Van Nistelrooy’s the perfect manager for PSV… he’s avoided Neville’s error

It’s a well-known fact that being a top player doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be a top manager.

This has been proven countless times over the years. If we were to list every example, this article would be as long as a World Cup draw. But recent ones include Gary and Phil Neville, Clarence Seedorf, Theirry Henry and Andrea Pirlo.

Given that, you may be wary of getting too excited about the fact that Ruud van Nistelrooy is about to kick off his (senior) managerial career, taking the reins at PSV before the start of the 2021-22 season.

However, there’s plenty of reason other than the fact that he was bloody good on the pitch to think that Van Nistelrooy’s going to be as successful in the dug-out as he was in front of goal.

So many big names have made the mistake of rushing their transition from player to manager, taking the top job with little or no coaching experience to their name. Van Nistelrooy hasn’t.

In fact, when he was first offered the job by PSV following current manager Roger Schmidt’s decision to leave at the end of the season, he turned it down.

He felt that it was too soon for such a job, preferring instead to have one more year in charge of the youth team, Jong PSV, who play in the Eerste Divisie and of whom he took charge of at the start of the 2021-22 campaign.

Such modesty and caution is a rare thing amongst former players of his calibre, many of whom have taken bigger jobs with a far smaller coaching CV than the Dutchman’s, and shows just how much he wants to make sure he’s ready before taking the next step.

It wasn’t until Marcel Brands, returning as Director of Football after leaving Everton, pointed out such a CV to him that he decided that time was now.

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