Marked for Marco Tol
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Nov 2027
Roda bow out of the cup
Ajax go through and Roda go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad15 Nov 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 terraces15 Nov 2027
A cup hiding at Ajax leaves Roda explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match13 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Roda
4 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Roda
Mitchell Paulissen 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 Nov 2027
No hiding place for Marco Tol
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Tol, and the manager let it.
Boardroom15 Nov 2027
Nobody left the Roda 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.
Loan watch15 Nov 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Roda, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Jul 2027
Roda are in real trouble now
Position 18, 19 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.
Market5 Jul 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Roda say no — this time
The offer from NEC for Anthony van den Hurk was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad5 Jul 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Roda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Raphael van Geelkerken and Roda agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 May 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Marco Tol: 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.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
Tempers go at Roda
Nicksoen Gomis 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Roda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nicksoen Gomis 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 terraces5 Apr 2027
Roda supporters have found a favourite in Ryan Leijten
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ryan Leijten 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
A 2‑0 win over Groningen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Jan 2027
17 matches without a win for Roda
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Roda are no longer polite ones.
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Roda
Position 17 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Dylano van Niftrik has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Roda
Bart Schenkeveld 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Roda and NEC cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. NEC came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Marco Tol 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 7. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Marco Tol 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 Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Willem II left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Joey Müller 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marco Tol 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 Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Roda
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Calvin Brobbey 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months and counting on Jérôme Déom
Still no offer on the table, and Jérôme Déom’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
No investment in the facilities at Roda
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.