“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Den Bosch can pretend not to have heard.
Liam van Nistelrooij 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.
This is not rotation. Rafi Wolters has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Den Bosch is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Den Bosch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jizz Hornkamp 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 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 Den Bosch know it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nobody at Den Bosch will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Den Bosch can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. El Mehdi Maouhoub provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Liam van Nistelrooij 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jizz Hornkamp was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: El Mehdi Maouhoub. 2‑1 against FC Eindhoven, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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; Den Bosch are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Den Bosch can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have shaken hands with VVV-Venlo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at Den Bosch is enjoying the guessing.
Pelle Clement and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Jizz Hornkamp 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Den Bosch can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Den Bosch will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A brace, and Jizz Hornkamp takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jizz Hornkamp provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Den Bosch they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Den Bosch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Den Bosch and RKC Waalwijk in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Den Bosch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rio Hillen 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Den Bosch, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hillen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Anton Gaaei was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Liam van Nistelrooij 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stan Maas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Den Bosch, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Den Bosch will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rio Hillen scored, was marked 7.39, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Pelle Clement 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Rio Hillen 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Den Bosch can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Den Bosch they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Medin Kojić has agreed terms with Heracles for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Pelle Clement 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Den Bosch training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jizz Hornkamp 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 ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Den Bosch lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and VVV-Venlo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Den Bosch is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The offer went to VVV-Venlo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Pelle Clement and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Rio Hillen 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sint-Truiden have kept their man, and Den Bosch go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Den Bosch have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Den Bosch can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
$430.0K on the table at TOP Oss. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Den Bosch this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rio Hillen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Den Bosch asked and Helmond Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Anton Gaaei has his answer from Den Bosch; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The phone has started ringing about Mees Bakker again, and this time the name on the line is ADO Den Haag. Den Bosch are listening politely and promising nothing.
Nikolas Polster 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.
31 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Den Bosch now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad29 May 2028
Rio Hillen 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.
15 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mees Bakker trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stan Maas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Den Bosch will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
Looking aheadDen Bosch take on the side everybody is chasing