PIET DE VISSER

'Piet de Visser' (born in Oost- en West-Souburg, Netherlands) is a Dutch football coach and scout. He is best known for scouting players like Romário and Ronaldo and successfully bringing them to Europe.^[1] He is currently a personal adviser to Roman Abramovich, the owner of the English club Chelsea F.C..^[2]

Contents

Career

Manager

PSV

Chelsea / Roman Abramovich

Honours

References

Career

Manager

After a career as a player for De Zeeuwen, RCH and Zeeland Sport, De Visser became involved in management. In 1957 he started as a youth and assistant manager at Sparta.^[3]
In 1964 he took his first assignment as a head manager at DFC and became champion of the second division in his first year. In 1973, while manager of De Graafschap, he and his club (which included defender Guus Hiddink) were promoted to the Eredivisie. He subsequently became champion of the Eerste Divisie with NEC in 1975, and moved to the R.W.D. Molenbeek which had won the Belgian League the preceding season.
He ended his management career in 1993, while at NAC Breda, due to heart problems. He has since struggled with his health, beating cancer and undergoing five bypass surgeries.^[4] During his career, De Visser managed Sparta, DFC, Stormvogels Telstar, De Graafschap, NEC, R.W.D. Molenbeek, FC Den Haag, Roda JC, AZ Alkmaar, Willem II and NAC Breda.^[5]

PSV

After his career as a trainer De Visser became scout at PSV. While at PSV he was responsible for scouting players like Romário, Ronaldo, Alex, and Gomes for the club. ^[6] He even scouted Adriano but PSV coach Erik Gerets was not interested in signing the Brazilian.

Chelsea / Roman Abramovich

Since 2005 De Visser also scouts for Chelsea F.C., and is considered a close personal adviser on transfers to Roman Abramovich. Guus Hiddink, who played under De Visser at De Graafschap, and who worked with him at PSV, was recommended to Abramovich (who pays Hiddink's wages) for the position of manager of the Russia national football team. De Visser also recommended the hiring of Frank Arnesen to Abramovich, a move which was opposed by Jose Mourinho. ^[7] It was De Visser who first recommended the signing of Mikel John Obi to Frank Arnesen for Chelsea.^[8] De Visser and Arnesen have since clashed with Mourinho over transfer policy, with the two recommending Alex be brought over from PSV to solve the club's defensive problems, but Mourinho insisting on the signing of Khalid Boulahrouz instead.
De Visser has also been instrumental in assisting Abramovich in setting up a youth academy at Chelsea, modeled on the academy at PSV. According to De Visser, "Mr Abramovich is fed up that he has to keep paying millions and millions for big star players. He had to pay an absolute fortune to get players like Didier Drogba and Michael Essien. This is why he has asked me as a private scout to look out for top class young players who will be the Chelsea stars in three years time."^[9]

Honours

De Visser won numerous championships at various clubs as a manager. In 2005, he received the prestigious Rinus Michels Award for his entire oeuvre. The award is named after Rinus Michels, who was named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999.^[10]

References

1. Piet De Visser - Internationaal Voetbalscout
2. Dutch scout is Abramovich's secret link
3. Oeuvreprijs naar Piet de Visser
4. Teenage kicks, so hard to beat
5. Piet de Visser
6. De Visser on our midfield
7. 'Special One' has suffered a power cut
8. Feud at the heart of Chelsea's troubles
9. De Visser reveals Chelsea's close PSV ties
10. Michels - a total footballing legend