The MOMENTOUS decision Richard Hughes got spot on

Feyenoord sacked Brian Priske as their manager on Monday.

The replacement to Liverpool head coach Arne Slot in the role was hand-picked from Czech side Sparta Prague to continue the work that Slot had been doing at Rotterdam.

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But after just eight months Priske has found himself out of favour in Rotterdam, despite a 3-0 victory over local rivals Sparta Rotterdam at the weekend and a crucial Champions League playoff round tie against AC Milan taking place over the next week.

“It is very disappointing for all parties that we had to come to this decision.” says Dennis te Kloese, general and technical director of Feyenoord, in a statement on the club’s website.

“Although Feyenoord achieved some impressive results with Brian, especially in the UEFA Champions League, the first team’s performance has been far too inconsistent in recent months, and unfortunately, we see too little structural progress.”

The sacking comes with Feyenoord sitting 5th in the Eredivise, 12 points back from Ajax and PSV in first and second, respectively.

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But this past weekend’s win was Feyenoord’s first league victory since the middle of December, with losses to PSV, Utrecht, and Ajax as well as a draw with Willem II forcing the director’s hand.

Bizarrely, Feyenoord hold a 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League during that time, which was immediately followed up by a 6-1 loss to French side Lille the week after.

And you will, of course, remember their improbable comeback from 3-0 down with 15 minutes left against Manchester City to draw 3-3 earlier in the season.

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Feyenoord sacking shows just how good Arne Slot really is

As a result, it shows just how good a job Arne Slot did during his time with the side. By and large it is the same set of players that Slot had major success with - they only lost Mats Wieffer to Brighton and Lutsharel Geetruida to Leipzig before the season, as well as Yankuba Minteh returning to parent club Newcastle, but retaining key attackers in Santiago Gimenez and Igor Paixao.

But Feyenoord lost Gimenez to AC Milan at the end of the January transfer window and that seems to have been an eye-opener.

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Slot pushed PSV to the brink last season whilst winning the Dutch Cup, as well as winning the Eredivise in 2022/23. He lived up to the pressure and expectations put on him by a proud, historic club.

This will have weighed heavily on the mind of Richard Hughes as he was seeking Jurgen Klopp’s replacement here at Liverpool. Managerial hiring is not a science but can - and does - regularly go wrong.

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But with this one it seems like it couldn’t have been a better choice if Hughes tried, and he really did. Top of the Premier League, Champions League first place, League Cup final.

Sometimes you don’t realise just how good you have it until it’s gone.

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