The Groningen Courier
Market28 Jun 2027
Marco Rente puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Groningen, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Tygo Land 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Adem Zorgane 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 Groningen this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Jun 2027
One of our own: Daley Babel joins the Groningen first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daley Babel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market28 Jun 2027
Quincy De Vrij steps up from the Groningen academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Quincy De Vrij has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market28 Jun 2027
Groningen promote Patrick De Jong from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrick De Jong has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Dies Janse 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
No hiding place for Marco Rente
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Rente, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
Brynjólfur Willumsson 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 Brynjólfur Willumsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
- The dugout Fofin Turay gets picked when it counts
- Squad A season on the outside for Rui Mendes
- The dugout The manager comes out for Tygo Land