CONNECTIONS
Part 2 Dick Advocaat

Born in 's Gravenhage (The Hague), Netherlands, on 27th September 1947 Dick, or Dirk, or Richard, Advocaat is the latest in our connections series. Dick is the current manager of Zenit St Petersburg who face, one of his former clubs, Rangers in the UEFA Cup Final 2008 at the City of Manchester Stadium. To find his connection with Belgium however we must cover his playing career.

Dick Advocaat - Footballer
Dick began his professional playing career on 21 May 1967 for ADO in a 3-0 win at home to GVAV. In his role as a, unspectacular, defensive midfielder he made 1 further appearance in his debut season, the next two seasons saw him used only briefly with 3 and 14 appearances. In season 1969-70 he claimed a more regular position in the side appearing 29 times and scoring 1 goal, in his last season at ADO he played 33 games without adding to his solitary goal. A move to FC Den Haag appears to be more successful for Dick as he makes 66 appearances and score 6 goals in two years.

From 1973 Dick played with Roda JC, making 121 appearances but only scoring twice, before moving to VVV during the 1976-77 season. During his time with Venlo he again found his scoring touch with 2 goals in 20 games during the 1976-77 season. This was followed with 4 goals in 33 games in 1977-78, but then none in 21 matches during 1978-79. At this point Dick went to America to play for Chicago Sting during 1979 (32 games, 3 goals) and again in 1980 (31, 1). During the break in the American season Dick turned out for FC Den Haag playing 11 times, scoring once. Once again Dick returned to Holland for the remainder of the 1980-81 season to play for Sparta Rotterdam and in 18 months made 61 appearances, scoring 6 goals.

It is now that Dick moves to play in Belgium, but only very briefly. After appearing 10 times for Berchem Sport Dick rapidly returned to Holland and FC Utrecht. Utrecht was to be his last playing destination and after 39 appearances, with no goals. His last match was on the 11th March 1984 where Utrecht lost at home to AZ '67 Alkmaar 1-7, Dick was replaced by Dwight Flight in the 60th minute. During his last 3 years of playing Dick also worked as a coach with amateur side DVSP.

Dick Advocaat - Football Coach/Manager
As we already know Dick is the current manager of Zenit St Petersburg but to reach here we have a look at his complete managerial career. Dick started his career as a coach with DVSP in season 1981-82 and continued until season 1983-84, this may be part of the reason his stay in Belgium was so short. He then spent 3 years coaching with the KNVB before becoming manager of Haarlem. He moved to SVV for the start of season 1989-90. By the time he resigned on the 22nd

August 1991 they were renamed SVV/Dordrecht '90. His decision to leave, SVV/Dordrecht, would have been easy as his next move was to be as assistant to Rinus Michels with the Dutch National side. After 1 year as assistant he then became head coach leading the side to the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup in America, where they lost to Brazil. This brought to an end his first spell as manager of the national team. On the 15th December 1994 Dick took charge of PSV Eindhoven as his coaching reputation grew in stature. In his second season PSV won the Dutch Cup to give Dick his first trophy as a coach, this was followed in season 1996-97 by the League title.

In 1998 Dick replaced Walter Smith as manager of Rangers and finished the season with 3 trophies. Rangers beat St Johnstone 2-1 in the League Cup Final, at Parkhead/Celtic Park, with goals from Stephane Guivarc'h and Jorg Albertz, Nick Dasovic scored for Saints. This was followed by the Premier League title with Rangers finishing 6 points clear of, previous champions, Celtic. There was to be a double over the Parkhead side as Rangers won the Scottish Cup beating Celtic 1-0 in the Hampden Final. Rangers again won the Premier League and Scottish Cup (beating Aberdeen 4-0 in the Final) in season 1999-2000, but the following season saw Celtic take the treble. With Celtic heading towards the title the following season Dick moved into the position of General Manager on the 15th December, with Alex McLeish becoming the new Rangers manager. By 1st February 2002 Dick was back in charge of the Dutch National team, replacing Louis Van Gaal. The Dutch qualified for Euro 2004 by beating Scotland 6-1 on aggregate in the play-off. Scotland had won the first leg 1-0 at Hampden, but were then given a footballing lesson, with the Dutch comfortably winning 6-0 in the return at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Holland then went on to reach the semi-final of the tournament, where they lost 2-1 to hosts Portugal. If this had been Scotland he would have been hailed as a hero, but in Holland he recieved death threats. This led to him resigning on 6th July 2004. He then returned to club management with Borussia Monchengladbach on the 2nd November. By the 18th April 2005 he had again resigned. From the 14th July until the 13th September he was in charge of United Arab Emirates but then took up the offer to manage South Korea. Dick replaced Johannes (Jo) Bonfrere (Eijsden, Limburg) as manager. He was their manager for the Koreans first World Cup win on foreign soil in 2006. Korea beat Togo 2-1 before drawing 1-1 with France then losing to Switzerland 0-2 to exit the tournament. This now brings us to his present club and Zenit St Petersburg where he replaced Vlastimil Petrzela in July 2006. By the end of the 2006 season Zenit had qualified for the UEFA Cup for season 2007-08. Last year (2007 season in Russia) Zenit won the Championship with Advocaat becoming the first foreign coach to do this. Because of this he broke an agreement with the Australian National Federation to be their coach to stay with Zenit.

* Playing career - Played 522, Goals 26.
* Playing career started in 1967 and finished with a game against AZ '67.
* Zenit St Petersburg played a friendly match against AZ before the UEFA Cup Final 2008.
* Walter Smith will be manager in the opposite technical area for the UEFA Cup Final 2008.
* Johannes (Jo) Bonfrere. Born 15th June 1946, Eijsden, Limburg. Played with MVV Maastricht and Germinal Beerschot.
* Manager of South Korea for a 3-1 friendly win over Germany, in December 2004.