Raymond Verheijan

I don't think I have seen him mentioned on here as a potential Cardiff manager, but he could be a great fit for us he has lots of experience coaching at Barcelona, zenit St Petersburg,Chelsea and Man City. He has also coached at international level with the Netherlands, Russia, south Korea (2002) and of course Wales under Gary Speed. He has had massive success as a coach and he even transformed a youth system in Feyenoord. I think he could be the sort of different and freshness to get us going again and despite his vast experience at coaching he is still only 44 which is young for a manager. I also think he is a realistic target who would want to manage Cardiff. If Bellamy still wants to wait a bit longer to manage us I don't see no harm in making Raymond Verheijan our next manager.

I like the sound of it good shout.

I don't think I have seen him mentioned on here as a potential Cardiff manager, but he could be a great fit for us he has lots of experience coaching at Barcelona, zenit St Petersburg,Chelsea and Man City. He has also coached at international level with the Netherlands, Russia, south Korea (2002) and of course Wales under Gary Speed. He has had massive success as a coach and he even transformed a youth system in Feyenoord. I think he could be the sort of different and freshness to get us going again and despite his vast experience at coaching he is still only 44 which is young for a manager. I also think he is a realistic target who would want to manage Cardiff. If Bellamy still wants to wait a bit longer to manage us I don't see no harm in making Raymond Verheijan our next manager.

What a great shout !
I wondered where this guy had got to after he was no longer wanted by Wales's Chris Coleman set up. If I was Vincent Tan I would swallow my pride and get rid of Slade, Trollop and Young Immediately, then offer the job to Verheijan along with Craig Bellamy as his assistant.
These two would bring instant hope and excitement to our long suffering fans, as their professionalism would quickly spread right throughout the club.

I know a lot of fans including myself would love to see bellamy manager and some are saying Raymond could be his assistant, but my only worry about bellamy is his lack of experience as a coach/manager. What happens if we get bellamy and after 8 months its gone pear shaped? so maybe its best if Raymond becomes our manager and bellamy becomes more involved on the coaching side for now possibly assistant manager, still learning the game and maybe after doing a bit of coaching us and maybe the Wales side for a few years he could be ready to manage us. Raymond Verheijan has all the experience needed to be a top manager as his CV speaks for itself and is just waiting for the opportunity which is why he would jump at the chance to manage us. I think with him as manager we would have a great opportunity to finally develop some sort of ethos/philosophy at the club and he is the sort of manager who would run from the first team all away down to the academy making sure we are developing the right sort of players. Dare I say it but Raymond Verheijan is the sort of forward thinking appointment you would associate Swansea with a few years ago.
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Raymond Verheijen as next Cardiff manager, don't make me laugh

Way too much of a hot head, wanted the Wales job and said 'it was what Gary would have wanted' I'd take him as a coach if Bellamy wants him there but keep him on a leash, he's outspoken on a number of things.

When Raymond Verheijen was appointed as assistant manager to Gary Speed, I had always assumed that it was an honorary title. Wales suffer massive problems in obtaining players release for international duty, so I had guessed that Verheijen’s prominence was merely intended to offer some confidence to club managers that their players would be well treated when they went to play for their country. But then during the recent Carling Cup games, it was the Dutch Fitness Coach that I saw prowling the technical area alongside Speed, while Osian Roberts, the technical coach sat back. Bizarrely, it appeared that Martyn Margetson, the goalkeeping coach was the one handing out tactical instructions to the players.

Verheijen’s expertise has always been a given. When he was appointed, Speed said: “I am delighted to have Raymond on board as part of my team. His experience will prove invaluable and his credentials are first class.” Nobody in the media has questioned his qualifications to be given the Number Two job with our National team, and the FAW press release which stated that Verheijen “is well known for his expertise on tactics” was widely repeated. This claim is questionable – we know that Verheijen has unparallelled experience as a fitness conditioner, but not as a tactical coach. He holds the Uefa A coaching licence, but not the “Pro” Licence. In an era when the FAW are becoming more and more strict on the qualifications required by domestic team managers, the National Team’s Assistant Manager holds only the same qualification as that required to run a Welsh Premier League club’s Junior Academy. Raymond Verheijen has fewer coaching qualifications than Andy Legg and Neville Powell.

When I had the chance to question Jonathan Ford recently, I asked him outright why Verheijen had been chosen in the role of Assistant Manager, as opposed to Fitness Coach. Ford’s response surprised me. He told me to look Verheijen up, as his experience was undoubted. When I pressed him on whether Verheijen had previously held an Assistant Manager’s post, he assured me that he had. “As Assistant Manager?”I asked again? “Yes, as Assistant Manager” answered Ford. The Chief-Executive of the FAW was mistaken.

