8:00am Friday 30th May 2008
By Adam Leitch
Jan Poortvliet is steeped in Dutch football history.
Born on September 21, 1955, in Zeeland, a province to the west of the Netherlands, he grew up at PSV Eindhoven.
He was part of the successful PSV side that won a clutch of honours during his 12 seasons up to 1983.
Poortvliet, who racked up 420 domestic appearances and 57 European matches for PSV, picked up no less than three Dutch league Eredivisie winners medals, two domestic cups and most notably a UEFA Cup winners medal after playing SC Bastia of France over two legs in the 1978 final.
After leaving PSV, Poortvliet went on to have a six-month stint at Roda JC before three years in France with Nimes Olympique.
Poortvliet went on to have spells in Belgian football with Royal Antwerp and Eendracht Aalst, punctuated by another stint in France with Cannes.
But it is on the international stage that Poortvliet achieved his arguably greatest success as a player.
He was capped 25 times for his country, most memorably winning six of those in the 1978 World Cup.
He only made his senior international debut in Holland's last warm-up friendly before the tournament.
He didn't feature in the first game but appeared in every game thereafter as his country reached their second successive World Cup final.
Poortvliet played the whole 90 minutes, plus extra time, in the final wearing the number two jersey.
His side lost out 3-1 to the Mario Kempes-inspired hosts after the scores had finished 1-1 at the end of full time.
As a player, Poortvliet was part of the total football Dutch team, coming into the side right at the end of Johan Cruyff's spell in international level.
After hanging up his boots, Poortvliet headed into coaching where he has an impressive record.
He has built a reputation for forging promotion-winning teams on a limited budget by playing and developing the club's young players - something that must have appealed to Saints.
Poortvliet landed his first coaching job in Belgium with Eendracht Aalst where he stayed for two seasons, leading them to consecutive play-offs.
In 1994 he started three years at Brabantia in Holland where he guided them twice to the fourth division title, winning promotion once, before two years at de Valk where he again won the title.
Back in Belgium in 1999 with Overpelt, he won them promotion from the second division in his first season and guided them to 11th in the top flight the next campaign before joining Den Bosch in Holland.
There he took over with the club in administration but led them immediately to the first division title and promotion to the Eredivisie.
Then came a three season stint with Telstar, where Poortvliet built a team on a tiny budget using youngsters that gradually improved to the point where they reached the play-offs.
Two seasons at Nuenen followed with an immediate fifth division championship and then third place in the fourth division which guaranteed a play-off.
Last summer Poortvliet tried a fresh challenge with Helmand Sports, another club in the mould of those he had previously managed and the one he shortly will - one with limited money looking for promotion from the country's second tier of football using young players.
He guided them straight into the play-offs but they lost out in the second round of the three-round knock-out competition for promotion.
Helmand didn't want to let Poortvliet leave but agreed to give him the chance to move to Saints.
He has paid his own severance fee to Helmand in order to move to England.
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