Feyenoord v Celtic – Robin van Persie’s emotional tribute to Wim Jansen

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The Celtic Star

·27 novembre 2025

Feyenoord v Celtic – Robin van Persie’s emotional tribute to Wim Jansen

The names of Celtic managers past, present and future are swirling in the air at the moment. Martin O’Neill, a former manager held in great regard, is currently helping the club through his interim manager role…

Martin O’Neill arrives at St Mirren Park. St Mirren v Celtic, 23 November 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

He’s in Rotterdam at the moment preparing for Celtic’s Europa League match against Feyenoord this evening and has been speaking about a former Celtic manager Jock Stein over the past few days and again in his chats with the media ahead of tonight’s match.

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“Jock Stein said it, European football is where Celtic should be. But at this minute it’s a struggle for us,” O’Neill said, as we reported earlier.

Jock Stein. Scottish Cup Final 1975. Photo The Celtic Wiki

He’s also been talking about the future Celtic manager, Wilfried Nancy who is taking over the reins at Celtic on Monday. O’Neill has been outlining the advice he will be giving to Nancy while also echoing a former manager’s thoughts on Celtic needing to strengthen to be realistically able to compete in European football.

Brendan Rodgers talks to the media after the match. Hearts v Celtic, 26 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Brendan Rodgers talked himself out of a job and earned a savage earful from Celtic’s Angry Man Dermot Desmond via the totally unwarranted character assassination attempt on the official Celtic FC website.

Another former manager was being treated with much greater respect yesterday in Rotterdam and that was Wim Jansen who of course is a legend at Feyenoord and indeed also at Celtic for that one eventful season in charge where he succeeded in stopping the Rangers ten.

Eredivisie: Feyenoord Rotterdam v NEC Nijmegen Rotterdam – Coach Robin van Persie of Feyenoord Rotterdam during the thirteenth competition round of the 2025 2026 Eredivisie season. The match is set between Feyenoord Rotterdam and NEC Nijmegen at Stadion Feijenoord De Kuip on 23 November 2025 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. IMAGO Photo Yannick Verhoeven

It was Robin van Persie who spoke wonderfully about Wim, giving his on personal insight into his former mentor who to this day still means so much to the Feyenoord manager. He believes that tonight’s match against Celtic is the perfect opportunity to toast the memory of a wonderful man who starred for Feyenoord in the 1970 European Cup win over Celtic.

As an aside it’s amusing to re-tell the story of Wim being asked by a Scottish hack if an upcoming game against Rangers was the biggest match he’d been involved in, with the then Celtic boss posting out that he’d played in a World Cup finals so probably not was his answer!

Wim Jansen tribute – Image by Celtic Curio

Robin Van Persie said this about the impact Jansen has on him even today as a coach with Jansen’s detailed written coaching notes given to him by Wim’s family. “Yes, I was very honoured. I got part of his legacy from his son, Wim junior. I read so many pages and still look at them now,” HelloRao report.

“Everything is made spot clear, whether it’s about technique or tactics. Wim had written pages and pages on it all. But then again he was always full-time busy with football. Anything that came to his mind, he wrote down.

“Wim has been an icon for Dutch and Scottish football because of that year he had with Celtic. In this way, I feel we are playing a game tomorrow night which, in my opinion, is actually in honour of Wim Jansen.

IMAGO – Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers and Joe Hart look at a photo of Wim Jansen. Jansen has also been Celtic s coach. During a press conference, PK, Pressekonferenz in De Kuip, Scottish Celtic FC looks ahead to the first match in the group stage of the Champions League against Feyenoord. ANP OLAF KRAAK – VI ANP Sport

“For me personally, I used to play in the youth team at Feyenoord Academy. The first thing I would always do, when I came onto the pitch, was look over to the corner flag on the left side of the clubhouse.

“That corner was always where Wim was. I always wanted to make sure he was there. Why? Because I only wanted to impress one person and that was Wim.

“If I knew he was at the corner flag then I knew he would be watching. And he was always at all of my games. Wim was the man who triggered me often.

Wim Jansen, The Netherlands. Photo IMAGO

“He once said to me, when I was a very young player, that he wanted to see in the first five minutes of a game that I was the best of all the players on the pitch. He said ‘that is what you have to show.’ That was one of those small details when he triggered me.

“There were so many other moments which we spent together. He once saw me at the bus stop – bus stop 49 – at the back of the training ground behind the stadium.

“I used to have to travel by metro and by tram to get home. But this time Wim just happened to come by and he let me hop into his car and gave me a lift.

Henrik Larsson and Wim Jansen celebrate winning the league and stopping their ten. Photo Imago (The Celtic Star)

“The journey was 30 minutes to the other side of town. And during that 30 minute ride we only spoke about football. And he was asking me so many direct questions.

“He wouldn’t give me the answer because he wanted me to think. Those questions helped me to become a better player. I have so many memories to think back on with massive pleasure. Wim was such a big football man.

“Everything has been put into a book but I don’t need to read it. I have the rough version of all his transcriptions at home which were given to me and I still read them now. Everything he wrote down shows the passion and love he has for football and I feel that whenever I read it.

Wim Jansen watches the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park on February 18, 2017 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“That’s why he was so important at that one year at Celtic too. And why he has been such an important figure in Dutch football.”

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