Today the season of our first team officially came to an end. Season endings always imply saying goodbye to some familiar faces. Also for us. In mutual agreement with our management our head coach Gert Heerkes decided to return back to the Netherlands. As a final gesture of appreciation I'd like to share the interview I had with him on his birthday (3 November), one month ago. In this interview I spoke with him about Chinese football, about our club and about our last season.
1. Congratulations, Gert! November 3rd is your birthday. How did you celebrate it? [smiles] Yes, it's a bit sober when you live abroad. In the morning I brought some cake for our players and in the afternoon I invited our staff to the office. Apart from that, there was some video calling with my friends and family back home.
2. I understand, part of being an international coach is being away from home often. In 2013 you started your work in China as an assistant coach at Jiangsu Sainty. How was it to work for a big club in the Super League? It was a beautiful year and an incredible experience. Back then there was not as much money involved as nowadays, but Jiangsu Sainty was certainly already a big name. Our staff was almost entirely Chinese, but I had an excellent translator, so the communication went well and the atmosphere was good. Our biggest achievement that season was reaching the cup final. I think we had a nice group of players. The most memorable one was Wu Xi. He impressed me with his personality and I still consider him the best Chinese player I've ever seen.
3. That season you directly assisted Gao Hongbo, who became world famous as the head coach of the Chinese national team (2009 till 2011, and in 2016). How did you experience working with him? Gao is a very knowledgeable man, who is fully aware of all the developments in foreign football. At the same time he is capable of adjusting his game play to Chinese football as well. That was a learning process for me. I experienced him as a very open and caring man. He really stood for his staff and his responsibilities. As a consequence, he was not that keen on handing over control. This required some flexibility from my side. As a Dutchmen I am used to having discussions with my staff members, but in my cooperation with Gao I functioned predominantly as a consultant. I gave him my advice and subsequently I had to wait and see what he would do with it. Sometimes our visions differed,but overall I certainly experienced him as a terrific coach. After that year I had the honor to meet him a couple more times. It's unfortunate that he didn't succeed with the national team. I know that was a big dream of him.
4. After Jiangsu Sainty you worked in Dutch professional football again and last February you returned to China as our head coach. How do you think Chinese football has changed in the meanwhile? I think the biggest change is that there's currently much more attention for football. A lot of people started to play football in the recent years. However, the organization structure did not developed equally fast. Too many unqualified people are still trying to get a piece of the huge amount of government money that is being spent on football. As a consequence, Chinese football still lacks a unified vision concerning youth development, and competition structures are still too unorganized. A big change in professional football is that Chinese clubs are now spending a lot on good players, while back in 2013 too much was spend on bad players.
5. In the Netherlands you are much more famous than here and gained a lot of experience in the Dutch Eredivisie (highest league in the Netherlands). How do you think the Eredivisie differs from the Chinese Super League? It's not easy to compare those competitions, but I am convinced that Chinese top clubs could compete with Dutch top clubs. My expectation would however be that Dutch top clubs would have the advantage of tactical knowhow. Chinese players are not thinking three steps ahead yet. Their playing style is enthusiastic but hasty, which frequently results in losing ball possession. I also notice that Chinese players tend to walk a lot in the field. I see them walking when the ball is at the other side of the field and I see them fail to make effective transitions. In Dutch football you'd generally see a lot more movement from players without the ball.
6. How would you ideally like your team to play? At every club I work, I always start by saying I don't like passive football. I like my team to take initiative. That doesn't mean I want them to attack like mad men. It means I want my team to show that they dare to play. This means attractive combinations with the intention of going forward, and defending with pressure on the ball. I'm someone that likes action. I also want to create teams where everyone participates. I don't like to rely on only a few strong players.
7. How would you describe yourself as a coach? I think I'm a people minded coach. I'm someone who puts the team first and I have quite some patience with my players. However, my patience is not everlasting. If I have to say something too often, it implies something is really wrong. If players don't listen to this, they will have to leave eventually. I believe I'm most suitable for teams that require a development process. Working for a young club like Qingdao Red Lions I experience some contradiction on this matter. At the one side we are still trying to develop our team; at the otherside we’re trying to qualify to the professional league as soon as possible.
8. Our club is established in February 2016 and the aim is indeed to qualify to China League Two as soon as possible. This season we unfortunately lost our region finals based on one match against Zibo FC (0-1). That same Zibo FC eventually won the national finals. Their win granted them a ticket to China League Two. How do you look back at the season? This season we experienced various stages. Roughly speaking I consider three of these. We started with (1) the Cup tournament. At that time our squad was still small. Nevertheless we made it to the semi-final. Subsequently (2) we played our competition. We started with a decent group. Overall we performed reasonably well until we headed to (3) our region finals in Zibo. The preparation for those finals wasn’t flawless, but we certainly left with a qualified group. On the day of our first match rain was pouring out of the sky and our striker asked for a sick leave. We played on a muddy field and ended up losing that game by one penalty (0-1). We won our other two region finals, but this couldn't compensate for that first loss anymore. The disappointment of that result diminished our team spirit and some vital players dropped out. Eventually we even lost our first place in the competition in our final match day.
9. Is there anything you blame yourself or your players? Maybe I should have been stricter from the start. Maybe you could accuse us of lacking winner mentality. I personally don’t think we made too many big mistakes, but based on our results you certainly can't say it was a successful season either.
10. Considering the ambitions of our club, what are your expectations for next season? At this stage that's still too early to answer. I haven't decided what to do yet, but there's a chance I'll leave before next season. Nevertheless I hold positive feelings towards the club. Hopefully the results of our first team will be better than last season. Hopefully the Qingdao Red Lions will achieve their mission and hopefully their future will be bright.
Let us always hope for a bright future, Gert! Thank you for your insightful answers and thank you for all your hard work at the Qingdao Red Lions. Whatever decision you'll make, I wish you all the best in your further career. Thank you for this interview, Maarten.
