“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 The request is on a desk at MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
MVV Maastricht had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at VVV-Venlo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
“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 The request is on a desk at MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MVV Maastricht have done the hard part with Feyenoord, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Delano Asante trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Stan Van Dessel 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.
MVV Maastricht have made the call to Utrecht. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jan Van Den Bergh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Add another name to the list: Sturm Graz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thijs Kraaijeveld. The answer from MVV Maastricht has not changed — yet.
The deal with AZ 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Utrecht have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Stan Van Dessel 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MVV Maastricht has been clear about where Finn Dicke stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mats Kuipers and MVV Maastricht agree another 4 years.
The deal with Utrecht 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.
“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 MVV Maastricht know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jan Van Den Bergh 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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thijs Kraaijeveld 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
33 games, 4 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at MVV Maastricht now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
7 new faces, and MVV Maastricht 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.
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dies Janse 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.
Lenn-Minh Tran 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ilano Silva Timas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at MVV Maastricht. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MVV Maastricht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Dani Mathieu has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 50 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Dies Janse 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 May 2028
Gastón Ávila 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dies Janse 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MVV Maastricht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
Joep Mullenders, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Jong PSV had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout8 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Denzel Klaassen chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other 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 MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Dies Janse 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout1 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Denzel Klaassen chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MVV Maastricht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jong PSV next, and one man in the MVV Maastricht dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at MVV Maastricht has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
VVV-Venlo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. MVV Maastricht were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jeremy van Haalen provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Dies Janse 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gastón Ávila was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Anthony Smits 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.
Dies Janse 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Denzel Klaassen chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against VVV-Venlo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dies Janse 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 MVV Maastricht know it.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and 11 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at MVV Maastricht pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Dies Janse 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ryan Pitou is 20, and MVV Maastricht have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MVV Maastricht has been clear about where Robert Klaasen stands, which is more than many ever get.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cambuur in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thijme Verheijen signs something — a contract at MVV Maastricht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position, and Gastón Ávila suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. MVV Maastricht have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Zidane Iqbal 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Dies Janse 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Denzel Klaassen chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thijs Kraaijeveld signs something — a contract at MVV Maastricht or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gastón Ávila 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 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 MVV Maastricht know it.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Jan Van Den Bergh will call it something else in private.
5 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Timur Nikolov is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A mark of 7.87, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Denzel Klaassen, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Dies Janse 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Gastón Ávila 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolai Rehnen, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Denzel Klaassen to a room that had heard them before.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. MVV Maastricht lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
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.
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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gastón Ávila 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Denzel Klaassen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the MVV Maastricht dressing room was either.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gastón Ávila 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Mohamed Abdellah 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MVV Maastricht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Zidane Iqbal 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.
Almere City paid $520.0K and MVV Maastricht took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 88, against Jong Ajax, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Ilano Silva Timas 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 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 3‑1 win over De Graafschap, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MVV Maastricht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ilano Silva Timas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
MVV Maastricht 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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nils De Wilde has, at MVV Maastricht, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“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 MVV Maastricht know 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 MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Den Bosch, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Denzel Klaassen to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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 phone has started ringing about Finn Dicke again, and this time the name on the line is Emmen. MVV Maastricht are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at MVV Maastricht, and 4 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 5, 29 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Gastón Ávila is in the works
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MVV Maastricht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ilano Silva Timas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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.
A mark of 7.87, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Denzel Klaassen, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MVV Maastricht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MVV Maastricht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Thijs Kraaijeveld
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MVV Maastricht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ilano Silva Timas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Denzel Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jong PSV in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutLars Schenk knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Zidane Iqbal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for MVV Maastricht is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sven Braken has his answer from MVV Maastricht; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Robert Klaasen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MVV Maastricht needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player 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 MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Anthony Smits 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.
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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Zidane Iqbal’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to MVV Maastricht.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Zidane Iqbal was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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 is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MVV Maastricht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Mohammed Tahiri 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Denzel Klaassen after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MVV Maastricht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Anthony Smits 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MVV Maastricht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ilano Silva Timas 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
Anthony Smits 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anthony Smits signs something — a contract at MVV Maastricht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at MVV Maastricht would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MVV Maastricht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MVV Maastricht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Anthony Smits 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Denzel Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MVV Maastricht lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Jeroen Houwen: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and 4 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MVV Maastricht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Zidane Iqbal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Denzel Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MVV Maastricht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8.02. 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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Zidane Iqbal'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.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MVV Maastricht lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Fabio Kluit and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MVV Maastricht, another week without a signature from Finn Dicke.
