Marked for Simon Janssen
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Dec 2027
Nesto Groen 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 Excelsior can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Toma Bašić goes up and wins it — 7.50
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.50 for the rest of it.
Match18 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Excelsior
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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irakli Yegoian 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
Toma Bašić scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to AZ, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match18 Dec 2027
Excelsior 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
David Mukuna 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Simon Janssen, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daley De Roon after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The offer went to Septemvri this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
No thanks: Jerayno Hunte rejects the move
Excelsior had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at PSV, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Excelsior
Toma Bašić 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gyan de Regt 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 targets23 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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Jorrit Smeets
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Too much change too quickly at Excelsior
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Excelsior know it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Excelsior
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Szymon Włodarczyk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Simon Janssen 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
0‑2 to Feyenoord, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stijn van Gassel, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Aymen Sliti is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Excelsior will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Gyan de Regt is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Daley De Roon to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Excelsior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Excelsior
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lewis Schouten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and Excelsior go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Excelsior
Simon Janssen 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑1 to Groningen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorrit Smeets, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daley De Roon after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Rio Ngumoha gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rio Ngumoha is on it.
Looking ahead15 Feb 2027
Excelsior take on the side everybody is chasing
Ajax arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Excelsior lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match26 Dec 2026
7 matches without a win for Excelsior
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Excelsior are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Lewis Schouten 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Simon Janssen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
The game went through Simon Janssen — 6.91
Marked 6.91 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Excelsior
Position 14, 18 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Aymen Sliti gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aymen Sliti is on it.
The dugout28 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Nov 2026
Excelsior do the business in Europe
1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Excelsior came through the finding-out well against AC Oulu.
Match8 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by NEC, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Aymen Sliti at 20 — 8.13
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Aymen Sliti did not need any: 8.13, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Lewis Schouten 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.
Squad9 Nov 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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; Excelsior are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout9 Nov 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.
Boardroom9 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Excelsior 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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Daley De Roon 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
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Noah Naujoks 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 Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Szymon Włodarczyk 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Szymon Włodarczyk 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Szymon Włodarczyk. 1‑0 against Utrecht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
7.82, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Excelsior had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Daley De Roon could afford to be generous.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Calvin Raatsie, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match17 Sep 2026
A European lesson for Excelsior
0‑2 against Hajduk Split. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Match20 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Excelsior
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Simon Janssen 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 dugout21 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Excelsior training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rick Meissen 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.
Match20 Sep 2026
Excelsior hit back inside 3 minutes
Zwolle held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Excelsior answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Lewis Schouten'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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Excelsior are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Stijn van Gassel and Excelsior agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Excelsior know it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Szymon Włodarczyk 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Simon Janssen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Stijn van Gassel’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Liverpool: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.