Former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie called time on his professional playing career all the way back in 2019, and he’s been making a slow journey into management in the years since.
After some time as an assistant coach at Feyenoord, van Persie took on some head coach roles with Feyenoord’s academy teams, starting with the u16s and working his way up to the u19s.
But the 41-year-old’s first senior head coach role arrived this summer, with Dutch club Heerenveen offering him a two-year deal.
Things didn’t get off to a great start, with Heerenveen losing their opening game of the new Eredivisie season to Ajax. But that was no real surprise, and the team turned things around with a draw against FC Utrecht and a first win over NAC Breda.
Yet just when things seemed to be going well for van Persie’s new side, they suffered a massive setback in the form of a 9-1 defeat to AZ Alkmaar on Saturday.
The loss was Heerenveen’s worst in their history, with the eight-goal deficit matched only by an 8-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven in April. The nine goals conceded was the most they’ve ever conceded in a competitive match.
The game didn’t start well, with Sven Mijnans giving Alkmaar the lead in the fourth minute. But the match settled a little after that, and Luuk Brouwers brought Heerenveen level in the 19th minute.
Troy Parrott scored not long afterwards to give Alkmaar a 2-1 lead at half-time, but few could have predicted at that stage the monumental collapse in the second half.
Parrott scored a second in the 48th minute, a third in the 50th minute, and a fourth in the 56th minute, before Ibrahim Sadiq and Mexx Meerdink scored Alkmaar’s sixth and seventh goals in the 72nd and 75th minutes.
10 minutes on from those two goals respectively, Kristijan Belic scored in the 82nd minute, and Zico Buurmeester completed the humiliation in the 85th minute. You can watch the highlights here.
Van Persie has little time to inspire his team to bounce back, as they travel away to FC Twente on Tuesday.
