Phillip Cocu: A retrospective
Tuesday marks three years since the Dutchman was officially announced as coach of Derby County. We look back on his time in charge.
On a different timeline, on a different plane of existence, Phillip Cocu has led Derby County to Premier League promotion behind the goals of Wayne Rooney with Max Bird, Jason Knight, Louie Sibley and Krystian Bielik all providing the ammunition for the former Manchester United captain.
What a timeline that is. But that’s something for your Football Manager save to take care of now.
Instead it has been 19 months since the former PSV Eindhoven manager was sacked. He left Derby bottom of the Championship after 11 games.
“He was almost too nice,” former Derby defender Max Lowe told Conway Conversations. “When things went right, it was a team effort. When things went wrong - it was also about the team. He’d never hold somebody accountable if their big error led to a goal. He never chewed anybody out.”
“He’s a lovely man,” Duane Holmes said. “He was so supportive of me when I was going through a tough spell off the pitch. He and Twan (Scheepers) would always check up on me. But he was too nice.”
What Cocu saw as trying to hold the collective accountable had the inverse effect. In essence, nobody was held accountable. It would go some way to explaining why a certain teddy-bear softness was a staple of his squad.
Cocu was also not a fan of conflict leading him to clash with some senior members of his squad, including Chris Martin. The pair would have a cordial working relationship however and Cocu pushed hard for the striker’s renewal at the end of the 2019/20 season.
It was this aversion to conflict which allowed Wayne Rooney - who had been named captain - to inadvertently give some post game team talks in the wake of bad losses. The now departed Derby manager did his best Sir Alex Ferguson impression after a 3-2 loss to Luton and broke the act out again the next season after a devastating 4-0 loss to Blackburn at home.
Perhaps one of the only times he did take a player to task was young Jayden Bogle for a poor piece of defending which saw the Rams surrender two points against Huddersfield Town in February 2020. After the game Cocu said of the mistakes:
“For me it confirmed he was maybe upset he didn’t play. But you have to put your ego aside and when your team-mates need you, you have to be 100 per cent focused in the game.”
Needless to say that the young right back was less than impressed that he had been publicly ridiculed after the Dutchman had almost made a point of team responsibility and some believe it was the start of the souring of the pair’s relationship.
Some interpreted Cocu’s quiet demeanour and calmness as aloofness. He would become frustrated that players could not easily grasp methods which came to him so naturally as a player, and also many players he managed in Holland, where he had most of his success.
To add to that aloofness, and to a certain extent insecurity, when tactical tweaks had to be made in training or on the touchline Cocu would converse with his assistants in Dutch. If that strikes you as totally normal it is worth remembering Liam Rosenior was part of that staff, and does not speak Dutch.
Some in the squad felt Cocu was threatened by Rosenior. After all, Rosenior was hand picked by Morris, Cocu had little say in the appointment, Rosenior had knowledge of the league, had played with some of the players at the club and was well respected in English football as a bright young coach.
If the relationship was slightly strained, or if Cocu did feel threatened by a potential protege, Rosenior never showed it. In fact, he was typically gracious after the Dutchman was dismissed.
“I feel really blessed to be at this football club as a coach. I’m very thankful to Phillip, Twan and Chris. I learned a lot working with them.”
Derby would play some pretty football under Cocu, but it did not come often enough. And at times their speed of play was as slow as an ant pushing a brick across a desert.
Highlights of his reign included a 3-2 home win over Birmingham - significant as it came hot off the heels of the drink driving accident involving Tom Lawrence, Mason Bennett and Richard Keogh - a 4-0 demolition of Stoke City, a 3-2 win over Swansea away and a 3-0 hammering of Blackburn Rovers before Covid-19 ensured football went away for three months.
Football played in those particular matches were a sublime display of positional switching, condensed defending and slick passing.
But it never manifested often enough.
Lowlights were aplenty - including all 11 games of the 2020/21 season - 3-0 hammerings against Brentford, Charlton Athletic, Fulham, Reading and the aforementioned collapse against Luton were all dreadful displays of one-paced, undyanamic, uninspiring football.
And when things went wrong at the beginning of 2020/21, Cocu’s final ounce of respect from the squad went away. With the pressure mounting from Mel Morris and results not going their way, Cocu decided to abandon all his principles, chop and change formation and play more direct football in a desperate hope to get results.
The sword of Damocles was so precariously placed that it is believed Wayne Rooney’s 88th minute winner against Norwich saved the Dutchman’s job - with Rooney privately acknowledging as much himself.
“We were playing well in the 3-4-3 and the boys felt comfortable in it,” one source told Conway Conversations. “But then we changed back to the 4-3-3, in my opinion to crowbar Wayne back into the team. I don’t think Wayne was playing well at the time. But I felt a bit sorry for the manager because…well it’s Wayne Rooney. There was already loads of pressure on him [Cocu]. I think he was thinking about the headlines if he dropped Wayne.”
Morris was reluctant to sack Cocu. The former Derby owner had put significant investment into his manager - whom it was believed was earning around £3 million a year - meaning any sacking would incur a hefty payout.
Yet even amid the sting of being dismissed, further compounded by the fact that Cocu could not immediately collect his belongings from Moor Farm due to his self isolation, he was a nice man to the end.
Cocu texted each member of his playing and coaching staff thanking them for their efforts under him and wished them all the best for the rest of the season. He would head back to his homeland soon after his isolation was completed to be with his family and get a break.
With the benefit of hindsight Cocu was hamstrung in many of the same ways Rooney was as manager - particularly in recruitment - as the behind the scenes structure of the club began to crumble.
That strict managing of purse strings meant Cocu leaned on in house talent from the academy, with plenty of success.
Max Bird, Jason Knight and Louie Sibley are now regular contributors to the first team. Lee Buchanan was also heavily involved - he has now departed for Werder Bremen in controversial circumstances. Morgan Whittaker was also given first team opportunities.
However that does not excuse some of the dreadful football, baffling personnel decisions - the 4-0 thrashing against Blackburn featured Matt Clarke being dropped, which Cocu later admitted was not “my best decision” - chopping and changing of formations and a loss of faith in the squad for failing to hold individuals accountable at times.
Perhaps he was the right man at the wrong moment in time for Derby County. A 10th placed finish in his only full season at the club felt like an over-achievement when considering everything he and the club had to battle with off the field.
But when taking his reign in totality, it’s a bitter Dutch disappointment.