The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Jayden Siecker ended with $720.0K changing hands and Vitesse out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer went to Groningen 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jaygo van Ommeren is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match21 Aug 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Willem II. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The name of Jens Mathijsen has come up in conversations Willem II were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Willem II lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Devin Haen scored in the 89th minute, ADO Den Haag had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Willem II took the lot.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Willem II asked and Sion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Willem II. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The clubs have shaken hands with PSV; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The shirt still fits. Tim Braem is back at Willem II, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Calvin Twigt has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“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; Willem II are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levante have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Jagiellonia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Håkon Evjen 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 Devin Haen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Devin Haen has his answer from Willem II; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Everything agreed with Jagiellonia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Håkon Evjen 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 Finn Stam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Willem II are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ismael Mouhoul'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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Finn Stam 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 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.
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.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jens Mathijsen'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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Willem II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Devin Haen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Moustafa Moustafa is living that version at Willem II, and it tends to show in the first month.
Willem II asked and Sturm Graz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Willem II 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.
Willem II had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Jagiellonia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Finn Stam 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.
Crvena Zvezda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Willem II have done the hard part with Jagiellonia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
At 22 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.
Håkon Evjen 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.
Willem II asked and FC Copenhagen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Finn Stam is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Håkon Evjen wants continental football; whether Willem II can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Håkon Evjen has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Willem II asked and Ujpest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Devin Haen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jens Mathijsen's mistake
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Willem II can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Håkon Evjen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mitchel Bakker has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ali Al-Mahdawi has, at Willem II, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Willem II offered $73.0K; NEC said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
FC Copenhagen have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“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 Willem II, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Willem II heard it as anything else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Håkon Evjen 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.
At 23 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.
Willem II asked and Astra 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Håkon Evjen 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.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jens Mathijsen'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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Willem II. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Håkon Evjen 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Dekker trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ismael Mouhoul'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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Willem II. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jens Mathijsen signs something — a contract at Willem II or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Håkon Evjen 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 Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Willem II than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Karst de Leeuw
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Devin Haen 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maxim Dekker is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Finn Stam trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Devin Haen 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.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Willem II told Jaden Slory something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jens Mathijsen'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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Willem II know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadJayden Spier has seen what the next man earns
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Håkon Evjen wants continental football; whether Willem II can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daan Maas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Håkon Evjen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Devin Haen commits to Willem II for another 4 years.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
Position 11 on 41 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
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.
Håkon Evjen 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Willem II and Ajax in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Redouan El Yaakoubi and Willem II agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Willem II deserved better, and so did he.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Devin Haen 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Thomas Verheydt will call it something else in private.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Maxim Dekker is on it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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 Mar 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 Virgil Hateboer left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mitchel Bakker is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Willem II, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 17 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑5. Liverpool play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Håkon Evjen 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jaden Slory 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.
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.
Håkon Evjen 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutHåkon Evjen has become a man the manager trusts
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Willem II heard it as anything else.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMitchel Bakker is still being punished for one mistake
0‑10. Liverpool play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Willem II and Liverpool, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Willem II 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 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.” Virgil Hateboer after 0‑10, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Willem II is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Håkon Evjen 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.
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 Maxim Dekker.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Virgil Hateboer after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Willem II can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Håkon Evjen 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.
AZ left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
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 dugout8 Feb 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 Virgil Hateboer left the room before anybody could ask which.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kasper Boogaard is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Willem II 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Vince van der Bas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nathan Tjoe-A-On will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Willem II the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joe Bauress has just signed for Willem II, and for once the answer mattered.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jay Enem 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Håkon Evjen. 1‑0 against Excelsior, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 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.” Virgil Hateboer, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
AZ go through and Willem II go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Standard Liege paid $2.6M and Willem II took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Willem II they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Daan Maas 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.
Håkon Evjen 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.
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Willem II scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Willem II people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Julian van Esdonk 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.
Håkon Evjen 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Karst de Leeuw is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The phone has started ringing about Nathan Tjoe-A-On again, and this time the name on the line is Vitesse. Willem II are listening politely and promising nothing.
He is 20 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 finished 2‑0, and it was Uriël Van Aalst’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Willem II.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
Willem II have made the call to CSKA Moscow. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jay Enem 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessandro Ciranni, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Virgil Hateboer kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mitchel Bakker is on it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Willem II can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Håkon Evjen 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lasse Abildgaard and Willem II agree another 5 years.
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 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Håkon Evjen is on it.
1‑0 against SV Ried, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Jaden Slory was at the centre of the description.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jaden Slory did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Håkon Evjen 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.
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.
0‑7 to Ajax, 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Willem II hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Willem II and Ajax, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Willem II can tell you which week it ends in.
Position 12, 20 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
BoardroomNobody left the Willem II dressing room in a hurry
SquadWords at Willem II training over how hard people work
0‑2 away to the standard of HNK Rijeka. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Maxim Dekker.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Willem II told Håkon Evjen something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mounir El Allouchi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Mitchel Bakker
Looking aheadWillem II take on the side everybody is chasing
Player ratingsAn afternoon Mitchel Bakker will want back
12 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Jaden Slory, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.95
A mark of 7.95 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.
Håkon Evjen 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Thomas Didillon-Hödl is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Dekker trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
0‑4 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.
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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ismael Mouhoul did not need any: 8.35, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Willem II have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Håkon Evjen 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.
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.
1‑1 against FF Jaro, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Jaden Slory was at the centre of the description.
A 0‑3 beating by Feyenoord was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Jaden Slory, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.27
A mark of 8.27 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jaden Slory 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.
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 Thomas Verheydt.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Willem II had all but put away. FF Jaro will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Willem II dressing room in a hurry
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Håkon Evjen is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thomas Verheydt trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
2‑0 against FF Jaro, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Jari Schuurman was at the centre of the description.
Håkon Evjen 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.
At 18 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.
200 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Willem II will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Håkon Evjen 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Kasper Boogaard 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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Willem II will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Håkon Evjen wants continental football; whether Willem II can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Willem II will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jay Enem 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Willem II pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Håkon Evjen 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
Nobody at Willem II will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Armin Ćulum 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Virgil Hateboer after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
2‑1 against HNK Rijeka, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kasper Boogaard did not need any: 8.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Håkon Evjen 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.
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.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Willem II pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Willem II ran out of time with Utrecht. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Willem II are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alessandro Ciranni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Willem II lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Utrecht have accepted the money. What Willem II do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Marked 8.07 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Willem II 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 ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Willem II ran out of time with Zwolle. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never 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 Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Willem II lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Willem II asked and OH Leuven 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 offer went to Zwolle 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.
At 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thomas Verheydt. 1‑0 against Roda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Mounir El Allouchi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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.
Willem II have gone to Bodo/Glimt with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mitchel Bakker is living that version at Willem II, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Willem II training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alessandro Ciranni 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. Toronto FC have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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.
At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armin Ćulum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Willem II have gone to PSV with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mouscron keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Willem II this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jeroen Clasie 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. Tim De Roon 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Didillon-Hödl and Willem II agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Thomas Didillon-Hödl 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Willem II go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Still no offer on the table, and Vito van Crooij’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxim Dekker trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.