Marked for Philippe van Arnhem
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Sep 2027
8 matches without a win for Roda
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Roda are no longer polite ones.
Market27 Sep 2027
Joey Müller 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 Roda can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Keanu Van Mieghem is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Roda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justin Treichel 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
Match25 Sep 2027
A bad afternoon for Roda against Zwolle
0‑2 to Zwolle, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 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 Roda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jérôme Déom and Roda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Marco Tol 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
AZ have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Philippe van Arnhem, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Cain Seedorf 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 Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
Joey Müller 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 Roda can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Roda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Roda and NEC have settled on $200.0K. 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Roda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Déom 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Roda asked and Ajax said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
PSV have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Philippe van Arnhem, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Josh Nisbet 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 Josh Nisbet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jun 2027
Roda sink to position 18
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Roda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Roda is running low.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
The deal with Feyenoord is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Koen Jansen 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
“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 dugout7 Jun 2027
Koen Jansen asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
In brief
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Boardroom
$9.8M taken back off the Roda table
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Market
The Justin Treichel talk will not go away
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Boardroom
Open for business: Roda enter the window
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 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 dugout31 May 2027
“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.
The dugout31 May 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad31 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Roda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Déom 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.
Squad31 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Roda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Apr 2027
Roda are in real trouble now
Position 18, 16 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market12 Apr 2027
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Roda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Déom 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Roda says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Koen Jansen has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Koen Jansen has written the date down.
Market12 Apr 2027
Roda and Bram Marsman are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
Chastening afternoon for Roda
A 0‑7 beating by Utrecht was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Roda's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Roda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Roda and Utrecht in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Nov 2026
Roda cannot find the net
3 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.
In brief
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Match
No clean sheets in sight for Roda
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Squad
Words at Roda training over how hard people work
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The dugout
Jack Cooper-Love gets it from the manager
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Roda against PSV
0‑2 to PSV, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Joey Müller 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josh Nisbet, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jasper Aké after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Noan Géraux and Roda agree another 3 years.
Market16 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Philippe van Arnhem has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Roda.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The formation has left Noan Géraux behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Roda will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match9 Sep 2026
Roda bow out of the cup
Cambuur go through and Roda go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Esmir Bajraktarević did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Roda
6 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Roda
Dario Van Den Buijs 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Esmir Bajraktarević 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Roda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joey Müller was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Keanu Van Mieghem, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Josh Nisbet 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.