The resignation is visible, just after one o’clock Sunday afternoon in Stadium Galgenwaard. Played football for 45 minutes, 2-1 behind against Feyenoord. And little prospect of more in the second half, given the poor game. Still, crazy things have happened here before. A lot of battle, full of Galgenwaard behind it – why shouldn’t it be possible, the first point this season?
FC Utrecht has just kicked off after the break, when a high ball goes towards the central defense duo. Feyenoord hardly puts any pressure, little reason for panic among the home team. But that is without counting defenders Mike van der Hoorn and Modibo Sagnan, who both head towards the ball. There is no mutual coordination.
Sagnan shortly kicks awkwardly under the ball, so that Feyenoord striker Santiago Giménez comes into possession of the ball, in the front right. Van der Hoorn defends him, but not fiercely enough. Giménez gets room to shoot, a shot. But the roller slips under the right hand of goalkeeper Vasilios Barkas: 1-3.
There are then 37 seconds played in the second half. Defender Souffian El Karouani looks at teammate Mats Seuntjes with a cynical smile when they walk back. He seems to want to say with a gesture: what can you do about this?
“Shame on you”, swells from the Bunnikside, where the fanatical supporters of FC Utrecht are located. The camera zooms in on technical director Jordy Zuidam, high up in the stands. It is under fire after the dismissal of the Danish coach Michael Silberbauer last Tuesday.
Turbulent week
It is a crisis in Utrecht. Four games played, zero points, one goal scored. The 5-1 defeat against Feyenoord completes the turbulent week. The team looks impotent, off balance, not fit and mentally vulnerable. Line in the game is difficult to discover, a problem in Utrecht for some time. No chance has been created from open play for two games in a row. The goal against Feyenoord makes Ryan Flamingo from a corner kick.
“The team is suffering, you can see that in everything. If we have a setback, it falls apart,” says Mike van der Hoorn. He is the captain this Sunday, permanent captain Nick Viergever has been sacrificed by Rob Penders, the assistant coach who has been temporarily moved to the position of head coach.
It’s not the effort, says Penders. “I can’t blame them, it will have to do with the pressure.” Van der Hoorn suffered from cramps, “but I just tried to stand,” he says. Just to indicate: they have to go through this difficult period.
The club is expected to present a new trainer in the coming days. Ron Jans is considered a top candidate, although he has just started a sabbatical after a successful period at FC Twente. Penders says that the club had discussions with several trainers. Everything must be “turned around” under the new coach, says Van der Hoorn. “The cups really have to be empty.” There is now also time: the Eredivisie has come to a standstill for two weeks due to an international match.
After the successful years under Erik ten Hag (2015-2017), the club lacks a clear technical direction. Since Ten Hag left for Ajax at the end of 2017, Utrecht had seven different trainers in six years: Jean-Paul de Jong, Dick Advocaat, John van den Brom, René Hake, Rick Kruys (interim), Henk Fraser and Michael Silberbauer. Every trainer has his own vision and way of playing.
Attack on the top three
The ambitions in Utrecht are great. Under the influential owner Frans van Seumeren, who has invested tens of millions of euros in the club since 2008, the club expressed its intention to attack the traditional top three three years ago. A lot is possible in the fourth city of the Netherlands: it pays well, there is a promising team in the Eerste Divisie and from this season Utrecht also has a women’s team.
But the main competitors in the sub-top, AZ and FC Twente, are sporty further. Financially, FC Utrecht, long the number five in the Netherlands, has also passed. With 28 million euros, the club has the sixth budget of the Eredivisie this season, according to a recent calculation by weekly magazine VIagainst about 35 million for AZ and Twente.
“Zuidam take your rubbish with you”, sounds en masse after the fourth goal against. The criticism is that there is little line in his purchasing policy. In particular, he takes transfer-free or cheap opportunities. But there is no targeted investment in high-quality players around which the team can be built. The result: the selection is much the same.
As a seller, Zuidam proves itself. On Sunday, the Greek top scorer Anastasios Douvikas was said goodbye, who left for the Spanish club Celta de Vigo for 12 million euros last week. This income from transfers is badly needed to cover the major operational shortfalls. The result is that FC Utrecht now lacks a goal getter.
Players stare blankly ahead, just after two hours. When the team walks around the field to thank the audience, the stands have already largely emptied. Yet a new, biting flute concert can be heard from the Bunnikside. And late in the afternoon a stray supporter shouts on the square in front of the stadium: “Jordy fuck off”.