Marked for Torben Bos
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Apr 2028
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match8 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Zwolle
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market10 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Zwolle
Stije Resink and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Stije Resink
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match8 Apr 2028
Zwolle come up short against Ajax
Ajax left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Zwolle training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Silvinho Esajas 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.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jayden Holtman commits to Zwolle for another 5 years.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Koen Kostons knocks on the manager's door
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Looking ahead
A reunion for Younes Namli
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Mar 2028
1‑4 to AZ, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad13 Mar 2028
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market13 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zwolle may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match11 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Zwolle's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zwolle has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Zwolle
Stije Resink and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match11 Mar 2028
Zwolle leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Zwolle know it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zwolle may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 Jan 2028
Ryan Thomas has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zwolle they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The deal with ADO Den Haag is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Zwolle
Sherel Floranus 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.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Zwolle asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Jan 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Thomas Buitink’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zwolle.
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Zwolle
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Ruward was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch17 Jan 2028
“I watch every Zwolle game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Feyenoord runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Zwolle's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zwolle has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Jeremy Eilander is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Thijs Oosting falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match20 Nov 2027
3 matches without a goal for Zwolle
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market22 Nov 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zwolle, another week without a signature from Naj Lulić.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zwolle told Jasper Schendelaar something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Torben Bos in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zwolle this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Aug 2027
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match21 Aug 2027
A hiding for Zwolle
Beaten 0‑3 by Feyenoord, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Simon Graves falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match21 Aug 2027
3 matches without a goal for Zwolle
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Zwolle
Jahlani Fonteni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Nobody left the Zwolle dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Loan watch23 Aug 2027
“I did not go to Felgueiras to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zwolle and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.