Weekend Football

29 May 2009

by Jerrad Peters

Managerial merry-go-round already spinning

The coaching carousel is spinning like a top, tossing managers to new jobs throughout Europe's domestic leagues. Holland and Germany have been the most active participants on the merry-go-round this spring. At least seven of the most high-profile coaches in the two countries have switched cities in recent days and weeks, and more are likely to follow.

Steve McClaren, for one, is thought to be among the candidates to replace Martin Jol at Hamburg. McClaren, 48, guided Dutch side Twente to a second-place finish in the Eredivisie this season, ahead of both Ajax and PSV Eindhoven. The Tukkers also advanced to the final of the Dutch cup, where they lost on penalties to Heerenven.

Hamburg are searching for a successor to Jol after the Dutchman quit HSH Nordbank Arena to succeed Marco Van Basten at Ajax. Van Basten resigned the position after finishing 12 points behind AZ Almkaar in the Eredivisie, and has since been linked with the top job at AC Milan.

Alkmaar, meanwhile, lost manager Louis van Gaal to Bayern Munich shortly after winning the league in late April. Considered one of the brightest tactical minds in world football, van Gaal will be expected to deliver a league championship and extended Champions' League campaign in his first season in Bavaria.

Replacing van Gaal at Alkmaar is Ronald Koeman. After enjoying some success while in charge at Ajax, Benfica and PSV Eindhoven, the 46-year-old was a flop at Valencia and has been out of work since April, 2008. His resume is impressive, however, and includes five Eredivisie titles as a player and three more as a manager. He coached Ajax to a pair of championships in 2002 and 2004 and earned the third at PSV in 2007.

PSV, for their part, have turned to Fred Rutten after the failed Huub Stevens experiment. Stevens, who preceded Jol at Hamburg and succeeded Sef Vergoossen who succeeded Jan Wouters who succeeded Koeman at Eindhoven, has been hired to manage Red Bull Salzburg next season. Rutten, meanwhile, takes the job after getting the axe at Schalke on March 26.

To plug the hole, Schalke have hired Wolfsburg's league-winning manager Felix Magath. The 55-year-old—who was fired by Bayern Munich in January, 2007—won a pair of Bundesliga titles in Bavaria before taking Wolves to the top of the table this season.

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, will look to Armin Veh to keep them at the top of the table next term. Veh, 48, won the league at the helm of Stuttgart in 2007 before getting the sack the following season. He has also coached at Augsburg and Hansa Rostock.

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