Feyenoord Rotterdam: Sending out an S.O.S.

We are halfway through the Dutch football season and we have got a better look at things. We have seen AZ’s return to form, Ajax playing awful for most of their seventeen games but still managing to get the wins piled up and the collapse of the once proud and promising, self-proclaimed “football capital” of Holland, in the form of PSV Eindhoven. We have also had some overperformers (NAC Breda again, Willem II Tilburg) and some underachievers (Roda JC, Vitesse Arnhem). However, the biggest disappointment of them all has to be my beloved Feyenoord Rotterdam, no contest. They find themselves sitting at the eleventh place in the table, way below their stature. Is this just temporary, or could this be a cry for help from a sinking ship?

Let’s recap. Summer of 2007, Feyenoord had just performed below par in the Dutch Eredivisie and was determined to prove that this was just an incident. It was the season of misfortune, as they were cleaning up the financial mess left by former club president Jorien van den Herik (also known as the “Big Bald Leader” Dutch: “Grote Kale Leider”). With his financial loans he managed to save the club in the late 80’s/early 90’s, but he assured himself of some hefty repayments through interest as high as 13 percent. With the departure of Feyenoord’s two top strikers to two of England’s biggest teams (Kuyt and Kalou went to Liverpool and Chelsea), they sure had a hard time of keeping up with the rest. Buying a reserve (Charisteas, former big man for Greece with his goal in the 2004 European Championships Final) from fierce rivals Ajax Amsterdam to fit as your new first-team striker does not help either. In the midst of all this commotion, Nancy happened. Feyenoord had to play French side AS Nancy in the group stage of that season’s UEFA Cup, but the game was overshadowed by Feyenoord-supporters who were wrecking not only everything on their path to the stadium, but the stadium itself as well. In the aftermath, Feyenoord was found guilty of not having their fans under control, although there were several fingers pointed at Nancy ticket offices for selling tickets to any fan and the French police force for provoking the Feyenoord-fans while they were in the city center. Therefore, Feyenoord was banned from playing European football for the rest of the season. Because they lost their last game of the season to SC Heerenveen, Feyenoord did not qualify for Europe next season.

This disaster must have been the ideal way for technical manager Peter Bosz to step in and do his thing. He managed to get some “big” names to join the “Club van Zuid”, most notably Makaay, Hofland and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Even former coach Bert van Marwijk came back, and the future was bright again. Captain Van Bronckhorst even mentioned the championship. Oh, what a scene that would have been.

Unfortunately, things did not go exactly as planned. Feyenoord struggled the whole season long, but eventually managed to win the Dutch cup after some lacklustre performances against mediocre opponents. At the end of last season, again there was a cry for reinforcements. Feyenoord, the club which was keen on transparency after the situation with Van den Herik, stated that there was little money left, so the supporters had to hold on for another season. Well, until the news came out that they bought midfielder Karim El Ahmadi from Twente for 5 million Euros. El Ahmadi was the third midfielder who was bought by Feyenoord in one season, after Van Bronckhorst and Landzaat. He also is the same type of midfielder as the aforementioned two. The good part is, after the transfer, there was not enough money left to reinforce vital parts of the team, like the defence.

Let me say that a key factor in the recent misfortune has to be Peter Bosz, the technical manager who had his mind set on bringing in players “from the highest calibre possible”. Bosz has always been a troublemaker, even in his tenure with Feyenoord as a player. Journalist Hugo Borst portrayed him in his book “De Coolsingel Bleef Leeg” (a season-long look inside the self-destructing club) as an unreliable, egocentric person with no love for the club at all. He does seem to justify this description. With Bosz, the club invested in a handful of players that do not have that much left (Makaay, Tomasson, Landzaat, Hofland, De Cler), plus yet another midfielder (El Ahmadi), when the backside has been Feyenoord’s problem for about ten years now. His only real quality signing was Giovanni van Bronckhorst, but can we really call that signing his work? After all, Giovanni always said he would come back to the club where he made his first steps as a professional. When we evaluate his dealings in the transfer market, we can see that he spent a lot of money on veteran players, who, excluding Van Bronckhorst, do not bring that much extra to the team. Especially Makaay seems to be not the big hit that Feyenoord was hoping for. The prolific goalscorer has struggled in his first 18 months in Rotterdam, but still managed to score 13 league goals. However, he doesn’t bring anything extra in attack, mainly finishing off and not setting up as much as he should do in Dutch football. That is not entirely his fault though.

