FourFourTwo’s 50 Best Football Managers in the World 2016: No.12, Phillip Cocu

In March, just after PSV had lost a crucial game at home to Ajax, Phillip Cocu refused to concede. “If we win the final six matches, we will be champions,” he reiterated in the following weeks.

Last season was one of the closest Eredivisie title fights – the closest, in fact, since Cocu’s last Eredivisie title as a player in 2006/07 – as contenders went into their last game on equal number of points and separated merely by goal difference.

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