From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Vitesse board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market22 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Beelen 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Jens Grahl
“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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Gaoussou Diarra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
Vitesse face Roda in the game that matters most
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Match20 Feb 2027
Vitesse caught on 94 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Heracles scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
In brief
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Vitesse
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Match
Vitesse and Heracles take a point apiece
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Feb 2027
Vitesse are in real trouble now
Position 16, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vitesse may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Armando Obispo 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 Feb 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Beelen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The clock did what NEC would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
“This is a club with real history, and I did not have to think about it for long.” The new manager takes charge with every slate wiped clean.
Match6 Feb 2027
Nowhere to hide for Vitesse
0‑4 against Ajax, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The Vitesse board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitesse is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Vitesse have done the hard part with Rosenborg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Vitesse and NEC have settled on $280.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 7 in, 0 out at Vitesse
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Vitesse
Armando Obispo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The target is George Davies, the approach is real, and the compensation clause is the whole conversation. Clubs deny this kind of story right up until the photograph.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Thomas Beelen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
The mood at Vitesse has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Groningen, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The deal with NEC 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
4 matches without a win for Vitesse
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Vitesse are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Solomon Bonnah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Vitesse asked and Leganés 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marco Schikora, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Looking ahead
A six-pointer for Vitesse
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Boardroom
Inquest at Vitesse
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Squad
7 new faces, and Vitesse are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Vitesse
Position 16 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The match ball belongs to Gaoussou Diarra, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market18 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Groningen, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Jan 2027
52 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
Gaoussou Diarra scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑5 to Utrecht, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match16 Jan 2027
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Vitesse and Utrecht in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Jan 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vitesse may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Vitesse is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Moustafa Moustafa has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Solomon Bonnah and Vitesse agree another 4 years.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra 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
Solomon Bonnah falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Vitesse asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Vitesse
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Vitesse is running low.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Jordy Dumfries has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Vitesse can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match2 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for Vitesse
A 0‑3 beating by PSV was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with PSV, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Vitesse can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Solomon Bonnah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Match
Vitesse leaking at the back
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The dugout
Marcus Steffen gets it from the manager
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Vitesse dressing room in a hurry
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces28 Dec 2026
The mood at Vitesse has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match26 Dec 2026
4 behind and going nowhere, until Anthony Smits decided otherwise. Heerenveen had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Anthony Smits, 21, steals the show — 9.98
Marked 9.98 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad28 Dec 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Anthony Smits, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Vitesse
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Heerenveen were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match26 Dec 2026
Three points for Vitesse, 6‑5 the final word against Heerenveen in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Gaoussou Diarra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Vitesse
8 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.
Match21 Dec 2026
Vitesse sink to position 16
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
ADO Den Haag left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Solomon Bonnah 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Pontus Dahbo
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jordy Dumfries after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Vitesse
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nino Zonneveld scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to AZ, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Solomon Bonnah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 57 days on the sidelines for Omar Zouggary, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Vitesse's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitesse has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Vitesse
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
24 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Anthony Smits
“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.
Match7 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Vitesse
Position 16, 7 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tom Vlietstra and Vitesse agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Nov 2026
Supporters organise against the Vitesse board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Vitesse's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitesse has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solomon Bonnah 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Vitesse told Hicham El Majhed something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match28 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match23 Nov 2026
Vitesse are in real trouble now
Position 16, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Vitesse
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Elias Huth scored one and made one — 7.79
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.79, and 2 involvements.
Match21 Nov 2026
Naoufal Bannis scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Twente, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match21 Nov 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Vitesse and Twente in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solomon Bonnah 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2026
Vitesse bow out of the cup
Willem II go through and Vitesse go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market16 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Nov 2026
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
Gaoussou Diarra scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Zwolle, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hicham El Majhed, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Vitesse may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Nov 2026
55 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra 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 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Naoufal Bannis and Vitesse agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match7 Nov 2026
Level with 94 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Vitesse had all but put away. NEC will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It needed Elias Huth to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against NEC, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Vitesse spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
The drought breaks for Vitesse
11 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Anthony Smits, 21, steals the show — 8.01
Marked 8.01 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Solomon Bonnah commits to Vitesse for another 4 years.
Match31 Oct 2026
Three points for Vitesse, 2‑1 the final word against Roda in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
11 matches without a win for Vitesse
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Vitesse are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Oct 2026
Vitesse sink to position 18
2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tijn Smolenaars 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Vitesse
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gaoussou Diarra 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Markelo 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Gaoussou Diarra had Vitesse level again within 2 minutes, and Willem II never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Vitesse are still strangers to each other
9 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.74 on the card, and the Vitesse support went home talking about one name.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Vitesse's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitesse has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Ajax, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match10 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Vitesse
9 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hicham El Majhed, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Markelo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maximilian Brüll and Vitesse agree another 4 years.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
Doors closed at Vitesse
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Vitesse
8 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Vitesse leaking at the back
8 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Belts tighten at Vitesse
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Vitesse dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tijn Smolenaars was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Koen te Veluwe damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by Groningen, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Vitesse's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitesse has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Anthony Smits at 21 — 7.82
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Anthony Smits did not need any: 7.82, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match26 Sep 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Vitesse
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Market28 Sep 2026
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Jordy Dumfries to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑4 to Utrecht, 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Vitesse
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Vitesse are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
Vitesse are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Vitesse dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jordy Dumfries after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑5 by Feyenoord, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Vitesse's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitesse has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Vitesse
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Vitesse
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Vitesse asked and Utrecht 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nathan Markelo, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
Doors closed at Vitesse
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Vitesse 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Vitesse lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Vitesse 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Vitesse
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Vitesse are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Gaoussou Diarra 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Vitesse counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Vitesse now.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Vitesse asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Sep 2026
Vitesse are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match5 Sep 2026
PSV take the points off Vitesse
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Koen te Veluwe
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Vitesse lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Vitesse, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alexander Büttner 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Vitesse 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Kay Otakan gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Aug 2026
A goal on 85 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match29 Aug 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
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Squad
Michel Driezen falls out with a teammate over standards
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Elias Huth unlocks it
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Vitesse
Alexander Büttner 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Roda were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match22 Aug 2026
ADO Den Haag left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pontus Dahbo, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 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 0‑2 Jordy Dumfries left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Chiel Olde Keizer 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Chiel Olde Keizer has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Vitesse.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Vitesse asked and Excelsior said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Vitesse
Alexander Büttner and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
The chase for Tijn Smolenaars ended with $73.0K changing hands and PSV out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Groningen wanted more than $190.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match15 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Vitesse against AZ
0‑2 to AZ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Vitesse training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elias Huth 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Vitesse will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Vitesse
8 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 dugout17 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jordy Dumfries to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Vitesse and PSV have settled on $73.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Club Brugge keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kay Otakan commits to Vitesse for another 3 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Roda this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alexander Büttner 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Vitesse
3 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Wesley Timber has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Owen Klaassen 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Vitesse 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Vitesse can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexander Büttner and Vitesse agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitesse this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Vitesse, another week without a signature from Alexander Büttner.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Vitesse
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chiel Olde Keizer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Romeo Vermant is in the works
Vitesse have made the call to Club Brugge. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Naoufal Bannis’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
Dylan Tevreden is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Vitesse has been clear about where Dylan Tevreden stands, which is more than many ever get.