Stillness and Speed: My Story by Dennis Bergkamp Read Free Book Online Page A

really struggled with that because I felt I’d earned my place. I had
more or less created my own position in the team: the “Bergkamp position”. Then along comes a different manager with other ideas and he wants to show everyone that there’s another
way of doing things, namely his way. Managers want to enforce their style because they think in terms of power. Kohn and Van Gaal approached me together during a training session and said:
“If anyone asks you who put you in the number ten position, then you know what to say, right? That was us, we did that.” That made me wonder: “What’s all this about?”
Managers want to impress because they crave recognition. That’s especially true of Van Gaal and it was already the case back then.’
    Beenhakker was amiable, but Dennis’s plight was in some ways worse than it had been under Linder. ‘At least I could understand why Linder dropped me. If you’re playing
four-four-two and you think Bergkamp is purely a right-winger, then Bergkamp has to go. But for Beenhakker the issue was my football skills. He just didn’t think I was good enough.’
Beenhakker denies this and says he was just trying to win the league, which he duly did. But he thought too little of Dennis, then aged 20, to take him to the World Cup in Italy. (In fact, Dennis
had a lucky escape: the Dutch stars had wanted Cruyff as coach. In Italy, instead of concentrating on football, they spent most of their time fighting with each other, with Beenhakker and with the
Dutch FA. Holland, who should have won the tournament, came home without winning a match.)
    Meanwhile, Dennis spent the summer more productively. On his return to Ajax, Beenhakker was astonished: ‘I was confronted with a completely transformed Bergkamp. Dennis was self-confident.
He had a defiant attitude, as if he was saying: “Come on then, I’ll show you what I’m made of.” It sometimes happens to young players that they suddenly grow a lot in just a
few weeks. During that summer he changed himself from a youngster into a man. It had nothing to do with me.’
    Dennis doesn’t remember the period in detail. ‘He said that? If he noticed, then it must have been something. I was hurt the season before. If the coach is not happy, if he’s
not playing you, you think: “OK it has to be different now.” Something would have happened with me at some point. I think I worked a bit harder, did some running, got into a different
mindset, got into an extra gear. I’m sure that must have happened. But when I look back now through my career, and at other players as well, sometimes you just find a certain balance within
yourself, or your body or your life or something like that.’
    Whatever triggered the change, there was now no doubt: Dennis was the best number 10. And he began to develop a remarkable understanding with team-mates. These relationships foreshadowed later
ones with Ian Wright, Nicolas Anelka, Patrick Kluivert and Thierry Henry. Dennis’s movement and the almost unearthly precision of his finishing began to mesh with Wim Jonk’s genius for
long, defence-opening passes. Spectacular goals began to flow. Scarcely less productive was the partnership with Swedish centre-forward Stefan Pettersson whose selfless running made space for
Dennis’s rapier thrusts from deep. Dennis and his colleagues were developing most of this by themselves and Beenhakker was mesmerised. As he said at the time: ‘The timing of
Bergkamp’s sprints, his ability to score, all the time quickly turning in limited space . . . it’s all equally amazing.’ Even so, he thought Dennis was still too modest. ‘He
doesn’t manifest himself enough in the group. As a person he’s the ideal son-in-law, slightly reticent, very well-mannered. These are wonderful traits – but not necessarily for a
professional footballer. It’s like he needs to develop two personalities: Bergkamp off the pitch and Bergkamp on the pitch. These two will have