Former trainer and club icon Piet de Visser (90) does not soon see Willem II returning to the Eredivisie after the relegation of Sunday evening. According to him, a lot has to be done at the Tilburg club, which lost the decisive play-off match against Telstar on Sunday 3-1.
“It is unbelievable that a beautiful club like Willem II, from a big city like Tilburg, performs so badly,” says the former trainer. “I am very surprised about that. I still love Willem II and I don’t understand that it could have come to that.”
“Nice that Telstar will be promoted, but Willem II should not happen.”
Due to health reasons, De Visser was unable to attend the decisive match against Telstar in the stadium on Sunday, but he did see the game on TV. And what he saw caused him sadness.
Willem II has been in a negative spiral since the winter break. The club took only two points in the regular competition this year and dropped from the ninth to sixteenth place in the ranking. This cost coach Peter Maes, who had the club promoted cleverly a year earlier, the head.
Under the leadership of interim trainer Kristof Aelbrecht, the club hoped to assure itself of another year of Eredivisie via the play-offs, but that failed. Willem II still beat FC Dordrecht in an exciting battle, but Telstar turned out to be a size too big in two duels in the final of the play-offs. In Velsen-Zuid the first confrontation ended on Thursday in 2-2, on Sunday it became Stadium 1-3 in its own King Willem II.
“It’s nice for Telstar that that club is promoted, but Willem II cannot happen this!”, The former coach emphasizes who also made a name for himself as a scout of PSV and the English top club Chelsea. “Telstar, just like Willem II an old club of mine, has very old grandstands, has an artificial grass field, is located in a small city …”
But, according to De Visser, Willem II must also take an example of the new Eredivisionist in a certain area. “Telstar gets a trainer from amateur football and also four or five players. And they then do it very well.”
A few weeks ago, De Visser also argued that Willem II, which does not have to spend a lot of money, should scout more often in amateur football. Just as he himself did as a trainer of the Tricolores.
“Too much has simply happened this season.”
“A lot will have to be done to promote again,” De Visser sighs. “There is simply too much happening this football season: changes in the technical staff, technical director Tom Caluwé who left in the middle of the season, too little scouting … something has to be done about that at Willem II. The management has not responded adequately.”
According to him, more should also be expected from the commissioners. “Willem II eventually has to become a club in the left row of the Eredivisie.”