Verheijen had started out as a player, but his career in the game was ended by a hip injury at the age of 17. He immediately began to study exercise physiology and sports psychology at the Free University, Amsterdam. The results of his research became a book in 1997. “Conditioning for Soccer” was authored by “Doctor Ray Verheijen”. Except that Verheijen isn’t a Doctor, and never was. He is a “Master of Sports Science”, but this does not allow use of the Doctor title. He was exposed in Australia for this false claim, though he was still being called a Doctor as late as 2009. At another conference, he was even awarded the PhD title that he never gained.

Raymond Verheijen began his career with the Dutch Federation. He made contacts in those days which stood him in good stead for the rest of his career. Those progressive Dutch coaches appointed their friend when they were given high profile roles at clubs and countries across the World. Verheijen worked with Dutch coaches Frank Rijkaard, Louis van Gaal, Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat, and was employed at five major international tournaments with the Netherlands, South Korea and Russia . He has never held a full-time position at a club, though he has worked with a national side in qualification for every single major tournament since 1998.

Netherlands (1998 DK) - Guus Hiddink
Netherlands (Euro 2000) - Frank Rijkaard
South Korea (2002 DK) - Guus Hiddink
Netherlands (Euro 2004) - Dick Advocaat
South Korea (2006) - Dick Advocaat
Russia (Euro 2008) - Guus Hiddink
South Korea (2010 DK) - Huh Jung-moo
Wales (Euro 2012) - Gary Speed

But what of his work with Wales? Questions have been asked by Welsh supporters about Verheijen’s priorities – is he working primarily for the benefit of the country? Doubts were raised when Craig Bellamy missed Wales games against Bulgaria and Switzerland despite turning out for Cardiff City at Barnsley. Then Verheijen went on to question the worth of the Carling Cup tournament even while loyal Welsh fans were on their way to Dublin. Verheijen’s most high profile exposure recently was the incident with Gareth Bale during training for the match against England in March. He explains in an interview with FC Business why Bale was withdrawn from the biggest Welsh game in years.

It wasn’t until Tuesday of the camp for the England game that we did our first session and I saw he was holding his leg. I told him to go off. He didn’t want to but I explained to him that we are looking towards the next three and a half years not the next three and a half days. We took him for a scan which showed he had a tiny tear. There was no way we were going to risk him because we respect that not only would it do more damage to him but he needs to play more games this season for Spurs. It would not have done anybody any good. It was because of the environment that we are putting into place that means he’ll play for the rest of the season at Spurs.

I personally believe that the approach is worth trying. Wales desperately needs its best players to be available and in the long term, Verheijen’s careful approach may turn out to be beneficial. But there are plenty of people who believe that Wales’s interests should come first. There is still resentment that Wales sent out a second string side to face Scotland recently, though the decision seemed sensible to me.

Verheijen bases his coaching on the Periodisation system first promoted by the Russian physiologist Leo Matveyev in the 1960s. The idea is not a new one, but the basic premise is that certain types of player should do less training to maintain their dynamic advantage. Craig Bellamy was won over to the Periodisation system after a six-week expiriment at a training camp with Manchester City left him feeling fitter than ever. Since that time, he has hardly let Verheijen out of his sight. During the 2010/11 season, Bellamy was restricted to one game a week at times with Cardiff, and missed the vital end of season play-off semi-final after leaving the field very early on as a precaution.

After a recent trip to act as a consultant with Brisbane Roar FC in Australia, Verheijen criticised the club’s coach, Branko Colina, who was bemused by his comments.

”Our strength and conditioning guy actually went on professional development to Wales to meet up with Raymond Verheijen for the Wales-England match. He was at the game, spent a week-and-a-half with him, so I find these comments more than a little surprising.”

While on service with the Welsh National Team, preparing for a match against England, Verheijen was providing works experience to an Australian coach. Many young Welsh fitness coaches who would have loved that opportunity. Another question for me is whether it is appropriate for our paid Assistant Manager to be selling his services to our opponents -Verheijen is also a consultant with Football Federation Australia. Wales are due to face Australia at Cardiff in August – is it right that Verheijen is working for both teams?

Nobody is questioning Verheijen’s ability and experience. His conditioning work is groundbreaking, and his CV is most impressive. I especially remember the awesome fitness of his South Korean teams at those World Cup tournaments, and we are lucky that he is working with Wales. What I fail to understand is why false claims needed to be made to justify his appointment. “Doctor” Ray Verheijen has never been an Assistant Manager, and he has no Tactical Expertise (and of course, he isn’t a Doctor). If none of these things is important in his appointment as Wales’ Assistant Manager, then why make them up?


http://ffwtbol.co.uk/2011/06/03/would-t ... -stand-up/

I seem to remember Bellamy really praising this guy. I wouldn't mind a one two punch.

I thought he was more of a physio type rather than a tactical coach? managing injuries, Injury prevention, dietician etc.