Dutchman mere lower league coach Erol Akbay,
Erol Akbay,

Erol Akbay,

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
DUTCH coach Erol Akbay, who has been recommended to take over at Highlanders by the club’s long time benefactor Tshinga Dube, is a mere development coach, according to his CV that is available online. The 49-year-old gaffer, who has 51 friends on social networking site Facebook and three connections on LinkedIn, is among a host of coaches whose CVs have been submitted to Bosso for consideration.

According to his CV, Akbay has spent 17-years coaching in the Netherlands’ second tier league. He was also among 39 coaches that applied for the Rwanda national team job in February this year. His CV shows that he first ventured into coaching in 1997, spending two years in charge of Heracles Almelo’s Under-19 team before being asked to take charge of the Under-17s in the 1999-2000 season.

From 2000-2002 the Dutchman was involved in scouting for players from the Under-10 to Under-19 age-groups. He was then appointed head coach of second division side HVV Hengelo for the 2002-2003 season and led them to a fifth position finish, and also led the club to the semi-finals of a domestic cup.

The following season, he moved to another second division side Barbaros and finished 11th. He then joined another second league side BWO for the 2004-2005 season and led them to a top four finish. From 2005-2008, Akbay joined Twello, who finished sixth in his first season and fifth and sixth in the following two seasons.

He then moved to Barbaros as a technical advisor between 2008-2011. The coach returned to HVV Hengelo in 2011 as head coach and stayed there for three seasons. In his three years at the club, he led them to a seventh place finish in his season and fifth in both the second and third seasons.

Dube, who appears to know Akbay, described him as “…a good man who’s keen to work in Africa and for him it’s not really about the monetary incentives but also the experience of working in a country like ours and he’ll not be expensive,” in an interview with our sister paper The Herald on Monday. Dube could not be reached for comment yesterday as his mobile phone continuously rang unanswered.

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