Robert Molenaar (born 27 February 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach 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 ...

who is the head coach of

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

club NAC Breda. He played as a centre-back for FC Volendam,

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

and

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

Playing career

Molenaar was born in

Zaandam Zaandam () is a city in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad, and received city rights in 1811. It is located on the river Zaan, just north of Amsterdam. The statistical district Zaand ...

, North Holland. He was signed for

by the then manager

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former Association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football ...

from FC Volendam for £1,000,000 in January 1997 to try to shore up the defence. He became a regular in the side until the end of the 1996–97 season. In the 1997–98 season however his performances were not up to scratch and he fell down the pecking order playing around half the matches. In the 1998–99 he was once again a first choice centre-back, above

David Wetherall David Wetherall (born 14 March 1971) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is as head of youth development with the Football League. As a player, he was a central defender, he played most of his career in the Pre ...

but a challenge by

Nicolas Anelka Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (; born 14 March 1979) is a French professional football manager and retired player who played as a forward. As a player, he regularly featured in his country's national team, often scoring at crucial moments. Known f ...

, then playing for Arsenal, kept him out via ligament damage until 2000. He failed to make another appearance for

and was sold to

in the summer of 2000 to help their dog fight against relegation. He stayed there until 2003, scoring twice against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest, when his contract was not renewed and he moved to

before eventually retiring in the summer of 2007.

Managerial career

After working as assistant manager of

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

and manager of amateur side RKSV Halsteren, Molenaar was appointed manager of

side FC Volendam from July 2015. In March 2017, it was announced that Molenaar would leave his role at the end of the season. He was appointed as manager of

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisi ...

in June 2017 on a one-year contract with the option of a further year. He was sacked from his role at the club in March 2019. In June 2019, he was appointed as manager of Almere City on a two-year contract, but was sacked in November of that year following a run of poor results. On 13 July 2021, Molenaar was appointed as manager of Jong NAC, the reserve team of NAC Breda. On 15 June 2022, NAC appointed Molenaar as head coach of the first team on a one-year deal, effective from 1 July 2022, replacing Edwin de Graaf.

References

External links

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Profile
1969 births Living people Footballers from Zaanstad Association football central defenders Dutch footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Leeds United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players RBC Roosendaal players FC Volendam players FC Volendam managers Roda JC Kerkrade managers Almere City FC managers NAC Breda managers NAC Breda non-playing staff Eredivisie players Premier League players Dutch football managers Eerste Divisie managers {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub