Former Northampton Town defender David Buchanan has opened up on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s ill-fated spell in charge of the club and claimed he ‘didn’t have a clue’.
The legendary former Chelsea striker enjoyed a stellar playing career at both club and international level before hanging up his goalscoring boots in 2008.
Soon after retiring, Hasselbaink took up a coaching position at Woking, before working with Chelsea’s Under-16s as well as the Nike Academy and Nottingham Forest in a bid to boost his hopes of breaking into management.
The Dutchman was eventually given a chance by Royal Antwerp but lasted just once season in Belgium before similarly short-lived spells in charge of Burton Albion and Queens Park Rangers.
Despite those difficult experiences, Northampton provided him with another opportunit a month into the 2017/18 season but he found the going equally tough at Sixfields.
Indeed, Hasselbaink lasted just over six months in the job and was sacked while the club were in the midst of a nine-game winless run that left the Cobblers in the League One relegation zone.
A spell in the coaching wilderness ensued before he returned to Burton for a second stint which proved equally unsuccessful.
Despite a series of failures, the 52-year-old was given the chance to join Gareth Southgate’s England coaching set-up last year and was part of the backroom team that helped the Three Lions reach the final of Euro 2024, much to Northampton stalwart Buchanan’s amazement.
Speaking on the I Had Trials Once podcast, Buchanan said: ‘Jimmy Floyd for the stature of man that he was just didn’t have a clue.
‘He manages England and he’s an England coach, I just don’t know how. What a player but it doesn’t make you a good manager.
‘I expected him to have an ego but the way he used to speak to players. He comes to Northampton, this is what I mean about earning respect and doing your thing.
‘When Jimmy came into Northampton at the start he walked into the dressing room and the first training session he gets a sheet of paaper out and say we’re going to play a game and says ‘David Buch-Buchanan, you’re going to play left-back, Al-ex, Al-ex Revel’.
‘I was like you’re the manager mate. These are people, Marc Richards, is the top goalscorer of all time in the Football League, he’s the skipper of this club have a bit of respect back.
‘His ways, we used to do a 10k on the Friday before a game on the training ground. Just set pieces and running about in games.’
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