Anthony Smits wins it after the whistle should have gone
95 minutes played. Anthony Smits found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and TOP Oss went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Anthony Smits 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.
Jan Van Den Bergh 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.
“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; MVV Maastricht are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Anthony Smits 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Denzel Klaassen after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Denzel Klaassen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the MVV Maastricht dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Almere City? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohamed Abdellah’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MVV Maastricht needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ilano Silva Timas and MVV Maastricht agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jan Van Den Bergh 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. Anthony Smits 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.
The deal that would have taken Thijme Verheijen to NEC has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to MVV Maastricht with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Semen Padang for Yaell Samson 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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 MVV Maastricht know it.
Zidane Iqbal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Anthony Smits 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The name of Thijme Verheijen has come up in conversations MVV Maastricht were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Thijs Kraaijeveld and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Anthony Smits 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 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.
It needed Anthony Smits to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against De Graafschap, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Denzel Klaassen was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the MVV Maastricht dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutJeroen Houwen knocks on the manager's door
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” MVV Maastricht may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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.
Dani Mathieu 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 easiest signature of my career.” Filip Janssen and MVV Maastricht agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jeroen Houwen
“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 MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MVV Maastricht have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Zidane Iqbal delivers — 7.89
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Zidane Iqbal scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MVV Maastricht have done the hard part with Roda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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.
MVV Maastricht asked and Helmond Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Joel Dijks 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. Teun Promes 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jasper Stengs 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ryan Weghorst 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MVV Maastricht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Emmen have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thijme Verheijen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Wout Coomans has gone, the accounts have $2.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Go Ahead Eagles paid $2.2M and MVV Maastricht took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vitesse have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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.
MVV Maastricht have made the call to Emmen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Croatia Zmijavci had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MVV Maastricht 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MVV Maastricht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. MVV Maastricht will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The paperwork is done: Yme Bruinsma joins from Cambuur in a deal worth $420.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at MVV Maastricht. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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 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 MVV Maastricht know it.
Bryan Smeets 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.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wout Coomans signs something — a contract at MVV Maastricht or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. MVV Maastricht would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
In brief
The dugoutMarko Kleinen knocks on the manager’s door
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Anthony Smits 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.
Bryan Smeets 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.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MVV Maastricht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed 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 MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anthony Smits trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MVV Maastricht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Marko Kleinen
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MVV Maastricht have done the hard part with AZ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Zidane Iqbal is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The captaincy has been taken off Thijme Verheijen. MVV Maastricht will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jeremy van Haalen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: MVV Maastricht enter the window
Ilano Silva Timas 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 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 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 Jeroen Houwen has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MVV Maastricht is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anthony Smits and MVV Maastricht agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 May 2027
Anthony Smits 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 last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 51 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad17 May 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Denzel Klaassen to a room that had heard them before.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. MVV Maastricht know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MVV Maastricht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
An average of 7.09 in a first team he is several years too young for. MVV Maastricht have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad10 May 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MVV Maastricht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ilano Silva Timas 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. MVV Maastricht 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 MVV Maastricht 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. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Denzel Klaassen, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Anthony Smits did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stan Van Dessel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MVV Maastricht the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht 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: Zidane Iqbal. 2‑1 against VVV-Venlo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Denzel Klaassen could afford to be generous.
Zidane Iqbal 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikolai Rehnen, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Denzel Klaassen was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the MVV Maastricht dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Willem II? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against VVV-Venlo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thijme Verheijen and MVV Maastricht agree another 4 years.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.07, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Ilano Silva Timas 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 Apr 2027
Anthony Smits 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.
19 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MVV Maastricht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
An average of 7.06 in a first team he is several years too young for. MVV Maastricht have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jeroen Houwen.
Bryan Smeets 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Zidane Iqbal is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Pim Bruggink
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stan Van Dessel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MVV Maastricht the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Cambuur next, and one man in the MVV Maastricht dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and MVV Maastricht will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MVV Maastricht, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Denzel Klaassen on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Something was said to Anthony Smits and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.09, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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 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 MVV Maastricht know it.
Ilano Silva Timas 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.
Minute 86, against Emmen, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MVV Maastricht has been clear about where Sep van der Heijden stands, which is more than many ever get.
A mark of 8.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. MVV Maastricht know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nikolai Rehnen and MVV Maastricht agree another 3 years.
9 goals in one match, Zidane Iqbal on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of MVV Maastricht and Jong Utrecht.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Zidane Iqbal 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MVV Maastricht have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MVV Maastricht they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MVV Maastricht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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 complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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.
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MVV Maastricht has been clear about where Marko Kleinen stands, which is more than many ever get.
