Van der Vaart and Sneijder support Van Persie: 'It's really a scandal'

 Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder express their surprise at the decision to dismiss Robin van Persie as Feyenoord coach. Van Persie's former colleagues from the Dutch national team believe that he could not have achieved a better result in the Eredivisie with his current team. Van Persie was fired last Sunday by Feyenoord, who finished second in the league, nineteen points behind champions PSV. 'I think it's really a scandal,' says Van der Vaart on the Wes & Raf podcast hosted by Ziggo Sport. 'Robin is an icon of the club. Of course, it didn't go well, but he finished second.' Van der Vaart also criticized Feyenoord's new technical director, Dévy Rigaux, who he believed made the decision to change the coach too quickly. 'Everyone felt that Robin would be fired. It's very painful for such a great player. You can say he didn't do everything right, but he finished second despite many injuries and other problems, he deserved more time.' Sneijder agrees with Van der Vaart. 'I also find it terrible. You name one person, the new technical director, but that's dramatic on the part of the club itself. To take second place with such a team is truly impressive. You could say the rest weren't very good, but they just finished second. I believe this was Feyenoord's goal. Did they really want to become champions?