Marked for Per van Loon
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Willem II
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Twente; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market23 Jul 2029
Terms done: Cody Malen is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vitesse waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Willem II is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market23 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hasan Ayyildiz is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Maxim Dekker 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
A loan enquiry to Ajax: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Fee done, terms next for Kyano Kwint
Willem II and De Graafschap have settled on $800.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market16 Jul 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market16 Jul 2029
Willem II say no — this time
The offer from Utrecht for Per van Loon 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.
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Vitesse wanted more than $960.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad16 Jul 2029
At 21 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Kiliann Sildillia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A row about effort at Willem II
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arnaut Simons was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom28 May 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Willem II
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Willem II is running low.
Market28 May 2029
Per van Loon has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 May 2029
Kiliann Sildillia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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 May 2029
When it matters, Armin Ćulum plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market28 May 2029
The name of Maxim Dekker keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Willem II say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout28 May 2029
Faris Karram knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 May 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Willem II. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad28 May 2029
A wage question at Willem II
Armin Ćulum has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout21 May 2029
Nathan Tjoe-A-On: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Jayden Spier
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jayden Spier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 May 2029
Words exchanged at Willem II
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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 dugout21 May 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market21 May 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout21 May 2029
Jari Schuurman knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad21 May 2029
A wage question at Willem II
Per van Loon has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom30 Apr 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Willem II
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Willem II is running low.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Jarno Slootweg: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Apr 2029
Per van Loon has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Kiliann Sildillia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Armin Ćulum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Willem II 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.
Market30 Apr 2029
The name of Maxim Dekker keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Willem II say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Luuk Koppert knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Apr 2029
The mood at Willem II has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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.
Market9 Apr 2029
Jari Schuurman has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Willem II may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Jari Schuurman
“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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Luuk Koppert gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luuk Koppert is on it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Faris Karram knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Faris Karram trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Mar 2029
No end in sight to Willem II's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Willem II has to find a result from somewhere.
Match31 Mar 2029
0‑3 to Ajax, 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.
Match2 Apr 2029
The season ends: position 15 for Willem II
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 27 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad2 Apr 2029
There were 8 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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Willem II
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market2 Apr 2029
“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.
Market2 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Per van Loon
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Per van Loon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Kiliann Sildillia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match31 Mar 2029
The goals have deserted Willem II
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Willem II can tell you which week it ends in.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Willem II dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
Frenkie Gakpo: “No excuses”
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Mar 2029
13 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Willem II
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match3 Mar 2029
5 matches without a win for Willem II
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Willem II are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Mar 2029
5 matches without a goal for Willem II
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market5 Mar 2029
Per van Loon has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Justin Hoogma and Willem II agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Kiliann Sildillia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
Match3 Mar 2029
Feyenoord left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Feb 2029
Anger at Willem II spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market12 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Utrecht waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Willem II is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Jari Schuurman
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Schuurman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nathan Tjoe-A-On commits to Willem II for another 4 years.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
Vitesse will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Miguel Silguero has pre-agreed a move to Willem II, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
The clock did what Excelsior would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match3 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑3 by AZ, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Window shuts: 4 in, 7 out at Willem II
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The window shuts on the Taylor Booth deal
Willem II ran out of time with Twente. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The paperwork begins on Rayvian Job
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Willem II have done the hard part with Excelsior, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market5 Feb 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Kiliann Sildillia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
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.
In brief
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Loan watch
Luuk Koppert counts the days
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Boardroom
Inquest at Willem II
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Jan 2029
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Devin Haen scored in the 87th minute, Excelsior had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Willem II took the lot.
Market22 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Willem II people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A move Neifer Sánchez would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Neifer Sánchez is living that version at Willem II, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Calvin Twigt 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.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
Willem II asked and Feyenoord 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 terraces22 Jan 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Cody Malen 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Devin Haen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Willem II.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Nobody on the pitch touched Devin Haen
7.76, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Willem II had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
In brief
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Jeroen Babel is in the works
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Squad
Neifer Sánchez signs a new deal
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Dec 2028
Only the photograph left for Per van Loon
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Per van Loon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Devin Haen 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 dugout25 Dec 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.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match23 Dec 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Roda leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Frenkie Gakpo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Lassana Faye dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Nov 2028
7 matches without a win for Willem II
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Willem II are no longer polite ones.
Market27 Nov 2028
Per van Loon has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
Match25 Nov 2028
Willem II cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match25 Nov 2028
De Graafschap left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Lassana Faye gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Frenkie Gakpo left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Devin Haen asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2028
Utrecht ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match11 Nov 2028
The wait goes on for Willem II
5 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Kiliann Sildillia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mounir El Allouchi 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hasan Ayyildiz, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A defender's afternoon for Maxim Dekker
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Loan watch13 Nov 2028
“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 Willem II, and 2 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match30 Oct 2028
Every point is an argument now for Willem II
Position 16 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Armin Ćulum: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lassana Faye, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Frenkie Gakpo to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Sep 2028
5 matches without a win for Willem II
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Willem II are no longer polite ones.
Market2 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Per van Loon
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Per van Loon will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vito van Crooij and Willem II agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Faris Karram
“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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amine Lachkar 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 ratings2 Oct 2028
Marked 7.61. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Lassana Faye dropped after a run of poor form
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Vito van Crooij
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Sep 2028
Mounir El Allouchi damages knee ligaments — 40 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match2 Sep 2028
Chastening afternoon for Willem II
A 0‑3 beating by NEC was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Willem II until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market4 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The paperwork begins on João Costa
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Willem II have done the hard part with Porto, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Willem II
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sieb Jongens is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market4 Sep 2028
Business is business: Tonny Vilhena goes
Twente paid $460.0K and Willem II took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Aug 2028
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Willem II lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Aug 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.
Market21 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Groningen waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Willem II is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match19 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Willem II's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Willem II has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Aug 2028
6 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
54 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match19 Aug 2028
The goals have deserted Willem II
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Willem II can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Aug 2028
At 20 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
Heracles left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Aug 2028
Willem II say no — this time
The offer from Heerenveen for Per van Loon 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.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
The deal with Ajax 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Willem II
Kiliann Sildillia 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 20 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Willem II asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
Market7 Aug 2028
The Luuk Koppert conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Heracles will make the call about Luuk Koppert this week. Willem II have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 23 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.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Willem II
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koen Jansen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A loan move for Bright van Dijk is in the works
Willem II have made the call to Utrecht. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Utrecht: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Armin Ćulum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Willem II 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Willem II may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Mounir El Allouchi 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.
The dugout1 May 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.
The dugout1 May 2028
Lassana Faye asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.