Marked for Fedde Raats
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Market14 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Roda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match12 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Excelsior's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Excelsior has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Market14 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Excelsior is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market14 Aug 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Aug 2028
6 matches without a goal for Excelsior
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fedde Raats is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Yoël van den Ban 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.
In brief
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Squad
Lennard Hartjes has improved at 25, which nobody expected
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Boardroom
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Excelsior
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Squad
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jul 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 terraces17 Jul 2028
Stan Henderikx has gone, the accounts have $2.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Fee done, terms next for Stijn Meijer
Excelsior and De Graafschap have settled on $330.0K. 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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
Fedde Raats: 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.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Jul 2028
Twente paid $2.7M and Excelsior took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Boet Mulders is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad17 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Lennard Hartjes has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Excelsior board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market10 Jul 2028
Nicky Rueck hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Jul 2028
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Roda had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicky Rueck is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Excelsior
Yoël van den Ban 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 targets10 Jul 2028
Excelsior asked and De Graafschap said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicky Rueck 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fedde Raats commits to Excelsior for another 4 years.
Market10 Jul 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Furkan Ulutaş signs something — a contract at Excelsior or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Excelsior boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 May 2028
“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 Excelsior, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Gyan de Regt 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.
Squad1 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fedde Raats and Excelsior agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout1 May 2028
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Stijn van Gassel was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Market1 May 2028
Rayvian Job told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Rayvian Job has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Excelsior.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Zaponček, and the manager let it.
Squad1 May 2028
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Excelsior says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces17 Apr 2028
The mood at Excelsior 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.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Furkan Ulutaş and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Excelsior
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yacqub Finey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Fedde Raats 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
Jorrit Smeets 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 Excelsior, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces21 Feb 2028
The mood at Excelsior 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.
Market21 Feb 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
7 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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Jerolldino Bergraaf, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Excelsior
Yoël van den Ban 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 Feb 2028
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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 terraces21 Feb 2028
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.
Match19 Feb 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Simion Michez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Excelsior.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Pepijn Knoop
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Oct 2027
“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.
Market4 Oct 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jorrit Smeets and Excelsior agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match2 Oct 2027
Heracles left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Yacqub Finey 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Fedde Raats and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Furkan Ulutaş makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stan Henderikx, and the manager let it.