Stillness and Speed: My Story (34 page)
Read Stillness and Speed: My Story Online
Authors: Dennis Bergkamp
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OW THAT HE
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such an important part of the future of The Future, how does Dennis see his own? Lots of people at Arsenal
would love him back at the club. Some of the top brass there see him as a future manager.
Dennis: ‘I want to be good at what I do, I want to be important, too, but I’m not after fame. It’s not about that for me. That’s why I have no ambition to be a
manager.’
Is that because it would be impossible anyway because you won’t fly and a manager has to fly?
‘Regardless of that, I prefer working with small groups. Let me train strikers specifically. That’s when I’m at my best. Of course, I have opinions about the team as a whole,
about how it should function, but I have much less of a tactical overview than trainers like Frank de Boer and Hennie Spijkerman [the Ajax assistant coach]. Frank was a defender and Hennie a
goalkeeper; that background not only gave them tactical insight, but also an overview. I only have the insight. I’m still working on the overview. I played at the front, or almost at the
front. I always stood in a diagonal position so I could never see the entire pitch. They know how to intervene tactically the moment the match requires it. Not me. I need to see it all on the board
first: where is everyone positioned and what needs to change? How? I’m learning and improving, but my ambition is not in the area of tactics. The greatest challenge for me is improving
footballers, especially strikers.’
That means working in other people’s shadows.
‘So much the better. I’m not attracted to the limelight, and I certainly don’t want to become the front man. That’s not how I see myself. As a player I also never saw
myself as the face of Arsenal or anything like that. Sure, as a player I wanted to be important for the team, but preferably a bit inconspicuously. I needed a striker near me who took things over
from me, literally and figuratively: it was Pettersson at Ajax, Wright and Henry at Arsenal. I needed someone to pass to or I needed someone else’s pass to score. I had insight. That was my
great strength. Collecting and passing the ball were my specialities and I could finish. I wasn’t a Messi or Maradona who did it all by themselves. I never had the ambition to be a one-man
show. Never. I didn’t want too much attention or too much credit. Some people in football want all the attention and all the credit. There are even managers who are like that, too. But I was
a team player, and that’s my ambition as a trainer now. I want to add a lot of quality to the whole.
‘On the field my greatest quality was seeing where the space was, knowing where you can create space. That’s something I’m constantly focused on now as a trainer, too: where is
the space in the opposing team? Is it behind the defence, between the central defenders and the backs, or in front of the defenders in between the lines? I make up drills for this. Running into
space: how, where, when? I base this on my own experience and what I see around me. My speciality is optimising the sprints of strikers and deep-lying players. I know it’s behind-the-scenes
work, but it’s fulfilling enough for me. I also prefer my organisational work at the club to be behind the scenes. I’m involved in some pretty significant decisions and I’m now
officially part of the club management, but I don’t make a song and dance about it.’
You’re not interested in being a chief executive?
‘No!’
Why not? You’re intelligent and well-spoken – and you look good in a suit.
‘Just let me be in charge in my own way, in the background. The stereotypical CEO is an extrovert, and I’m not. As a footballer I wasn’t either. I’ve often been accused
of not being a leader, but a leader is also someone whose way of functioning is an example to others. I was a role model on the pitch and now I want to set an example within the organisation.
‘Being a show-off mouthpiece in a designer suit just isn’t me. I want to be a leader who gets everyone on board by delivering good work. I’m good at observing, seeing our
potential and our shortcomings. I watch everything, and it bothers me when I see performances which don’t meet the standards we expect. If anyone –
anyone
– isn’t
pulling their weight, then the details aren’t in order, and that is unacceptable.’
What do you do then?
‘We intervene. At the end of the season we do the same with the trainers, the medical staff, the people responsible for the pitches and the equipment as we do with the players. We review
everyone and decide who is good enough to continue. Sure, we’re very tough, but we want to be a top club and to accomplish that you have to be ruthless in maintaining the top
standards.’
Heartfelt thanks to all the people who so generously gave their time and help and without whom this book would have been diminished:
Tony Adams, Vic Akers, Osvaldo Bagnoli, Leo Beenhakker, Estelle Bergkamp, Henrita Bergkamp, Marcel Bergkamp, Mitchel Bergkamp, Ronald Bergkamp, Saffron Bergkamp, Wim Bergkamp,
Yasmin Bergkamp, Tonny Bergkamp-Van der Meer, Giuseppe Bergomi, Frank de Boer, Miel Brinkhuis, Jan-Dirk van der Burg, Sol Campbell, Amy Carr, Johan Cruyff, David Dein, Maddalena Del Re, Pim van
Dord, David Endt, Don Farrow, Nellie Farrow, Riccardo Ferri, Ken Friar, Mark Fruin, Sophie Henderson, Thierry Henry, Mike Jones, Wim Jonk, Jane Judd, Martin Keown, Steve Kimberley, Momo Kovacevic,
Simon Kuper, Gary Lewin, David Luxton, Stuart Macfarlane, Ian Marshall, Olga Mascolo, Marc Overmars, Ray Parlour, Tommaso Pellizzari, Robin van Persie, Stuart Peters, Bruce Rioch, Henk Spaan, Chris
Stone, Dan Tolhurst, Patrick Vieira, Louis van de Vuurst, Tom Watt, Arsene Wenger, Tom Whiting, Bob Wilson, Ian Wright.
1. Denis Law – on wall – watches over baby Dennis, Amsterdam 1970.
2. Dennis outside the family home at James Rosskade (circa 1975).
5. Ajax Youth season ticket for 1983-84 – Dennis, aged 14.
6. With his dad at a tournament in Belgium, 1983.
7. The wooden Maradona carved and painted by Dennis in his arts and crafts class.
8. An early trademark lob as captain of the Ajax Under-15s, 1983.
9. The 1985 Ajax A1 youth team with coach Cor van der Hart. Dennis stands fifth from left.
10. Celebrating winning the Cup Winners’ Cup with fellow teenager Frank Verlaat, Athens, May 1987.
13. Delight after scoring against Den Bosch, November 1988.
15. Master of the ball. In his last season with Ajax, 1992.
(Louis van de Vuurst, Ajax)
16. Seventeen-year-old Dennis lifts his first major trophy, the Cup Winners’ Cup, Athens, May 1987.
17. A header against Volendam, 1988.
(ANP)
18. With former Ajax team-mate Aron Winter after Lazio–Inter, Rome 1993.
(ANP)
20. With Wim Jonk, both holding their UEFA Cup winners’ medals.
(Getty Images)
21. Dennis with Arsene Wenger, pre-season 2004.
(Stuart Macfarlane, Arsenal)
