company. But money is needed for more
than just strengthening the squad.
In the background there is a stadium
saga. In order to raise income, the club
wants to build a new arena on the banks
of the river Maas, close to their current
home. “Feyenoord City”, which will also
contain apartments, a shopping mall
and a cinema, will cost an estimated€514million. But since the money isn’t
there, the project has yet to start.
The Americans won’t be investing for
charity. In return they will have a say, for
instance, in when a new director or
coach has to be appointed.
Robert Eenhoorn, a former baseball
player for New York Yankees, is the main
candidate and currently has the same
position at AZ, but he isn’t able to spend
millions in Alkmaar since the club workson Billy Beane’s “Moneyball” principles.
For new Feyenoord coach Jaap Stam,
things will not suddenly be any different.
Even when the Americans arrive he
won’t be able to invest heavily in the
squad and the only new faces so far this
season are Irish midfielder Liam Kelly,
who he worked with at Reading, and
Swansea City winger Luciano Narsingh.
A lack of cash is no longer a problem
at Ajax as the transfers of Matthijs De
Ligt (€85.5m to Juventus) and Frenkie
De Jong (€75m to Barcelona) make the
Champions League semi-finalists one of
Europe’s healthiest and richest clubs.
But with two key players leaving,
can the Amsterdam club repeat last
term’s success?
The club held a training camp in
Austria just three weeks before a vital
Champions League qualifier. But due to
the summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup and
Africa Cup of Nations, coach Erik Ten
Hag was missing no fewer than five
important players. “The football world
has gone crazy,” he said. “We have to
perform immediately with players who
haven’t played together once.”
Ajax have already signed Mexican
defender Edgar Alvarez (Club America),
Dutch international Quincy Promes
(Sevilla) and Romanian midfielder
Razvan Marin (Standard Liege) to
try to prevent an early exit.
Still, it remains a tricky situation and
the Amsterdam club may pay the price
for last season’s success.
But while for Ajax it’s the reality of
their situation, Feyenoord can only
dream of such problems.
Klaas-Jan DroppertFeyenoord’s
American
dream
A
re Feyenoord chasing the
American dream? In order to
close the gap to rivals Ajax
and PSV, the Rotterdam club
are preparing to embrace money from
an unnamed investment company based
in the United States.
Feyenoord – Holland’s first champions
of Europe, back in 1970 – are now
perennial underachievers. Although the
country’s most popular club, they can’t
catch up with their rivals and their 10
national titles are in stark contrast to
Ajax’s 26 and PSV’s 21.
It is a situation that seems to be
irreversible unless drastic measures are
taken and new cash flows are found. But
it’s the way in which Feyenoord intend to
do this that is causing friction.
General director Jan De Jong, for
instance, preferred to close the gap
gradually and expressed his concerns
to the supervisory board. However, bydoing so he signed his own death
warrant and he was forced to resign as
the supervisory board is the key body
within the club.
At most clubs the board plays a
conservative, controlling role, but in
Rotterdam the board is made up of so-
called “Feyenoord Friends”, successful
businessmen who saved the club in the
past when it was in dire straits. By doing
so they also bought influence and seats
on the board.
Since these men have earned their
wealth by taking a few risks, it isn’t a
surprise to learn that they want to
quicken the process of catching up
and competing with Ajax and PSV.
In recent years they have expressed
displeasure about De Jong’s predecessor
Eric Gudde, technical director Martin
Van Geel and coach Giovanni Van
Bronckhorst. All have departed.
The departure of De Jong should
smooth the way for foreign investment
and the supervisory board is keen to do
business with an American investmentH O L L A N D
(^) E
R
E
D
IV
I
S
I
E
(^2)
0
1
9
- 2
0
(^)
Season preview 2019-20
HOLLAND EREDIVISIE
Silverware...Razvan
Martin (no18) and
Ajax beat PSV 2-0 in
the season-opening
Johan Cruyff Shield
Tough job...new Feyenoord
coach Jaap Stam
“The football world has gone crazy. We have to perform
immediately with players who haven’t played together once”
Ajax coach Erik Ten Hag on playing an early Champions League qualifier