Other Eredivisie Teams

[qezu]

Would we win the title, the City of Amsterdam don't want no celebration on Leiseplein. A shame.

They probably planning to celebrate it in Rotterdam? Rubbing the landskampieon shield together with KNVB Cup on those c*nts' face would be nice. 7th May, CUp final 2nd leg would be an ideal date.

[aveslacker]

Would we win the title, the City of Amsterdam don't want no celebration on Leiseplein. A shame.

They probably planning to celebrate it in Rotterdam? Rubbing the landskampieon shield together with KNVB Cup on those c*nts' face would be nice. 7th May, CUp final 2nd leg would be an ideal date.

This sounds like a very good idea.

[Philippe]

Forza NAC !!! In the meantime, let's destroy those fayenuts on Sunday's first leg.

Here's a confession : - „Ik kan niet in de koppies van de spelers kijken, maar ik kan me voorstellen dat zij toch wel geschrokken zijn van het incident tijdens onze laatste training”, aldus Feyenoord-trainer Mario Been, doelend op de pakweg 150 supporters die het trainingsveld opkwamen om de spelers te vertellen dat zij liever zagen dat Feyenoord van FC Twente zou verliezen.

[aveslacker]

Forza NAC !!! In the meantime, let's destroy those fayenuts on Sunday's first leg.

Here's a confession : - „Ik kan niet in de koppies van de spelers kijken, maar ik kan me voorstellen dat zij toch wel geschrokken zijn van het incident tijdens onze laatste training”, aldus Feyenoord-trainer Mario Been, doelend op de pakweg 150 supporters die het trainingsveld opkwamen om de spelers te vertellen dat zij liever zagen dat Feyenoord van FC Twente zou verliezen.

Like I needed another reason to hate 010. Fuck those guys.

[Kowalczyk]

The final and decisive round of the promotion/relegation play-offs:

Excelsior vs Sparta Rotterdam
Go Ahead Eagles vs Willem II

Excelsior vs Sparta is a true derby. I think Sparta will survive this.

Somehow, though, I think Willem II will fuck up and crash out of the Eredivisie. Would be great to have Go Ahead Eagles back.

K.

[SPL]

Given that this is ther most complex play offs in Europe it was alot simpler to wait until the final 4 were left . (Belgium may have been more complex but so is the whole of that country !!)

NB 8x 2nd division teams have been involved including the team who finished about 13th .The league is divided into 4 periods and any period winner goes through , in this case Eindhoven who finished about 13th won 1 of the periods .I said it was complicated .

Sparta should win but I too can see Go Ahead winning . Willem of course have Donald and Van der Heijden playing so I will hope they succeed.

Do I take it Utrecht and Roda play off for the 1 Europa spot???

[Kowalczyk]

A second Dutch league club has gone out of business: BV Veendam, of 1894. This has become official today.

The bankruptcy of FC Haarlem and BV Veendam means in practice that the club who finished bottom (FC Oss) will not go down to the brand-new Topklasse after all. They will stay in the Jupiler League (a.k.a. Eerste Divisie or 'First Division').

Sad news for the supporters.

K.

[SPL]

I did read they were likely to go out of business and it is very sad. The debts of these 2 dutch clubs are nothing compared to the debts of most english teams.

[SPL]

play off finals yesterday For the Europa Cup place Roda 0 Utrecht 2 so Utrecht with the home leg on sunday must be favourites.

Promotion/ relegation 1st legs Excelsior 0 Sparta 0 so Sparta should stay up .

GAEagles 1 Willem 0 last minute goal means Willem have it all to do even though they will be at home .

Willem had Donald and V d Heijden playing plus ex youth Zijler . Sparta trumped that with Slinjgard Poepon Bodul playing and ex youths Godee and Koenders subs . So I hope Sparta and Willem get through .

[Jojo]

McClaren leaving Twente for Wolfsburg?! This is a surprise for me...

[SPL]

Willem have just beaten GAEagles 3-0 AET, 3-1 overall so they remain in eredivisie. Donald and V de Heijden played again today . Pleased as I quite like Willem .

Other game Sparta v Excelsior still 0-0 in first half (0-0 first leg)

Utrecht beat Roda 4-1 and thus qualify for Europa Cup .

[SPL]

Big shock Excelsior are promoted .They drew1-1 and won on the away goal ruling . Excelsior missed a penalty and then well into injury time Poepon scored for Sparta but Excelsior then equalised well into injury time.

A big shock .

[Kowalczyk]

My God. Tear at The Castle... Many, many tears.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Willem II in financial trouble.

The club reportedly can't pay the wages for May and June.

More news when it happens.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Willem II in financial trouble.

The club reportedly can't pay the wages for May and June.

More news when it happens.

Currently on the edge: Willem II and MVV.

K.

[SPL]

sad news . I do hope Willem survives.

[Kowalczyk]

sad news . I do hope Willem survives.

Me too. They've been consistently shit in recent seasons and I was rooting for Go Ahead Eagles, but it's a beautiful old club.

If Willem II fold, that would be the third club founded before 1900 to go out of business (Haarlem and Veendam were older than Ajax, too). Just like Haarlem, Willem II won the Dutch title in the past.

MVV was founded in 1902.

K.

[SE6Ajacied]

A real shame if any team goes but Willem II especially are one of the old famous names of Dutch football. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure but weren't they the first professional champions of Dutch football (1955 - a year before the Eredivisie but the first year of pro-football).

I really do hope they survive.

[Kowalczyk]

A real shame if any team goes but Willem II especially are one of the old famous names of Dutch football. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure but weren't they the first professional champions of Dutch football (1955 - a year before the Eredivisie but the first year of pro-football).

