 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1948-06-03)3 June 1948 (age 76) | ||
| Place of birth | Eindhoven, Netherlands | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| LEW | |||
| FC Eindhoven | |||
| Managerial career | |||
| 1980 | PSV Eindhoven (caretaker) | ||
| 1983–1986 | PSV Eindhoven | ||
| 1986–1988 | VVV-Venlo | ||
| 1988–1991 | Roda JC | ||
| 1991–1995 | Willem II | ||
| 1995 | MVV | ||
Jan Reker (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈjɑnˈreːkər], born 3 June 1948) is a Dutch football manager and director.
Reker started his coaching career in theWillem II andPSV Eindhoven youth ranks, which was followed up by the assistant manager role atVVV-Venlo and PSV. After half a season as caretaker in 1980, Reker officially served as manager of PSV between 1983 and 1986, winning theEredivisie title in his last year. He also coached VVV,Roda JC, Willem II and lastlyMVV Maastricht.
In 1996, Reker became chairman of the Dutch Association of Professional Football Coaches. In 2007, he was appointed general manager at PSV. Reker faced the Eredivisie title win in his first year, but subsequent poor performances in later years.Ronald Koeman andHuub Stevens resigned, and an internal struggle ensued between Reker and other staff, including a public dispute between him and goalkeeperGomes. Fan criticism towards Reker reached a peak in early 2009 after a disappointing season. A year later, a dispute between him and the PSV board led to his departure.
Reker was born in theStrijp area inEindhoven; his father worked as agreengrocer.[1] He played youth football at amateur club LEW andFC Eindhoven. Reker was educated in sport management and earned a degree as acommando during hisconscription. He never played professional football; after his military service he committed himself to football coaching.[2]
In 1969, Reker became youth coach atWillem II. Later, he also served as youth coach and academy director atPSV Eindhoven.[1] In 1977, Reker moved toVVV-Venlo to become assistant manager. After three years, he returned to PSV to serve as assistant manager underKees Rijvers.[3] When Rijvers was sacked in January 1980, Reker was chosen as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season.[4][5] AfterThijs Libregts was appointed as the new PSV manager in 1981, Reker returned to his assistant position.[4] Libregts left in 1983 and PSV subsequently chose Reker as the new coach.[4] He brought inGuus Hiddink as an assistant manager fromDe Graafschap, but success remained absent in 1984 and 1985. It prompted PSV to chooseHans Kraay as director of football and a batch of new players likeRuud Gullit andEric Gerets. With Kraay, Reker and Hiddink, PSV secured theEredivisie title in the1985-86 season.[6][7]
In 1986, Reker returned toVVV-Venlo as director of football and manager. WithSef Vergoossen as coach, they reached the fifth place in the Eredivisie twice.[8][9] After two years, he left forRoda JC as the successor ofRob Jacobs. Reker appointedWilly van der Kuijlen as his assistant. In the1988-89 season, Roda JC reached the fifth place in the Eredivisie, narrowly missing out on European qualification. The team reached the UEFA Cup third round, where it was eliminated bySredets Sofia after penalties (4-4 on aggregate). After the first (away) match against Sofia, Reker was suspended for two matches by UEFA after claiming that Reker had provoked the home crowd. Things improved in the1989-90 season, when Roda JC claimed the first spot in the Eredivisie after ten league rounds, and were second at the winter break. Reker also signed a new five-year contract. Eventually, Roda JC qualified for European football. In Reker's third season, Roda suffered an early elimination in the UEFA Cup againstAS Monaco. After disappointing league performances, the relationship between Reker and chairman Nol Hendriks deteriorated. Even though Roda JC finished tenth in the Eredivisie and reached the KNVB Cup semi-finals, Reker decided to resign at the end of the season.[3]
In October 1991, Reker succeededPiet de Visser as coach ofWillem II.[10] During his three-year period at the club, he finished 12th, 10th and eighth in the league.[10] In January 1995, Reker announced he would leave Willem II at the end of the season.[11] But after the team lost a match againstFC Dordrecht (3-0) in March, Reker decided to quit immediately. At that point, he had signed a three-year contract with MVV to become their manager in July 1995. In Maastricht, he replacedSef Vergoossen who in turn became MVV's director of football.[12] But when MVV were facing relegation in May, Vergoossen decided to quit early, forcing Reker to step in for the remaining matches.[13] He could not prevent MVV from relegation, and the team had to play in theEerste Divisie for the 1995–96 season. After a dismal start of the league, with MVV in last place after nine matches, Reker was sacked in October.[14] It turned out to be Reker's last job as head coach; after suffering a back injury during a renovation of his house, he had trouble standing for long periods, denying him any future coaching jobs.[1]
