The Hague, May 14 (IANS) Dutch football club PSV Eindhoven presented former Dutch international Phillip Cocu as new coach for the coming four seasons.
The appointment of the 42-year-old Cocu Monday was no secret among insiders, but PSV had previously refused to confirm the deal. Cocu will replace Dick Advocaat, who failed to lead the club to the league title in the 2012/2013 season. PSV did win the Dutch Super Cup, but finished second in the league behind Ajax and lost the Dutch Cup final to AZ.
During his playing career, Cocu was active for AZ, Vitesse, PSV, FC Barcelona and Al-Jazira (UAE). He retired as professional player in 2008 after which he became assistant coach at the Dutch national team until 2012.
Cocu also started as youth coach at PSV and became assistant of the first team in 2009. From March 2012 until June 2012 he was caretaker head coach after Fred Rutten was fired. He led PSV to success in the Dutch Cup.
In the 2012/2013 season Cocu was coach of PSV Under 19. Next season he will be assisted by current assistant Ernest Faber and Chris van der Weerden, who assisted Cocu at PSV Under 19.
“Now I am ready for the challenge,” Cocu said during a press conference in Eindhoven.
“This season I deliberately decided to coach the youth team again to further develop myself and to get better insight of the qualities of youth players.”
“We have an ambitious staff,” the new head coach added. “We have to build a new team and that will take time. That’s why we have a long-term vision and why I signed for four years. We have to found the balance between players from our own youth academy and more experienced players.”
Sunday PSV captain Mark van Bommel announced to hang up his boots. The 36-year-old will be added as coach to the youth academy.
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