Marked for Adam Maher
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at De Graafschap is running low.
Market3 May 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market3 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Denzel Eijken
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Denzel Eijken will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around De Graafschap the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 2027
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Jannes Wieckhoff 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Nathan Kaninda
“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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager's exit leaves Adam Maher exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Adam Maher is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2027
6 matches without a win for De Graafschap
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around De Graafschap are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Reuven Niemeijer 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.
Match13 Mar 2027
ADO Den Haag left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Jannes Wieckhoff 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Something was said to Adam Maher and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market15 Mar 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jannes Wieckhoff has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at De Graafschap.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
Ajax top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what De Graafschap can pretend not to have heard.
Match6 Mar 2027
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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adam Maher and De Graafschap agree another 2 years.
Market8 Mar 2027
Denzel Eijken has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around De Graafschap they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Reuven Niemeijer 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stijn Bultman 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to De Graafschap's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at De Graafschap has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 matches without a goal for De Graafschap
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannes Wieckhoff 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 Dec 2026
Mark Pabai 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.39, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Adam Maher 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 De Graafschap, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. De Graafschap lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Joran Hardeman: 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.” De Graafschap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match19 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for De Graafschap
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around De Graafschap are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ibrahim El Kadiri 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at De Graafschap can tell you which week it ends in.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Fedde de Jong 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jannes Wieckhoff 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 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A mark of 7.06, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Stijn Meijer: 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.” De Graafschap have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Reuven Niemeijer 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 Nov 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djomar Giersthove 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ajax left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
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 Guus Van Dijk to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Furhgill Zeldenrust
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Kyano Kwint: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one De Graafschap will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Heerenveen was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for De Graafschap
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around De Graafschap are no longer polite ones.
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a goal for De Graafschap
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at De Graafschap training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reuven Niemeijer 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ibrahim El Kadiri's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Guus Van Dijk 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
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at De Graafschap this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for De Graafschap
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Toivo Mero, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Jannes Wieckhoff 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Toivo Mero has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and De Graafschap will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Reuven Niemeijer 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match3 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Vitesse defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.