The ex-Wigan defender, who is 54 today (April 16), might not be celebrating his birthday with cake and confetti as he goes about his day job in the Netherlands. He said: “I still work with the Dutch police force, believe it not as an inspector, or detective as you call it.
“I realised that I loved playing football so much that I didn’t not want to play it and be on the side of the pitch all the time. I realised I didn’t want to be on the football pitch not playing football, so I thought no, I’m not going to do all the badges and go into management, I’m just going to get completely out of football altogether.
Do you know of any ex-Premier League players doing unusual jobs post-retirement? His stint at Coventry City the year before didn’t quite pan out due to nagging injuries preventing him from securing a regular spot in the Championship side.
The former centre-back shared his reasoning for joining the police: “I thought ‘hang on’, I’ll just try it, just like I did with coming across to England [to play football]. I thought I’ll just try it and see how it goes and I have to say, I really enjoy it.
“Being a footballer, obviously you have the good lifestyle and are a bit of a figure in the community because you play for the local team and all that. Being a policeman, you see the other side of society.
It’s interesting, I’ll tell you that – and I do have a fast car and I do have a gun. “It’s similar to playing football in the sense that you really depend on your colleagues.
In a football team, you depend on your team-mates; in the police, you rely on your colleagues. It’s a good togetherness, let me put it that way.”
De Zeeuw is also still into football and manages Vitesse 22 in the Dutch non-league. Speaking to Portsmouth’s official website earlier this year, he said: “I helped a friend of mine who was doing some coaching in the US and loved it, so have done all my badges and am now at a non-league team in Holland.”
