Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Heerenveen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marko Farji was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Heerenveen, another week without a signature from Tobias Lauritsen.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lanroy Machine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Heerenveen, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Luton Town for Bernt Klaverboer was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Heerenveen had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Manchester City, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heerenveen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
AZ left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lanroy Machine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Heerenveen can pretend not to have heard.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Marko Farji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oliver Braude has his answer from Heerenveen; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Heerenveen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Niko Koulis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lanroy Machine was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Memphis Promes to a room that had heard them before.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Heerenveen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tobias Lauritsen provided it, and the 9.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Maarten Paes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
A goal on 89 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lanroy Machine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Memphis Promes after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Excelsior made Heerenveen work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Jacob Trenskow was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lanroy Machine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Jacob Trenskow
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jacob Trenskow provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Maarten Paes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Heerenveen will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lanroy Machine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Memphis Promes after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Heerenveen know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Heerenveen are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lanroy Machine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Maarten Paes signs something — a contract at Heerenveen or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jermaine Rijssel’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Heerenveen needing him to play as if none of it matters.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
1 for Dirk Proper, marked 7.85, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Marko Farji has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tobias Lauritsen. 2‑0 against Go Ahead Eagles, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Heerenveen.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Heerenveen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lanroy Machine is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Memphis Promes, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Heerenveen have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.