Phillip Cocu appointed Derby manager following Frank Lampard departure
Written by News on 05/07/2019
Phillip Cocu has been appointed Derby’s new manager on a four-year deal following Frank Lampard’s move to Chelsea.
The 48-year-old will be joined at Pride Park by his long-term assistants Twan Scheepers and Chris van der Weerden as part of his coaching staff at Derby.
The Dutchman, like Lampard, enjoyed a glittering playing career, winning league titles with PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona as well as making 101 appearances for the Netherlands.
Cocu then won the Dutch league title three times in four seasons as PSV boss and joins the Rams after leaving Fenerbahce in October following a short, unsuccessful stint at the Turkish club.
Derby’s search focused on finding a coach capable of developing young talent and Cocu’s record at PSV convinced them of that, quickly making him their number one target.
During his time managing his home town club in Eindhoven, he spent around £49m on player recruitment, while generating more than £134m in player sales.
Cocu will now join the team out in Sarasota on Florida’s Gulf Coast for the club’s 10-day pre-season training camp.
Derby’s new ‘world-class’ coach
Sky Sports News reporter Rob Dorsett told Friday’s Good Morning Transfers show Derby have got themselves a ‘world-class coach’ in Cocu, given his success in the Netherlands.
He explained: “People will remember Cocu as a world-class player, and the job he did at PSV marked him out as a world-class coach as well. Alright, he left Fenerbahce in October after a short and unsuccessful spell, and that’s why in truth I think Derby have been able to attract him to the second tier of English football.
“But at PSV, in a five-year spell there, he won the Eredivisie title three times and made an awful lot of profit on the players he brought through – almost £100m during that time, despite winning the title three wins out of five.
“His ability to bring young players through has attracted Derby, they wanted someone similar to Frank Lampard, who plays fast attacking football and I think that’s exactly what they’ve got here.
“Derby don’t have huge amounts of money to spend, because of the financial rules in the EFL. They’re not to lose more than £13m a year, and they are sailing quite close to the wind with those rules.
“But my understanding is their relationship with Chelsea is so strong, with Lampard and Jody Morris in particular, they are expecting they will get more loan players back.”
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(c) Sky News 2019: Phillip Cocu appointed Derby manager following Frank Lampard departure