In 1990, Reker founded the Coaches Betaald Voetbal (Association of Professional Football Coaches).[3] He started out as thetreasurer of the organization, but was appointed as the director in 1996.[15][16] Being in charge of CBV, Reker faced a few problems with its members. In 1999, Reker expelledCo Adriaanse after he had insultedFrank Rijkaard in an interview. Two years later,Aad de Mos was also excluded after an interview - this time for ridiculingLouis van Gaal (one of the CBV founders).[17] In 2007, it was Van Gaal himself who separated from the CBV, after his critique onMarco van Basten was met with a reprimand from Reker.[18]
In July 2007, Reker left his job at CBV to become general manager ofPSV Eindhoven. He succeeded chairmanFrits Schuitema. PSV chose to abolish the position of the chairman and replaced it with a board of directors and a general manager, so Reker was the first man with this title.[15] PSV started the 2007–08 season by spending €15,4 million onDanny Koevermans,Danko Lazović andBalázs Dzsudzsák, while sellingArouna Koné for €12 million. In September, PSV were ejected from theKNVB Cup by the football association after fielding a suspendedManuel da Costa in the match against JongSC Heerenveen. Reker called the error an “inexcusable blunder” and started an investigation on the matter.[19] In October, Reker had to let coachRonald Koeman go toValencia, after receiving an offer from Spain and Koeman himself eager to accept it.[20] After askingJan Wouters to fill in for the first few matches, Reker broughtSef Vergoossen in as caretaker manager, withDwight Lodeweges as his assistant.[21][22] Vergoossen was chosen afterMartin Jol andFred Rutten rejected the offer.[23][24] Eventually, PSV won the Eredivisie title in 2008, playedChampions League and reached theUEFA Cup quarter-finals, leading up to a 29.4 million euros net profit in the 2007–08 season.[25]
Behind the scenes, Reker faced a power struggle with several people; most notably player agentVlado Lemić. He had close ties with director of footballStan Valckx, scoutPiet de Visser, former coachesGuus Hiddink and Koeman, and players includingGomes. The PSV staff would profit from his extensive network – the club signed players likeMateja Kežman andAlex through him, among others. Lemic's growing influence and questionable financial compensations received resistance from the PSV directors. After Reker's arrival, he attempted to minimize Lemic's power, which was not appreciated by Lemic and his allies.[26] After the 2008 league title, Gomes spoke out against Reker in an interview. Citing a lack of trust, Gomes issues an ultimatum: either Reker leaves, or he will leave himself. Valckx calls Reker negligent and De Visser resigned, claiming that he could not handle Reker's unreliability anymore. Reker, backed by the board of directors, proceeded to sack Valckx and deny Lemic entry to the PSV premises.[26][2] Gomes, immensely popular with fans, was sold toTottenham Hotspur.
Meanwhile, Reker also faced criticism from goalkeeper coachJoop Hiele, who was forced to leave PSV afterHuub Stevens was appointed as the new manager, andErwin Koeman, who expected to be offered the role of assistant manager – to no avail.[27][28] During the 2008 summer transfer period, PSV soldJefferson Farfán and Gomes for €19 million, and in return boughtOla Toivonen,Stef Nijland,Andreas Isaksson andErik Pieters for €13,3 million. With Stevens, the 2008–09 season started disastrously, facing early Champions League and KNVB Cup eliminations and a fourth league spot at the winter break.[25] Both Reker and Stevens faced heavy protests from the PSV fan base, who demanded their resignation, but the board of directors kept their faith in Reker.[29][30][31] In January, Stevens resigned though and Reker appointed Lodeweges as caretaker manager for the remainder of the season.[32][33] With Lodeweges, PSV finished fourth in the league, missing out on Champions League football and its financial benefits.[34]
In April 2009, Reker signedFred Rutten as the new head coach of PSV. He was handed a three-year contract.[35] During the summer,Orlando Engelaar andStanislav Manolev were transferred to PSV (for €7,1 million), while Lazović was sold for €5 million. On Christmas Eve 2009, Reker announced his departure as general manager. Even though the PSV board of directors asked Reker to extend his contract, he refused and decided to leave PSV when his contract ended in July 2010.[36] Reker was angered by the board after they did not consult him about releasing commercial director Marcel van den Bunder.[37] Reker: “I have decided not to extend my contract with PSV in solidarity with a displaced colleague. Principles matter more to me than money.”[38]
| Team | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| PSV Eindhoven | January 1980 | June 1980 |
| PSV Eindhoven | July 1983 | June 1986 |
| VVV-Venlo | July 1986 | June 1988 |
| Roda JC | July 1988 | June 1991 |
| Willem II | October 1991 | March 1995 |
| MVV Maastricht | May 1995 | October 1995 |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
