Jack de Gier (; born 6 August 1968) is a Dutch professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He was nicknamed ''Il Butre'' (The Vulture), after legendary Spain striker

Emilio Butragueño Emilio Butragueño Santos (; born 22 July 1963) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He was best known for his spell with Real Madrid. Nicknamed ''El Buitre'' (The Vulture), he was a member of the '' La Quinta ...

. ("De Gier" is Dutch for "The Vulture".) De Gier made his professional debut in the 1988–89 season for BVV Den Bosch. He scored the final goal in

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

's former stadium " De Meer" on 28 April 1996 for Willem II.

Club career

Born in

Schijndel Schijndel () is a town and former municipality in the province of North Brabant, in the south of the Netherlands. Schijndel is located approximately southeast of 's-Hertogenbosch. Schijndel was founded on 6 December 1309. On 1 January 2017 Schijn ...

, De Gier started his career at BVV Den Bosch, making his debut in August 1988 at the age of 20. A prolific striker, De Gier joined

Cambuur Leeuwarden SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

in 1991 and later played for

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

Willem II Tilburg Willem II Tilburg (), commonly known simply as Willem II, is a Dutch football club (association football), football club based in Tilburg, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch footb ...

, Lierse SK,

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion ...

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

and

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

. He retired in the 2002–03 season.

Managerial career

De Gier began his managerial career in professional football on 1 January 2016 as a head coach of

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club Almere City, replacing the dismissed

Maarten Stekelenburg Maarten Stekelenburg (; born 22 September 1982) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Stekelenburg began his career at Ajax, playing 282 matches over nine seasons in his first spell there and winning nine honours ...

. At that point, Almere were bottom of the league alongside

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

. He managed to lead the club from the bottom of the competition to finish in eighth place and win a period title, which allowed the club to participate in the post-season play-offs for promotion to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

. However, Willem II proved too strong for Almere City. The club started the 2016–17 season in weak form, but later recovered, partly due to a series of eight consecutive wins; a club record. In February 2017, the club extended its expiring contract until the summer of 2018 with an option for another year On 25 May 2018,

announced that they had appointed De Gier as head coach as of 1 July 2018. After a series of poor results, De Gier was fired on 2 April 2019. De Gier was appointed head coach of

in June 2019. He was appointed as manager of

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

on 1 February 2021. On 6 March 2023, De Gier's contract with Den Bosch was terminated by mutual consent.

Personal life

De Gier has his own company and football school in

Nijverdal Nijverdal () is a town of approximately 25,000 inhabitants in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Overijssel. It is the commercial centre and largest town within the municipality Hellendoorn. Nijverdal (which means ''Industrious Valley'') was fo ...

References

External links

Career stats
nbsp;– Voetbal International *

1968 births Living people People from Schijndel Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC Den Bosch players FC Twente players Go Ahead Eagles players Willem II Tilburg players Lierse S.K. players NEC Nijmegen players SC Cambuur players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players Scottish Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Dutch football managers Eerste Divisie managers Almere City FC managers NEC Nijmegen managers Go Ahead Eagles managers FC Den Bosch managers Footballers from North Brabant 20th-century Dutch sportsmen {{netherlands-footy-forward-stub