Dick fancies a dabble in England
by Tom Kell, 13 May 2008
Dick Advocaat is convinced that he still has time to add a Premier League club to his managerial CV.
The Zenit St Petersburg manager is set to come up against former club Rangers in Wednesday’s Uefa Cup final at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Advocaat has a mixed bag of a managerial past having taken charge of Holland twice, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and PSV Eindhoven, amongst others.
However, the 60-year still has a spell in England in his sights.
"That will still come," he said. "Definitely. It will happen if the right club comes for me. It has been strange, because I feel I have done well.
"My first two years at Rangers were good. I've been, two times, the coach of Holland. I've been a champion in Holland, Scotland and Russia.
"When I became the manager of Holland again after Rangers, they wanted the younger men - like the [Jurgen] Klinsmanns, the [Marco] Van Bastens, the [Ruud] Gullits.
"But now they look at guys who are 58, 59, 60. You've got Trapattoni with Ireland at 68 - and he has a four-year deal."
The Dutchman moved upstairs at Ibrox in 2001 and walked away altogether the following summer, but he rues the timing of his original decision.
"I now regret I quit in December," he added. "David Murray [Rangers owner] wanted to step down at the time so I felt it might be right for me as well and I was also so tired.
"But we went through in Europe in Paris to the last 16 of the Uefa Cup and we still had the League Cup and Scottish Cup to come.
"Feyenoord knocked out Rangers, with Alex McLeish in charge, and went on to lift the trophy."