Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Adrian Dabasse is living that version at ADO Den Haag, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Jalen Hawkins was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.64. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Anass Moumane is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Etienne Vaessen 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Luka Reischl 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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Luka Reischl was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.66. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Illaijh de Ruijter is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Twente for Jalen Hawkins 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Etienne Vaessen 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.
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Roda will make the call about Gal Peled this week. ADO Den Haag have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad9 Aug 2027
13 new faces, and ADO Den Haag are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Position 16 and 23 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Harrison Dudziak 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jaygo van Ommeren is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Illaijh de Ruijter 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Etienne Vaessen 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Jesse Bal 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.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
Etienne Vaessen 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
13 new faces, and ADO Den Haag are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joey Brandt 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kenneth Malen has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
He is 20, and nobody at ADO Den Haag signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ADO Den Haag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Milan Hokke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ADO Den Haag the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Illaijh de Ruijter 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Matteo Waem has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Illaijh de Ruijter 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.
ADO Den Haag interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Kenneth Malen keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jari Vlak will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ADO Den Haag the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ADO Den Haag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jaygo van Ommeren is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ADO Den Haag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Illaijh de Ruijter 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ADO Den Haag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Roda will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Dylano van Niftrik has pre-agreed a move to ADO Den Haag, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maikey Houwaart 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ADO Den Haag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ADO Den Haag, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadMaikey Houwaart falls out with a teammate over standards
MarketThe clock does Evan Rottier’s negotiating for him
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Cody De Ligt clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
“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; Kenneth Malen recited it perfectly.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ADO Den Haag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Tom van Weert 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.
“I did not go to Akhmat Grozny to sit and watch. I want to come back to ADO Den Haag and fight for my place.” 14 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evan Rottier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ADO Den Haag the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mats Deijl 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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee ADO Den Haag could ask drops and the wages Jari Vlak can ask rise.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Evan Rottier’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ADO Den Haag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tom van Weert 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.
Excelsior will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. E.J. O'Brien has pre-agreed a move to ADO Den Haag, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ADO Den Haag, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at ADO Den Haag is running low.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; ADO Den Haag are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The mood at ADO Den Haag has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Ajax the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that ADO Den Haag will enjoy reviewing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ADO Den Haag know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nigel Thomas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ADO Den Haag the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cambuur left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Evan Rottier 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jaygo van Ommeren did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
42 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
9 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mats Deijl 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Julian van Esdonk has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means ADO Den Haag have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The mood at ADO Den Haag has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Milan Hokke has agreed terms with Heracles for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; ADO Den Haag are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cameron Peupion will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ADO Den Haag the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mats Deijl 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Evan Rottier 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 8.17, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jari Vlak 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Steven Berghuis clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
The offer from Zwolle for Jarno Slootweg 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.
Mats Deijl 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dylan Reid has just signed for ADO Den Haag, and for once the answer mattered.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at ADO Den Haag has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ADO Den Haag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Maikey Houwaart to Zwolle has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to ADO Den Haag with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Illaijh de Ruijter 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Robin Bouw has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means ADO Den Haag have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The name of Jarno Slootweg has come up in conversations ADO Den Haag were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Mats Deijl 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ADO Den Haag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ties van der Maat has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means ADO Den Haag have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A first appearance Maikey Houwaart will want to forget — 5.65
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.65, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cameron Peupion will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ADO Den Haag the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nigel Thomas 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
A mark of 9.01 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ADO Den Haag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Cameron Peupion 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.
Mats Deijl 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.
In brief
Player ratingsJalen Hawkins was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at ADO Den Haag has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at ADO Den Haag can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ADO Den Haag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ADO Den Haag will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 16 and 17 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.
Jari Vlak 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at ADO Den Haag can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Akaki Gogia 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
Illaijh de Ruijter 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akaki Gogia 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I did not go to Akhmat Grozny to sit and watch. I want to come back to ADO Den Haag and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Nobody at ADO Den Haag will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.90 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at ADO Den Haag
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 33 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between ADO Den Haag and AZ, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Mats Deijl 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 8.31, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luka Reischl. 2‑1 against Cambuur, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
10 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 34 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
26 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.
Mats Deijl 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.81, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akaki Gogia 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.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
7 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ADO Den Haag, another week without a signature from Jari Vlak.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Mats Deijl 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Finn de Bruin 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Finn de Bruin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.62. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
25 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jaygo van Ommeren is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at ADO Den Haag can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Mats Deijl 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.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yannick Bujard has just signed for ADO Den Haag, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Jari Vlak 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Luka Reischl 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 Sep 2026
Akaki Gogia 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the ADO Den Haag 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and ADO Den Haag are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Roda spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Illaijh de Ruijter did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Roda made ADO Den Haag work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Akaki Gogia 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. ADO Den Haag scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 ADO Den Haag, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tom van Weert 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.
A 2‑1 win over Heerenveen, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Pascal Mulder was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.71. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ADO Den Haag can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Yoram Boerhout has just signed for ADO Den Haag, and for once the answer mattered.
Matteo Waem 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 name of Finn de Bruin has come up in conversations ADO Den Haag were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Finn de Bruin 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.
In brief
Player ratingsPascal Mulder was on a different afternoon to everybody else
SquadEvan Rottier falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ADO Den Haag has been clear about where Mylian Jimenez stands, which is more than many ever get.
Jerson Cabral is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The offer from Zwolle for Kilian Nikiéma 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ADO Den Haag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at ADO Den Haag
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
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pascal Mulder 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Donny Promes 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Robin Janssen has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rick Van de Beek is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and ADO Den Haag are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
BoardroomNo investment in the facilities at ADO Den Haag
The terracesThe stands have heard the Kilian Nikiéma talk too
Matteo Waem 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at ADO Den Haag training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luka Reischl 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ADO Den Haag, another week without a signature from Jari Vlak.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ADO Den Haag has been clear about where Milan Hokke stands, which is more than many ever get.