Dutch honesty and Xavi as the third choice

V

vargentina

Community Member
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Jan 24, 2025
Nigel de Jong has absolutely gone full Dutch bluntness here, hasn’t he. Saying Pep was first, Slot was second and Xavi was third is the sort of thing that makes total sense in one room and sounds like a disaster in another

I can see both sides, honestly. On one hand it is just the reality of hiring a manager and Xavi is hardly going to think he was plucked out of nowhere. On the other, doing it at the actual presentation does feel a bit brutal, even by football standards

Still, there is something funny about how matter of fact the whole thing is, especially coming from Nigel de Jong of all people. The man has never really done delicate, and that seems to be unchanged in his new job
 
It is just classic Dutch pragmatism really, they wanted Pep, then Slot, then Xavi and that is the whole story, no point pretending otherwise because the squad still needs a coach and the process is what matters more than the ego stuff
 
I do not think this is as scandalous as people are making it out to be. It sounds blunt, but it is also just how hiring usually works.
 
People are acting like this is some huge insult but in football every club has a list and every club has a first choice and then a second choice and then somebody else when the first two do not happen and the only reason this sounds so brutal is because Nigel de Jong said it out loud like he was reading shopping items off a receipt and not trying to manage the room at all, which is very on brand for him because he has always had that energy of a bloke who would tell you exactly what he thinks whether it helps or not, and honestly I sort of admire it because at least it is real, but if you are Xavi sitting there on stage you probably do not want everyone being reminded that Pep and Slot said no before you got the call, it is just a bit of a weird way to frame the announcement and now the whole thing has become about the wording instead of the actual appointment and that is exactly the sort of self inflicted nonsense football people love to create for themselves
 
From a recruitment point of view it makes sense to have a shortlist and work down it, that part is normal. The problem is timing and presentation, because saying it in public right as Xavi is being introduced turns a straightforward process into a headline about rejection and fallback options and that is exactly why people are laughing. You can be honest without being weirdly blunt about it, and Nigel de Jong seems completely incapable of that, which is sort of funny until you remember he is meant to represent the club. Now everyone is talking about Pep, Slot and the wording instead of Xavi actually taking the job and that is where I think they have made a mess of the whole thing, bloody hell
 
The officials in this whole circus are the real issue because somebody in that room should have told him to stop after the first sentence and not keep digging the hole, you do not need to publicly rank candidates like that at a presentation and then act surprised when it sounds disrespectful, even if technically it is true, because football is full of this nonsense where people confuse bluntness with competence and then the whole story becomes about optics and embarrassment and not the actual football, and if you are Xavi you are standing there thinking great, brilliant, lovely, thanks for making me the headline version of the back up option in front of everyone, absolute shambles from the people managing the message
 
I was in the pub when this came up and the whole table just lost it because one lad said it sounded exactly like the sort of thing my uncle would say after three pints when he is trying to be honest but just ends up sounding rude, and now every time I think about it I can picture Nigel de Jong standing there with that same deadpan face while everyone else in the room is quietly panicking, which is somehow even funnier because he has that ex footballer aura where you know he does not care if the room is uncomfortable, he will just say it anyway and keep going
 
The sensible point is that most clubs do not get their first choice and everyone knows it, so in isolation this is not some catastrophic scandal. But once you say it out loud at the introduction it becomes a whole different thing, because now you have turned the manager reveal into a referendum on who said no first, and that is exactly the sort of thing football loves to overreact to, like we are supposed to pretend the process was romantic instead of a sequence of calls and rejections and compromises, which is normal, but also a bit grim if you are the guy finally getting the job and everyone is laughing about the list in public
 
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