René Meulensteen, born March, 25, 1964, is one of the most famous Premier League coaches today. The man who has been associated with Manchester United on and off is considered as one of the best in the business today.
He holds both the Royal Dutch Football Association “TCI” and Union of European Football Associations “A” coaching licenses. He is currently serving Manchester United as the first team coach.
Meulensteen always had a thing for coaching, which is evident from the fact that he joined NEC Nijmegen as a youth coach, even when he was an active player. Realizing that coaching is what he wanted to do, he retired as a player at the age of 29 and went to Qatar to work with one of his favorites, Wiel Coerver.
Some critics believe that he uses the same training methods as his mentor, Coever. However, a great section believes that Meulensteen has his own techniques and he truly knows how to extract the best out of a player.
He later joined Al-Saad, which under his guidance won the domestic Emir Cup competition. However, he left the club after an issue over the inclusion of some foreign players.
This many believe was the true beginning of Meulensteen’s career, which only escalated to new heights, as he received interest from big names, such as Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson had realized the potential Meulensteen had. He joined MU in 2001 after Sir Alex persuaded him to sign as Skills Development Coach to coach youngsters from age 9 to 21. Thanks to his hard work and skills, he got promoted to the position of United Manchester reserve team’s manager in December, 2005.
However, this wasn’t it for the man who wanted more. Striving for more, in 2006, Meulensteen inked a three year contract with Brondy IF, a Danish Club, and came on board as the first team coach. However, his tenure with the team was not that good, as the club fell in the rankings, following which the partnership between the two dissolved.
Nevertheless, not losing any hope, Meulensteen returned to Manchester to try his luck. Having received his UEFA license in 2006, he rejoined MU as first team technical skills development coach. This turned out to be a good move as things again started to look bright for Meulensteen.
The team had full confidence in Meulensteen, who continued to work hard to polish the skills of the players and improve the team’s chances of winning.
Luck was also on his side as some management changes were witnessed in 2008 in the team that resulted in Meulensteen being promoted as the first team coach. Having finally carved a niche for himself, Meulensteen was ready to prove himself as the man who had the power to take the world by storm.
A lot was being written about Meulensteen during this phase, as cynics were busy calling this decision the biggest mistake that MU had ever made. However, Meulensteen took no notice of the negative criticism and continued to strive for better. He is one person who believes that actions speak louder than words. He finally proved himself as under his guidance the team won back-to-back Premier League (2007, 2008) and other prestigious championships.
With these victories, Meulensteen proved his critics wrong. They finally woke up to the talent of the man who had brought back the team into the limelight. Manchester United once again turned to be a fan favorite with Manchester United FC tickets selling like hot cakes. With Meulensteen as the coach, fans expect MU to continue to improve and win more titles.
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