Adelaide United chairman Piet van der Pol in a candid interview discussed a number of wide ranging topics
Adelaide United chairman Piet van der Pol says fellow Dutchman Gertjan Verbeek’s ways are typical of coaches from home nation, the Netherlands
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Adelaide United chairman Piet van der Pol says a major announcement from the club’s Chinese connection is destined to secure another European club as part of the investor’s global strategy.
He also talked about the club’s women’s team future, coach Gertjan Verbeek, junior development, Chinese experiment Yongbin Chen, why visa players won’t be a priority and why A-League clubs should have much more control on the draw.
“Europe, I think this maybe a better moment than ever to expand of course we’ll look for bargains they’re going to be coming in the next few months,’’ van der Pol said.
“This enables you to improve your scouting and your network.
“It enables you to get better foreign players these connections and it enables you to do other things.
“We were talking about this in the last couple of weeks we cannot announce them yet but we have had good results with our connection in China.
“Many things are on the up and this (coronavirus pandemic) is a smack in the face for every club and we’re no different to everyone else to what is happening now.”
THE COACH
Van der Pol says Verbeek is typically Dutch in the way he presents his ideals during good and bad times since he took charge of the club last June.
“This is the Dutch way and that is clear and in Holland we are very critical after every game,’’ van der Pol said.
“The challenge was to play attractive football and give young players an opportunity and he’s done a fantastic job.
“There has also been a lot of disappointing results, way too much ups and downs.”
THE A-LEAGUE DRAW, OUTDATED HINDMARSH STADIUM
Adelaide’s crowds were on the downhill slide to its lowest on record before the coronavirus pandemic.
Van der Pol believes the A-League draw, Hindmarsh Stadium’s outdated facilities where more than 60 per cent of fans are not protected by the weather elements are all contributing factors.
“It is very strange for someone to Europe to say “don’t play Saturday because there is cricket on I have never heard anyone from Holland say that,’’ van der Pol said.
“For me I cannot grasp how important that is and culturally sensitive it may be.
“But it doesn’t make sense when the conditions for supporters and players, when its 38C in a stadium without cover.
“I have no fear there is not going to be a professional football league anytime soon that we’ll get back.
“Maybe things have gotten a bit out of hand, some things should be adjusted and this is a moment better than anything else to sit back and look at what it’s become and what we need to change about it.”
VISA PLAYERS AND THEIR FUTURE AT THE REDS
Van der Pol is convinced luring marquee players isn’t working in Australia due to the market not being able to compete with competitions that are able to attract the best players in the world at their peak.
“Marquee players I have said it from day one, nonsense,’’ he said.
“(Alessandro) Del Piero is always given as an example of what a fantastic role he did in the development of the football.
“I don’t agree, it was two of Sydney’s worst two seasons they had for the last 10 years.
“They were playing with 10 men, he scored goals because of free kicks and penalty kicks but for the rest he never played a part.
“They bought shirts but what is the point of this game selling shirts or playing as well as possible.
“I understand it’s fantastic to have a superstar like this in this country but he didn’t contribute to the level of football.
“The reality is the success rate of the visa players in the whole of the league is less than 50 per cent of players that really make a difference.
REDS FEEDER CLUB
Van der Pol said Adelaide knows its place in the world game.
“Football is a pyramid and there are two or three clubs at the top of the pyramid and everyone else is a feeder club, everybody,’’ he said.
“The concept the A-League is a stand-alone high quality league, it’s not.
“We try to get the best players from South Australia and sometimes from outside but initially I look at my own backyard whether that’s staff or players or anyone and if that’s not available I can look elsewhere.
“That is local business.
“The top 16 clubs of the world, not even all 16 are global brands.
“If you go from no. 17 to 32 and clubs halfway in the Bundesliga that are very wealthy, there is no child in Buenos Aires or Sydney sleeping under a Bayer Leverkusen duvet.
“Every other club needs to know its place in the football pyramid and we are more towards the bottom than the top in Australia.”
THE REDS WOMEN’S TEAM
Finishing equal bottom of the W-League this season is an all too familiar ending for the South Australians.
Van der Pol said the club was frustrated by the lack of empathy towards the women’s side.
“Everyone is telling me the same, the great importance of women’s football (but) we haven’t seen many resources coming our way,’’ van der Pol said.
“Government or from anyone else, federation, sponsorship, we have been financing this ourselves 75 or 80 per cent which is a pretty expensive exercise.
“We have had a disappointing season, let’s really start from zero also to develop local talent.
“We cannot do this alone we need NPL and amateur clubs to help us do this.
“There needs to be a masterplan for the development of women’s football.”
REDS MALE JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT
With the club currently running three male teams – A-League, NPL and NPL reserves – van der Pol says having more teams from under 12s is vital.
“There is a lot of talent locally that has done amazingly well,’’ van der Pol said.
“We spoke about replacing Isaias and I said “yeah look at young Louis (D’Arrigo) he is capable of that but not yet” and as it turns out he plays played almost every game.
“The reality is Louis starts playing professional football or a high level at the age of 16 roughly whereas they (juniors in Europe) have been doing that from 8, 10 or 12 years so how much better could he be if he had the same opportunities.
“Ideally start at 12 (years old) or maybe even younger and give these kids the 10,000 hours of training by the time they’re 18.
“The talent is here, we have seen that.”
YONGBIN CHEN THE CHINESE EXPERIMENT
Van der Pol wouldn’t discount the possibility of signing more Chinese players like Chen for the A-League squad in the future.
“Yongbin Chen is for development of Chinese football and not for the development of Australian football,’’ van der Pol said.
“We are fortunately on the brink of doing some very interesting things with China not necessarily as a direct result from this.
“We have a pathway and a connection that no other A-League club has.
“We have two clubs in order to allow players to develop from one club to the other.”