ever reign for a Premier League manager. He was sacked on Monday, 10 weeks into a three-year contract, without his team scoring a single goal. After lasting just 85 days as Inter Milan manager last season, it’s difficult to not have some sympathy for the former Ajax coach.
De Boer went from Ajax, home of total football and a possession-based style of play, to Inter Milan, the home of Catenaccio – the doctrine of Italian defensive football. The former Barcelona defender then took over at Palace, whose previous managers in the Premier League were Ian Holloway, Tony Pulis, Neil Warnock, Alan Pardew and Sam Allardyce.
There are Proper Football Men, who instruct their team to play proper British football – hit the big-man early doors, kick it into row Z when under pressure and don’t mess about with the ball in your own half. They don’t teach you that at the Ajax school, and De Boer appeared to be an awkward fit from the start.
As often happens when a manager leaves in acrimonious circumstances, details have emerged about what led to De Boer’s departure.
According to Ed Malyon, writing for The Independent, there were several issues behind the scenes that led to Monday’s decision by Palace.
- Some senior players “immediately” turned against the former Ajax coach.
- De Boer made it known that certain players weren’t part of his plans, including veteran central-defender Damien Delaney. However, these players were popular in the dressing room and had the ear of the club chairman, Steve Parish. This led to tension, as the players weren’t sold, but knew they weren’t wanted by De Boer.
- Martin Kelly and Joel Ward were other players reportedly deemed not good enough by De Boer.
- According to Malyon, some players’ “apparent haste to go running to the headteacher immediately damaged the relationship between coach and players.”
- There were concerns amongst the squad over De Boer’s tactics. According to the Mail, the decision to play central-midfielder Luka Milivojevic in defence during pre-season games “bewildered the Serb and his team-mates.” His philosophy of “pass, pass, pass” was said to be alien to a squad assembled over five seasons by Holloway, Pulis, Warnock, Pardew and Allardyce. While some players didn’t feel comfortable using a back-three.
- De Boer was said to be considered “cold” by some members of the squad, and he had a “direct approach” when dealing with his players. Without wanting to generalise, Dutch managers and players have a reputation for being direct, which can often seem blunt. It is staggering to think the Palace hierarchy didn’t anticipate such an approach from De Boer.
One of the most interesting revelations was the players’ attitude to their manager taking part in training. De Boer was brilliant player, who had an excellent career for Ajax, Barcelona and the Netherlands. He made 112 appearances for his country, won five Dutch titles, La Liga and the Champions League. It sounds as though he was better in training than many members of his squad, despite being 47-years-old, and this didn’t go down well.
According to Malyon:
“The former Ajax and Inter boss was made aware of cliques in the squad who had been upset by him playing in training, something that baffled De Boer as, if anything, professionals should be motivated at being shown up by a retiree more than 10 years their senior in many cases rather than threatened by it.”
From the start, De Boer’s reign seemed destined to fail. He is set to be replaced by Roy Hodgson, who resigned as England manager after losing to Iceland last summer at Euro 2016.
