Marked for Fedde Westra
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 May 2030
33 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market6 May 2030
Hugo Wentges 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 Helmond Sport can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings6 May 2030
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.54 for the rest of it.
The dugout6 May 2030
This is not rotation. Kaan Eşilçimen has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Helmond Sport is pretending otherwise.
Squad6 May 2030
Rui Mendes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 May 2030
Romano Gerrits 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 dugout6 May 2030
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Helmond Sport pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Match4 May 2030
A 1‑1 draw with MVV Maastricht leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad6 May 2030
Fedde Westra slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Fedde Westra is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Apr 2030
“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 dugout22 Apr 2030
This is not rotation. Jayden Davelaar has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Helmond Sport is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Hugo Wentges 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Helmond Sport training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rui Mendes 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.
Match20 Apr 2030
Three points for Helmond Sport, 1‑0 the final word against TOP Oss in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
A mark of 7.57, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“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 dugout22 Apr 2030
Kaan Eşilçimen 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 Helmond Sport, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Apr 2030
“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 dugout15 Apr 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Helmond Sport may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
This is not rotation. Abdoul Seydou has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Helmond Sport is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Kaan Eşilçimen 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Helmond Sport training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romano Gerrits 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.
Looking ahead15 Apr 2030
Everything rides on TOP Oss
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Helmond Sport know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
A mark of 7.78, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match13 Apr 2030
It needed Irakli Yegoian to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Vitesse, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Fedde Westra
“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
Match19 Jan 2030
No end in sight to Helmond Sport's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Helmond Sport has to find a result from somewhere.
Market21 Jan 2030
“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 Jan 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Helmond Sport have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2030
$1.6M settles it between the clubs for Dinay Bierstekers
NAC Breda have accepted the money. What Helmond Sport do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Helmond Sport may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Rui Mendes 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.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2030
$170.0K was the most the club would pay and Telstar were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
This is not rotation. Finn Verhoeven has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Helmond Sport is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2030
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
Uneasy
Match22 Dec 2029
11 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.
Market24 Dec 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Hugo Wentges 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.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
This is not rotation. Finn Verhoeven has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Helmond Sport is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Rui Mendes 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.
Boardroom24 Dec 2029
Wages swallow 105% of the Helmond Sport income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Helmond Sport had the best player on the pitch.
Match22 Dec 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
Half-satisfied: Nathan Blind on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Maik Łukowicz out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Helmond Sport will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 Oct 2029
“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 Helmond Sport, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Glenn van Dijen 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rui Mendes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Oct 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“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 dugout22 Oct 2029
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 Nathan Blind left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout22 Oct 2029
Fedde Westra 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 Helmond Sport, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Sep 2028
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Helmond Sport lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Sep 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 Helmond Sport, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Window shuts: 16 in, 21 out at Helmond Sport
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Both jobs done by Fedde Westra — 6.98
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 16 actions, 6.98, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Rui Mendes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A move Edher Segura 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. Edher Segura is living that version at Helmond Sport, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Labinot Bajrami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
The clock did what Feyenoord would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
The afternoon belonged to Rui Mendes
A mark of 7.44, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.