When Arne Slot is officially unveiled as Liverpool’s new manager, there will already be doubts about his ability to maintain Jurgen Klopp’s success given the mediocre record of Dutch managers in the Premier League.
Slot has done a fantastic job at Feyenoord: last season he won the Eredivisie and this time the Dutch Cup. There’s a good reason he was Tottenham Hotspur’s first choice to replace Antonio Conte last summer. He is much admired.
But his side, Feyenoord, are set to finish second behind PSV Eindhoven this season in a year in which the Netherlands’ biggest and most successful club, Ajax, has had a disastrous campaign.
It is of course too simplistic to write off a manager based on his nationality, but a pattern emerges when you look at how Dutch managers have fared in the Premier League.
Even the coaches who have had some success haven’t had a long life. Only former Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham manager Martin Jol has more than 200 Premier League games to his name.
History has shown us that Dutch managers have found it difficult to bend and shape English football culture to their will, despite some of football’s giants having had the opportunity to shine on these shores.
They were all different personalities, they all had their different strengths and weaknesses, some have had a positive impact, at least initially, but Guus Hiddink, Louis van Gaal, Ronald Koeman, Dick Advocaat, Ruud Gullit and of course Erik ten Hag have: in to varying degrees they all failed to replicate their earlier success abroad while leading in England
It is not just Ten Hag, who has built a reputation as one of Europe’s best head coaches in five successful years under Ajax’s leadership, who has struggled to execute his vision and implement his ideas.
Ten Hag did well in his first season at Manchester United, qualifying for the Champions League and winning the Carabao Cup, but he is fighting to make it in his second season despite missing the FA Cup for the second year in a row. reached the final.
Some of the criticism of Ten Hag was exaggerated. He doesn’t have a good enough squad to win the league and the battle for a place in the top four is now arguably more intense than ever before.
Reaching three domestic cup finals in the space of two years is, when you consider everything else imposed on him as manager of Manchester United, in terms of his players’ character, motivation and defensive vulnerability, a more than decent achievement.
But given the size of the boots he’s wearing, could Slot achieve a similar record at Liverpool? It is unlikely to be seen as a success if he does not win the League Cup at Anfield for another two years, given all that Klopp has achieved and the quality of the squad he will inherit.
To be fair to Ten Hag, he has already won one trophy and still has a chance of a second, albeit against Pep Guardiola’s silverware creators Manchester City. Only Jose Mourinho has won two trophies for Manchester United in the 11 years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
But this is the same environment in which Slot will have to survive and hopefully thrive, and Ten Hag won more in the Netherlands than Liverpool’s new manager.
Even the Dutch managers who are considered to be doing well, such as Hiddink in two interim spells in charge of Chelsea, or Koeman who finished sixth with Southampton or Gullit who won the FA Cup with Chelsea and reached the final with Newcastle United, and Van Gaal, who won the same trophy with Manchester United and finished fourth in the league, have not maintained that price for a long time.
Honest Dutch can create tension among players
What makes the lack of success so strange is that, at first glance, the Dutch may be the most receptive to British culture in Europe. The language barrier is less severe, given the prevalence of English speakers in the Netherlands, and none of the managers mentioned above have needed interpreters to communicate with the dressing room.
Yet there is a bluntness about the Dutch that may not sit well with some. They are very direct and to the point in the way they talk. When you combine that with a traditionally strict, disciplinary approach to management styles, it creates friction.
Newcastle players who played for him say it was Gullit’s arrogance and lack of man-management skills that doomed him to failure on Tyneside, rather than his tactics or football knowledge. The less said about Frank de Boer’s disastrously short stay at Crystal Palace, the better.
But in a broader sense, perhaps Dutch managers have not lasted long in the Premier League because the players find it difficult to enjoy playing for them when the months are measured in years.
There is also a very different sense of humor in the Netherlands than in Great Britain. That may seem like a small thing, but in the locker room and on the training field, humor is important for team morale.
It’s hard to imagine the managers mentioned in this piece laughing and joking with their players and staff to ease the tension. Could it be that you can create a work environment that is too intense and demanding for players in this country to thrive?
Perhaps it also has to do with the way football is coached in the Netherlands. For a country with a population of just 17.7 million, the Dutch have always punched above their weight when it comes to the quality of players they produce.
A big part of that is down to the way they develop players from a young age, focusing on technical skills rather than physicality and athleticism. The training methods are also similar for senior players. Not everyone likes to be told in such minuscule details where to stand, where to pass, where to run.
There is a subtle but crucial difference between imposing your ideas and introducing them. Dutch people tend to believe that their way is the only way; that there is the right way to play the game and that their ideas and methods laid the foundation for modern football. To be fair, they make quite a point too, given the legacy of Johan Cruyff and Ajax and its lasting influence on the way the game is played.
It is possible, and this is admittedly a bold, sweeping statement, that the players who grew up here or adapted to it may find it difficult to embrace the Dutch style of management and coaching over a long period of time.
Interestingly enough, it might also be a macho, masculine thing. After all, Sarina Wiegman, the Dutch manager of the England women’s team, is the most successful international manager in the history of English football. She won the European Championship in 2022 and reached the World Cup final in 2023.
Her approach is much more holistic. She cherishes her players, builds strong personal relationships and cares about the person as well as the player. She instructs instead of dictating. Her players like her. Slot would do well to listen to what she has to say about her experiences in English football.
These are all things that Slot will have to overcome. He is a highly regarded manager who will leave behind a wonderful pool of players upon his arrival at Liverpool.
Rather than trying to bend English football to his will, perhaps he will be more successful if he adapts to it more freely than some of his compatriots. Sometimes more than just football knowledge leads to success.