Yeah, that's correct.

They won three titles (1916, 1952, 1955) and two Dutch cups (1944, 1963) in total.

A long time ago, but clubs with such a s history should not disappear.

K.

[SPL]

On the finance front it is DDay for Veendam and MVV . Do not know all the ins and outs but they need to prove their financial status is sound by today to get a licence for next season .If Veendam do not prove this today I believe the court will put them out of business tomorrow.MVV seems more hopeful.
As an englishman who has a love for Dutch football I wish these small teams well .

Evidently if both these teams are able to continue then Oss will go out the league. Hardenberg are coming into the Jupiler league to replace Haarlem . For you non dutch this is right on the German border north of Almelo.

Willem are evidently now ok thanks to the local council and the other main team in problems is NAC .

[Philippe]

A real shame if any team goes but Willem II especially are one of the old famous names of Dutch football. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure but weren't they the first professional champions of Dutch football (1955 - a year before the Eredivisie but the first year of pro-football).

Yeah, that's correct.

They won three titles (1916, 1952, 1955) and two Dutch cups (1944, 1963) in total.

A long time ago, but clubs with such a s history should not disappear.

K.

They even played the CL a few years ago.

[Jinne]

Yup, under the guidance of Co. Also players like Hyypia, Stam, Galasek, Landzaat, Van Gastel and Konterman grabbed a place in the spotlights there and earned a transfer to a bigger team.

[jamcocteau]

I know this will make me unpopular but I would gladly see a few football clubs go out of business, just to bring some reality back onto the game.

Football clubs of all sizes - from the big european clubs to small local professional clubs in general have been badly managed for not just years but decades. Absolutely no sense of perspective financially whatsoever - lots of clubs seem to have had this great idea of spending money they just don't have on a dream of playing top class football but with little chance of ever it happening. Players being paid too much, tv revenues dwindling for majority of clubs, falling gate receipts but still the clubs go on spending money.

This week Willem II were saved for the time being by the generosity of the council in postponing Eur2.4 million of rent due - with the same amount still due to other creditors. The club has taken to the streets of Tilburg to get supporters to raise money to pay the other creditors. I hope they do but it is wrong. The Euro 2.4m written off by the council I presume will have to be knocked off other parts of the city of Tilburg budget which I gather is tight enough this year. So do sport facilities for other parts of the town get closed down, old folks home close, people made redundant all so that a badly run football club can be saved. Councils should not have to bail them out. Tilburg has a population of 200,000 so that means Eur 10 roughly per person in that town has gone to the football club irrespective of whether the citizens wanted it.

Maastricht council bailed out the club there too - buying the stadium for Eur 1.8m to cover their debts.

And so it goes on countries across Europe - councils bailing out badly run football clubs. All at the same time as the worst financial recession in living memory goes on. Governments and councils alike are having to make large cuts in budgets with people losing their jobs, vital services being slashed and at same time football clubs expect help. Fuck them I say.

As a football fan who spends 000s every year watching games I do feel sympathy for my fellow supporters who turn up week in week out shelling out hard earned money to watch our clubs being run by absolute morons. But at the same time I really dont expect councils to bail out the clubs.

I know a lot of people felt sympathy when Haarlem went out of business but why - and I mean this seriously - because the citizens of Haarlem obviously didn't think too much of their club. Average gates of 2-3,000 per game out of a population of 150,000 says to me that the general population didnt think much of them at all over the years. If the people of Haarlem didn't care for their club why should anybody else.

The beloved game of football is totally screwed now and if we really want to save it then drastic surgery needs to take place. There are far too many professional clubs in nearly every country across Europe - for the game to survive at a decent level then clubs not balancing the books will have to either go out of business, go part time or turn amateur and start at the bottom. And I say this irrespective of size of club.

I know my posting will not make me popular but people do need to take rose tinted glasses off regarding football clubs, irrespective of size or age, and realise that the clubs have created this mess themsleves. And supporters really should be more realistic of what they expect their clubs to achieve.

Remember supporting a football club should be for life but like all things in life sometimes they die on you.

[Orange14]

you will get my full support on this as well. It finally looks like the Ajax management is seeing the light. Trouble is that it will take considerable time and pain to unwind the damage done over the past six or so years. UEFA have a new plan that on the surface should help out in this regard. However, will they ever reject Real Madrid from CL football because Spanish banks have repeatedly bailed the club out? That's the proof in the pudding and I'm skeptical that it will happen. There was a scathing report published about a month or so ago that documented all the teams and leagues that are in financial difficulty; it's a sorry sight.

[saddlerian]

I totally agree the feeling that clubs are now thought to be bigger than life! I bank with a bank which has been taken over by "one of the safest and biggest banks in Europe." This means that all of the money in that bank is free for clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelone to abuse and "steal" from me! If it wasn't for a guarantee from the British Government, I would have withdrawn this money a long time ago. I've now found a bank which, after much research, does not have any dealings with football clubs. the transfer to this bank has been quick and painless. I now have the knowledge that I am taking no part in subsidising the irresponsible lending of that Spanish bank. I urge other people to do the same! maybe if funds are withdrawn from these "subsidising" banks, maybe the "top" European clubs would not be able to abuse them as they do now.

I work under the philosophy, if you can't afford it, save for it! I haven't even got loans outstanding because if I can't afford the repayments, I don't take out the loan....it's quite an achievment when you can save for the thing you want. I have to save and give up a lot of "luxuries" to be able to watch Ajax every season, but at least I have saved and paid for the trips and Seasoncard, not the banks or credit card companies!!!

Maybe some of the clubs in Europe can follow this "sad" example......but I fear not!!!