Marked for Joel Simons
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom11 Aug 2036
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Match9 Aug 2036
The wait goes on for VVV-Venlo
14 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.
Squad11 Aug 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom11 Aug 2036
An empty coaching office at VVV-Venlo
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Boardroom11 Aug 2036
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
The dugout11 Aug 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” VVV-Venlo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market11 Aug 2036
“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.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2036
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Twente; VVV-Venlo go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2036
The paperwork begins on Ilja Tuseev
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. VVV-Venlo have done the hard part with Cambuur, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Jun 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at VVV-Venlo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market23 Jun 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around VVV-Venlo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
Fee done, terms next for Ilja Tuseev
VVV-Venlo and Cambuur have settled on $65.0K. 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.
Market23 Jun 2036
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market23 Jun 2036
Joel Simons 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 VVV-Venlo can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
VVV-Venlo have gone to Feyenoord with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2036
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: PSV keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad23 Jun 2036
Jamil Ahmed 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 targets23 Jun 2036
$13.0K on the table at Zwolle. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Dec 2035
“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 VVV-Venlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Jamil Ahmed 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.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
This is not rotation. Kenneth Lang has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at VVV-Venlo is pretending otherwise.
Match15 Dec 2035
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
The manager makes an example of Ruud Geerinck
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
A row about effort at VVV-Venlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elçin Əlicanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad17 Dec 2035
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. VVV-Venlo lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match1 Dec 2035
Nowhere to hide for VVV-Venlo
0‑3 against Zwolle, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match1 Dec 2035
The wait goes on for VVV-Venlo
8 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.
Squad3 Dec 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The dugout3 Dec 2035
Joel Simons: 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.” VVV-Venlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
Nobody left the VVV-Venlo dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad3 Dec 2035
A row about effort at VVV-Venlo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elçin Əlicanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Dec 2035
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Apr 2035
11 matches without a win for VVV-Venlo
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around VVV-Venlo are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom23 Apr 2035
Pressure builds in the VVV-Venlo boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market23 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad23 Apr 2035
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.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Joel Simons: 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.” VVV-Venlo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match21 Apr 2035
VVV-Venlo leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match21 Apr 2035
0‑2 to Zwolle, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at VVV-Venlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elçin Əlicanov 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 Apr 2035
Justin Weghorst and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Jan 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at VVV-Venlo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 Jan 2035
“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 dugout29 Jan 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match27 Jan 2035
No end in sight to VVV-Venlo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at VVV-Venlo has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
VVV-Venlo have gone to Vitesse with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Match27 Jan 2035
VVV-Venlo cannot find the net
4 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.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2035
VVV-Venlo asked and Utrecht said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match27 Jan 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Words at VVV-Venlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elçin Əlicanov 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.