Pascal Bosschaart via SC Cambuur and FC Dordrecht for the group at Feyenoord next season? ‘Would be a nice reward for my work’

It is no secret that Pascal Bosschaart had imagined a different end to his employment at Cambuur. For years, the Rotterdammer was close to trainer Henk de Jong, with the championship as a shining example. But with his successor Sjors Ultee, things clicked significantly less well last season.

Bosschaart’s role changed, he was allowed to do less and less, and when the club was in dire straits and had to make a decision about his expiring contract, the inevitable followed: in a conversation of just a few minutes he was told it was over.

Bosschaart: ‘A slap in the face’

The sour aftertaste has still not been completely washed away. “A slap in the face,” Bosschaart said in the media this season. It felt like a gift from God when Feyenoord knocked on his door last summer, the club for which he played in more than fifty matches between 2004 and 2006.

The Rotterdam superpower was eager to revive the collaboration with FC Dordrecht and saw Bosschaart as the person to guide this in the right direction. As assistant to Michele Santoni, he then started a monster job to push the low-flyer up.

Overcome with nerves

See here the beginning of a new success story. FC Dordrecht is not the laughing stock of the first division this season, but is fully competing for promotion. With the ideas of Bosschaart and Santoni, supplemented with a number of talented youth players from Feyenoord, the club regularly comes together for the football shown.

If the Schapelopen want to be promoted, this must happen via the play-offs. Because of the loss of points at Cambuur (3-3) last Friday, a place in the top two, good for direct promotion, is no longer feasible.

It was a memorable match in Leeuwarden. Not only because of the goal-rich progress, but also because Bosschaart set foot in the Cambuur Stadium for the first time just under a year after his forced departure from Cambuur.

“I must honestly say that I was a bit nervous beforehand,” Bosschaart admitted after the match in the catacombs. “And I don’t know exactly why. I think because I just enjoyed coming back here after a year. Of course you still know almost everyone. In that respect, it was mainly positive tension that I felt.”

Bosschaart has a very special bond with De Jong. The Rotterdammer pulled the emergency brake when the Drachtster head coach started to show abnormal behavior, in retrospect due to a cyst in his head. And in De Jong’s absence, Bosschaart acted as a worthy replacement.

“Together we have had many successes here. I still have a lot of contact with Henk. The click was always very good, it has remained that way and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We spar a lot. It’s nice to be able to do that with someone like him. Is that special? Maybe, but for us it’s normal.”

Bosschaart is under contract with Feyenoord for another year. It is currently unknown whether the club will continue to employ the sympathetic trainer at FC Dordrecht after this season. In any case, it looks like Arne Slot is going to Liverpool and will take one or more staff members with him.

“So there is now a lot of space at Feyenoord,” says Bosschaart, who does not hide the fact that he has the ambition to play a role in the technical staff of his childhood sweetheart. “It just depends on what the club wants. Maybe I’ll be included in the process, we’ll see. It would be a nice reward for my work.”

De Jong: ‘A good person’

If there is one person who would grant him that step, it is De Jong. The trainer, who has been back with the group at Cambuur since November, briefly discussed their bond prior to the reunion with Bosschaart. “Pascal is a unique, sweet man,” he said respectfully. “A good person, too. And not entirely unimportant in this profession: he knows a lot about football.”

It should therefore come as no surprise that Bosschaart did not immediately get into the car for a long trip home on Friday after the match between the two teams, but spent King’s Night with De Jong in Leeuwarden. “No nonsense,” said the Rotterdammer. To add with a big smile: “But a few beers are part of it.”