Marco van Basten does not find it strange that Clarence Seedorf has been without a club for some time. The latter filed a complaint last week Veronica Offside about the lack of coaching jobs he has been offered in recent years. Seedorf and Van Basten have been at odds for almost twenty years. Seedorf resigned from the Dutch national team in 2008 because he no longer wanted to play for the Dutch team under Van Basten.
Seedorf noted last week that, in his opinion, trainers of color do not get enough work. “We have Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Sol Campbell: I can name a few more names. They didn’t get any chances. I got a few more chances, she didn’t. Then you have to look at what discrimination is. When you look for people at a company, they look for people who look like them. You don’t get diversity like that. I don’t want to call everything discrimination, but it is happening worldwide,” said the currently clubless trainer.
Van Basten lashes out at Seedorf during Rondo
Ruud Gullit also saw the broadcast in which Seedorf complained, the analyst said on Monday in the Rondo television program Ziggo Sports. “Seedorf applied for a job at Ajax, but did not receive an answer,” Gullit introduced his story, before indignantly making it clear that he believes that Seedorf receives too little recognition in the Netherlands. “What I find annoying… When players like Seedorf come abroad, doors open everywhere. Recently I saw Seedorf on TV and I thought: This man has won the Champions League four times. Then I think: this man must be able to enter anywhere, right? I don’t get it, I don’t understand it.”
However, Van Basten does not at all agree with Gullit’s indignation about the lack of coaching jobs for Seedorf, who was last active in 2019 as national coach of Cameroon. “We have seen Seedorf on television in many ways. I just think he’s a very stubborn guy. That is something you can make a choice about: as an employer I would not want to work with such a stubborn guy. He’s stubborn in an unpleasant way. I think so.”
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“I think he’s stubborn in a good sense. I was also stubborn,” Gullit replied, who then turned in exasperation to Van Basten: “You were at odds with Mark van Bommel, but he is now also a good trainer, isn’t he? Now he gets a chance too, right? And now it seems he can. I also look at status. If Kluivert and Seedorf are at Ajax and he starts making calls in Europe, doors will open. People think that’s wonderful. Isn’t that also important?”
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No matter how great Seedorf was as a footballer, the marriage with the Dutch team was never very happy despite 87 international matches. He did not get along well with Van Basten, who became national coach in 2004, which led to Seedorf leaving the Dutch team in 2008. When Bert van Marwijk took over, Seedorf made himself available again. But he was never selected again.
