FC Emmen has been relegated, but what now? Four tips from former football directors Hans Nijland, Wim Beekman and Henk Eising. “Turn a threat into an opportunity!”

Henk Eising drove to his home in Valthe immediately after the race. ,,Ten minutes after the last whistle I was home”, says the former director of FC Emmen, who was also the boss of SC Veendam for two years. “I was so pissed off about it.”

Improve technical policy

Relegation is one of the worst things that could happen to FC Emmen, says Eising. ,,You start all over again and you are judged on the technical policy. Because I think the relegation is largely due to that. If you get injured players like Danny Hoesen and Oussama Darfalou during the winter break and have Dennis Vos come from PSV, as a left back, while he is actually a central defender, then something is not right.”

But beyond that technical policy, FC Emmen is simply in good shape, thinks Eising. ,,We have diehard supporters, you saw that on Sunday. And many loyal sponsors who will remain loyal to the club. The atmosphere was fantastic on Sunday, wasn’t it? You can see from that: if there is one region where there is support for premier league football, it is Southeast Drenthe. They just have to make sure that they get the technical policy done like lightning.”

Show that you are working on something beautiful

But those plans, they must continue, is the most important tip from Hans Nijland, who was relegated as a young director with FC Groningen in 1998, but was able to celebrate the promotion party on the Grote Markt with his club two seasons later. Moreover, with increasingly concrete plans in his pocket for what has been the Euroborg for years now. “At the time, we consciously chose to turn a threat into an opportunity,” says Nijland now. ,,By that I mainly mean Erik Mulder, Wim Entzinger and me. It is precisely after such a huge setback that you also have to show your audience and your sponsors that you are not moping around, but are busy building something beautiful. If you’re going to postpone things like that, you’re putting the cart before the horse and puncturing the tires of the cart at the same time.”

Partly because of that, that relegation was one of the better things that happened to FC Groningen at the time, says Nijland. “That allowed us to build the club in all leeway. We invested the few cents we still had back then in the youth academy and in a good framework. We have not regretted that either.”

Get a new axle and stay sober

Wim Beekman, who was general manager of FC Emmen from 2013 to 2019 and therefore closely experienced the first promotion to the premier league in 2018, is not so worried. “No man, the club is in good shape. You’re not back to square one. We just have to put up a good team again. Get a new axle, because we really need it. And then compete to become champion. Nope, don’t worry. FC Emmen does not have an expensive household, the club is healthy. We have to stay a little sober. Look at other cities such as Kerkrade, Deventer, Breda. Maybe they should be more concerned there. In fact, we now have to drink our beer on Friday night and not on Sunday. That is it.”

Build that new stadium!

And the plans for the new stadium? No doubt, says Eising, they just have to continue. ,,You also need a new stadium in the Kitchen Champion Division, a new stadium is division-independent. You have to take steps, build skyboxes, there is a huge demand for that. The club should drive those plans, not the municipality. We have now clearly demonstrated that the potential is there to play in the premier league, now the municipality must also honor that. Those plans can make me very enthusiastic”, says Eising, who is still involved with the club as vice-chairman of the FC Emmen Naoberschap Foundation. “If you see what we all do with it and how it is received: great. We now have seven FTEs in that foundation, it’s going that well. Do you know why? FC Emmen is very much alive in the region.”