The following is a transcripted part of a larger interview from Voetbal International (Dutch Football Mag) with Jan Poortvliet.
Part of the article is about his time at St. Mary's. He blasts the role Mark Wotte played during his tenure with Southampton and expresses his views of his unsuccessful spell.
How do you look back at your adventure in England?
JP: It was a horrible spell. At the start it sounded wonderful. I had always dreamed of coaching in England. But as of day one I arrived in a tricky situation. It started with that arbitration against Helmond Sport, where I was working at the time. I"m very sad that things went that way. I have always enjoyed working there and had hoped they'd allow me to take on this opportunity to go to England, but unfortunately they did not. Nevertheless I decided to continue my case since Southampton really wanted me. I had expected them to support me in this case regardless of the outcome of the arbitration. In the end Helmond Sport were allowed a fee of 75.000e. When I signed my contract in Southamption later, it turned out, in a small addendum, that I had to pay this on my own. It's not a sum of money I have waiting on the shelves so it put me into a difficult situation. Also the contract didn't look like I expected. It was a roll-over contract, with an option for another year, after each season. While we had agreed on a three-year deal earlier.
Then why did you sign?
JP: It was an unexpected blow. I was there all alone in England. I didn't have a manager or agent with me. I didn't know better, so I put my signature there.
What else went wrong after that?
JP: I soon discovered Southmapton is a snakepit. It's a club with a lot of different movements inside. The past few years there have been a lot of people in control and they still have influence in the current organisation. The chairman at the time, Rupert Lowe, was hated by everyone within the organisation. He got me on board, but was almost instantly pressured to get rid of me. Lowe became nervous. He started to interfere with everything. Then he started to moan about our keeper Kelvin Davies couldn't handle the ball well enough. I then told him that this lad has been between the pipes for twenty years. We got into all kind of such useless discussions. All sorts of games were begin played. In the end I was there on my own. An assistant coach and goalkeeper coach were fired, both without any reason. It was one big madhouse. Nobody at Southampton ever seemed to know the word cooperation, everybody wanted to sit on the throne himself. It drove me crazy.
You would partner up with Mark Wotte who was presented at the same time as you as Chief Academy. What role did he play in all this?
JP: He never did anything to support me. He was only after one thing: my job.
Story is he already criticized you within the board after just the first exhibition game
JP: That’s what I heard too. And so I also found out stories that he constantly was trying to get my job. Officially he was assigned as head of the Academy, but he was never at youth games on Saturday. Then he was always watching the first team from the director’s box. Both home and away. That’s typically of Wotte. Already when you notice his presence it’s clear. Wearing a nice suit, chest and chin up. He felt he was higher ranked than me and felt he had was entitled the job of head coach more than I was. And he succeeded in that as well! After my dismissal he immediately took over. His mission was accomplished.
The combination Poortvliet-Wotte seemed impossible from the start.
JP: Well, it was a mistake to put us together. We’re totally different people, but I really did my best to make something from it. I wanted to involve him in everything and had no problem in working on an equal basis. But that wasn’t enough for Wotte. He had his own agenda. After some time our cooperation was that bad that somebody had to go. Him or me. I then also tried to get him out, I’m honest about that. But the club didn’t want to let him go and later I got fired myself. Initially that gave me a hard time but soon I felt enormously relieved. For half a year I had lived with immense stress. I was glad to be home again.
Southampton’s results were disappointing under your command. When you were fired, the team were second last in the Championship.
JP: The squad was extremely young, almost all players were between seventeen and early twenty. Physically we didn’t produce enough and we also lacked in experience and attack. But I did what I was asked. The talents developed nicely and at times we played mouthwatering football. In the end I was judged on the lack of results, that’s it. Wotte thought he’d do better. In the end he got relegated with Southampton. Very sorry for the club, but I was glad they went down. I felt screwed by Wotte, that he was relegated gave me peace. Under his command the team started to play kick and rush again. He replaced the promising youngsters with veteran players. The transfer value of the players that had carefully gone up during the season were now minimized again. He demolished all my work and I find that quite painful.
Has your spell in England be a success financially?
JP: Stop it, I only had a minimal wage and also had to pay my former team Helmond Sport. In the end all this cost me money rather than earning me. It has been one huge disaster.
Mark Wotte was asked to respond on this article.
“I have always supported Jan Poortvliet at Southampton. I’m surprised he now reacts in this fashion. He probably left frustrated, but then he shouldn’t pass it over to me. If he had a problem with me, he should have told me to my face. It’s nonsense that I was after his job, since I preferred my position outside the spotlight. Other than that, it’s not that great to take charge of a team that is in 23rd position. Poortvliet knew why I was in the director’s box during games. This was on request of the chairman who wanted to talk football with me during the games. At times I even defended Poortvliet during those meetings. After his departure I took care of the financial settlement with him. It’s sad that he is now expressing these things about me.”
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