Exiled Bull, our resident Baggies expert, is still in shock with the appointment of King Dick Sneekes:
Richard Sneekes is not your average footballer. He’s always marched to the sound of a different drum and played the way he wanted to play. To this day, mention the ‘Sneekes Position’ to Hawthorns regulars and they’ll know exactly what you mean. In his own way, he was as flamboyant as Swindon’s Di Canio.
Off the pitch - he’s one cute cookie, intelligent, gregarious, fluent in many languages, a financial expert, a family man (five children) and a businessman. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly and certainly in his playing days could be very moody. However, he’s very approachable for supporters.
Forget Dudley Town. My understanding is that he only played a handful of games. Turning out was a favour to his son and the coach. But five a side – that’s his game now. For more years than I can remember, Richard has been the star of the Midlands Masters Albion side – often their only star.
I have two reactions to the news. Firstly – how is he going to fit in such a commitment? Admittedly he’s sold his Italian restaurant (shame – the desserts were magical) but I assume he will maintain his financial, property and green enterprises in some way? He’s been running kids coaching all over the Black Country, with the emphasis on passing football in the best traditions of Ajax. Then there’s his column in the Albion News (which isn’t ghost written).
My second reaction is – are you sure, Rich? The Richard I remember is impatient and was not keen on overnight stays. He liked good pitches and quality training facilities. He’s only played a handful of games at lower level and has very limited experience of training adult players. I guess I’m missing something fundamental here so Rich feel free to put me straight at Ludlow.
More positively, I can immediately see how he would get on with Russell and young Jamie. I can see the connection straight away. And talking of connection, Richard is very well connected and has set up businesses with numerous ex-pros from several different clubs. He has a special bond, not surprisingly, with Dutch players.
By strange coincidence, this week I’m updating a 7,000 word article on Richard for a paperback visit of “Cult Heroes” due out next year. Here’s a couple of extracts from the original.
“Richard Sneekes first club was his local side Ajax of Amsterdam, a pedigree both unhelpful and helpful at the same time. He’d joined their famous academy straight from school, learning what he wanted to learn. Even at that early age, he was showing signs of wanting to go his own way, to make up his own mind up – difficult in the essentially dictatorial world of football. Initially, his talent took centre stage and he made his first team debut at the age of 16 in 1985 against Haarlem, playing alongside Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard. He became the club’s youngest ever debutant (even though the record was subsequently beaten by Clarence Seedorf, Richard’s picture still hangs in the club museum).
A combination of his ego and stiff competition meant that, although he was playing regular Dutch schoolboy internationals, even a couple of Under 21 matches, his club appearances were limited to just three. Shouting something very uncomplimentary at the Ajax reserve manager during a game was not a great career move, particularly as club boss Cruyff was in earshot. ....
...Richard was always a bit different, as Glynis Wright recalled after one encounter. “The strange thing about Richard is the fact that should you ever pass him in the street, it wouldn’t immediately hit you that he was a former player. Take tonight for example; when we first clapped eyes on him wearing his trademark baseball cap, rounded off with hooded top, T-shirt, well-worn jeans and white trainers, he looked for all the world more like an off-duty brickie than someone who had graced both Premiership and First Division stages. Add to that those well-remembered long blonde locks of his, and what you have left is an image far removed indeed from the normal media stereotype of a top-rank player.”
Richard befriended some rank and file supporters and met them regularly socially. He made the effort to learn the names of many others and always acknowledged their presence with unfailing politeness. On away trips, as Lee Hughes wrestled with the bigger words in the Sun, Sneekes was studying the Financial Times. He’s a highly intelligent, articulate and independent man – all qualities that many managers regard as some kind of a threat.
(Source West Brom’s Cult Heroes 2006)
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