In the big interview in the VI Christmas special told Nicky Hofs that as a trainer he reaped the benefits of the way he behaved as a player. ‘I was never the easiest for a trainer. I could really be smart. During running exercises I always walked behind. Every trainer insisted to me that I had to get more out of it. But at the same time the same applied to Theo and me: we were winners. We hated running, but we loved playing games. Then we went full throttle.’
According to Janssen, such an attitude is not negative at all. ‘I’ll turn it around. I think we would play a hundred international matches in this time. Why? We can’t say that football has gotten better, can we? Footballers these days have all become athletes, they are all super fit, but we have a lot of the same types. Today’s football has become faster, but not more fun.’
‘We were winners, assholes, creative, doing things that a coach might not really want, but that we thought were the best. We still did things ourselves. Nowadays you see that football players, who do something slightly different from the crowd, are quickly seen as difficult. Because they all have to fit into the same box. Let that go man, just go back to enjoying yourself and playing football.’
Read the double interview with native Arnhem residents Theo Janssen and Nicky Hofs, who witnessed the collapse of Vitesse up close, now on VI PRO:
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