38 years old was football beast Gerald Sibon when he quit at the highest level. The former striker ended his career with his beloved Heerenveen, the team where he played for five and a half years spread over three periods. Moreover, it is the team that will visit the Philips Stadium on Saturday night, a place where Sibon also experienced fantastic moments.
PSV period
The towering ex-pro achieved a 100 percent mark in Eindhoven: two seasons, two championships. In the 2004 - 2005 season, he reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League with PSV. "More often as a switch player than as a base player," admits the current coach of first division side VV Heerenveen. "But that was really a unique period. I really had two fantastic years at PSV. We had a really nice, good group with a lot of Dutch guys. Actually it was mostly a lot of fun. PSV is a very warm club."
Peep
So today, the now 44-year-old Sibon is an amateur coach. Not a forty-hour-a-week job, but the major league games often pass him by because of his work. "Of course, we play on Sunday afternoons as well, so I sometimes miss things. But when I can, I watch. Often from the bench, sometimes in a stadium. In any case, I try to see all the summaries. Next Saturday there is a birthday at our house, so more than the occasional peek at the TV from a corner of the living room is out of the question."
Lammers
The name Sam Lammers comes up. The striker is rented by PSV to Heerenveen this season. The Tilburg native has scored six times in 12 premier league games so far. Coach Sibon analyzes skillfully. "A very grateful person to work with. He has an awful lot of potential and conditions, if you put a lot of time and energy into that, something great can definitely come out of that. A good striker makes sure the game is played around him. Then you have to achieve a consistently high level week in week out. He is not yet able to do that at Heerenveen, but he has it in him."
Pen king
Anyone typing in Gerald Sibon's name on YouTube will soon find a number of beautiful hits, something the almost two-meter striker seemed to have a patent on. Sibon smiles modestly, "There are some nice goals among them, yes." A reminder of a special hit -a technically perfectly executed stick- against PSV, is not needed. "That was in the cup tournament I think. I scored the tying goal. Yes, Isaksson, who stood a little too far in front of his goal huh." Such hits later gave Sibon the nickname Geraldinho. "Ah, it all looks very nonchalant and phlegmatic, but it's just a hunch at that moment. That doesn't change the fact that it is one of the most beautiful goals of my career, especially in Heerenveen shirt."
Almost two years later, in Sibon's final season, he scored an even more beautiful marker. Despite the fact that RKC Waalwijk was the opponent, the goal had a PSV edge. "If all goes well, your current goalkeeper remembers that. I chipped it over there too," the Drenthe native enthused. "I still get reminded of those goals sometimes, yes. Those are nice things."
The eyes of Van Bommel
Saturday then: PSV - sc Heerenveen. With the twelfth league win in a row, Mark van Bommel set a record against De Graafschap. Sibon played with PSV's coach in the successful 2004 - 2005 season. "He is still exactly the same as before. It's in the way he looks out of his eyes and how involved he is. The focus, the passion and the fanaticism are always there, but sometimes you can also see him really enjoying himself. I really think he does it very well. Mark can convey his ideas to a group of players very well. It's nice to see how he does that."