ADO Den Haag next, and one man in the MVV Maastricht dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
An average of 7.04 in a first team he is several years too young for. MVV Maastricht have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. MVV Maastricht will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Jeroen Houwen
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Sven Braken
28Edition
The MVV Maastricht Post
8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Anthony Smits, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vitesse is saying, and nobody at MVV Maastricht is enjoying the guessing.
8.39. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Anthony Smits is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. MVV Maastricht will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jeremy van Haalen did not need any: 10.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” MVV Maastricht may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at MVV Maastricht until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with AZ 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Stan Van Dessel has agreed terms with Sparta Rotterdam for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Zidane Iqbal 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.
MVV Maastricht asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Denzel Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Adriano-Mpudi Mansala is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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 MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
Thijs Kraaijeveld and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NEC have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
9 combined actions and 6.69. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OH Leuven have kept their man, and MVV Maastricht go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Stan Van Dessel has come up in conversations MVV Maastricht were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A 1‑0 win over Helmond Sport, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MVV Maastricht can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Marked 7.90. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joep Mullenders is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between MVV Maastricht and Jong PSV, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” MVV Maastricht may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Anthony Smits 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Roda were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Lenn-Minh Tran 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Denzel Klaassen, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
15 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.
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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.
Ilano Silva Timas 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Robert Klaasen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MVV Maastricht needing him to play as if none of it matters.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Successful dribbles: 32. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Willem II left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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.
Minute 88, against Jong AZ, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Delano Asante and MVV Maastricht agree another 3 years.
Anthony Smits, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-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. 8.22 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Denzel Klaassen to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ilano Silva Timas 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Zidane Iqbal 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.
“I watch every MVV Maastricht game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at FC Eindhoven runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thijs Kraaijeveld was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ilano Silva Timas 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and MVV Maastricht 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and MVV Maastricht will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Dordrecht next, and one man in the MVV Maastricht dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MVV Maastricht has been clear about where Niels Martens stands, which is more than many ever get.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Emmen will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. MVV Maastricht were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Zidane Iqbal 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from 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 MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.96 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pim Bruggink has just signed for MVV Maastricht, and for once the answer mattered.
12 goals in one match, Jeremy van Haalen on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of MVV Maastricht and Jong Utrecht.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
0‑3 to ADO Den Haag, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to FC Eindhoven to sit and watch. I want to come back to MVV Maastricht and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation MVV Maastricht are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zidane Iqbal 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. MVV Maastricht told Zidane Iqbal something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
13 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Denzel Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Zidane Iqbal 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.
Adriano-Mpudi Mansala 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nabil el Basri has his answer from MVV Maastricht; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Denzel Klaassen after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Zidane Iqbal
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Zidane Iqbal has come out of that comparison in the side, and MVV Maastricht have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MVV Maastricht this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to FC Eindhoven to sit and watch. I want to come back to MVV Maastricht and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Denzel Klaassen left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Jeroen Houwen
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jeroen Houwen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bryan Smeets 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.
12 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.
A 1‑1 draw with Almere City leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Denzel Klaassen chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
“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 MVV Maastricht, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 19 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at MVV Maastricht until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Thijs Kraaijeveld 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zidane Iqbal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MVV Maastricht asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Twente will make the call about Stan Van Dessel this week. MVV Maastricht have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Sven Braken is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation MVV Maastricht are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MVV Maastricht 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 MVV Maastricht can pretend not to have heard.
Ilano Silva Timas 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Dani Mathieu is living that version at MVV Maastricht, and it tends to show in the first month.
The name of Stan Van Dessel has come up in conversations MVV Maastricht were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
MVV Maastricht asked and Luzern said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Denzel Klaassen to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MVV Maastricht will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ilano Silva Timas 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.
MVV Maastricht asked and Greuther Fürth said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Denzel Klaassen after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Deabeas Owusu-Sekyere is living that version at MVV Maastricht, and it tends to show in the first month.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at MVV Maastricht is enjoying the guessing.
MVV Maastricht asked and Viking said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Sven Braken had MVV Maastricht level again within 2 minutes, and Den Bosch never got to play with a lead at all.
In brief
Squad7 new faces, and MVV Maastricht are still learning each other
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Stan Van Dessel reports back to MVV Maastricht with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AZ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ilano Silva Timas 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at MVV Maastricht training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeroen Houwen 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.
MVV Maastricht asked and AZ said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Clasie is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Wesley Janssen 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. Jasper De Ligt 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.
MVV Maastricht have made the call to Utrecht. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Jordy Bawuah is in the works
BoardroomNo investment in the facilities at MVV Maastricht