Which brings us to another problem, the formation. Captain Van Bronckhorst was lauded by Argentinian star Lionel Messi to be the best left back of the world, but somehow Feyenoord manages to put him in a defensive midfield-position, while defending is not his best quality. Instead, they have Tim De Cler, former AZ- and Ajax-player, as a left back. The problem with De Cler is that he is constantly attacking the opponent’s box, thus playing out of position. The other three defenders have to constantly guard his position, which often leads to being outnumbered at the back. But, there is more to De Cler. He has been a John McEnroe-imitator for the whole season long, arguing with officials and opponents. It seems to be frustration about the way things are going for him and his club, but it often leads to laughter from the crowd. The best example for this is when he gave away the ball with a silly pass in Feyenoord’s home game against Ajax. Ajax scored, and De Cler marched towards the linesman, talking abusive language, for which he was given the yellow card. This kind of behaviour should not be tolerated by the club. It affects not only the image of the club in the media, but also can disrupt the harmony between players.

Another crucial position in past years has been the goalkeeper. Henk Timmer has produced some of the finest comical moments over the past seasons, and his expression after another opposition goal is sheer brilliance. He is well past his peak, while other talents as Edwin Mulder, or Darley for that matter, are young and upcoming talents. Why not try them out, with a solid veteran goalkeeper behind them in the line-up?

Then we should consider a couple of Dutch players, who are enrolled in the club’s investment funds (another simply outrageous idea from none other that Peter Bosz himself). Most of them are way too inconsistent to even bother having them in your lineup. But with the obligation to investors to make some profit out of these youngsters, Bosz is trying to renew their contracts as we speak. Can it get any more illogical? All of these players, with exception of Jonathan de Guzman, do not have either the mentality or the skills to merit a place in the first team, but except of trying to offload them through telling them they can leave and not making any effort in extending their expiring contracts, the Feyenoord board tells them that they can leave and then wants them to commit their future to the club again with signing brand new contracts.

Is it really that unobvious that those players will eventually see out the reminder of their respective contracts, in order to attract a more lucrative contract at another club (after all, no transfer fee means more money for contract fees)?

The situation of Jonathan de Guzman is also a difficult one. Touted as the best talent Feyenoord has brought up in the past twenty years, he seems to be destined for a great future. His last season however was a setback in which his development stagnated. In this season, he showed no improvement, got a stupid red card at Heracles Almelo for hitting an opponent and suffered damaged knee ligaments which will keep him out for the rest of the season. That means that he has one year of contract left in the upcoming summer of 2009. He would be stupid to sign another one, which may narrow his options when the summer of 2010 comes along. Therefore, Feyenoord have a difficult choice to make. Do they sell De Guzman for a very low price in 2009, or do they decide to hold on to him and let him walk away for free in 2010, as he can provide some extra creativity in midfield? Could his behaviour affect that of other players, such as Biseswar, Greene and Vlaar, which are all players who are in the aforementioned investment funds?

Besides all the problems, Feyenoord still has great plans for the future. They are planning on building a stadium with a capacity of 80.000, exceeding the current stadium with approximately 30.000 seats. This project will cost a lot of money and there only will be profit if the stadium is packed every single season. Will this be worth it, or will it be another blow for the already staggering club?

Another worthless season could be the axe for direction and some players. The supporters will not be that forgiving much longer, and they are already bringing along several banners which reflect their opinion. While those banners are being removed by stewards at home games, tension is rising and the bubble soon may burst.

The cards are on the table and technical manager Peter Bosz has to decide what is best for Feyenoord. Let’s hope he gets it right this time.