Dirk Kuyt after late defeat against Roda JC and unrest at ADO: ‘The situation within the club is very unsafe’ | Ado den Haag

By Youri Zaat

For two teams that are in extremely mediocre shape, Wednesday evening was the perfect opportunity to go into the World Cup break of more than twenty days with a good feeling. From the atmosphere in and around the Bingoal Stadium, however, it could be concluded that the match between the numbers 16 and 9 of the Kitchen Champion Division was a side issue for many Hague supporters.

The banner with ‘Reijntjes Out’ had been hanging in the stadium for months, but the wish of a large part of the Hague supporters to really get Edwin Reijntjes away from the club was made even more clear this evening.

From the first minute it sounded from the Haaglanden Tribune: ‘If you hate Edwin Reijntjes, clap your hands’ and ‘Reijntjes, you are not welcome here today’. The general manager, who had been under a magnifying glass in recent days, heard it ‘just’ from the stadium, although he remained in one room of the stadium for safety reasons until well after the game.

Verheydt and Kishna, who were ‘normally’ drafted by trainer Dirk Kuyt, radiated in everything that they wanted to prove themselves. The captain was, like last season, difficult to get off the ball and won almost all aerial duels and Kishna continuously tried to reach attackers with through passes. The two from The Hague seemed to enter the field against Roda JC with only one mission: to get a sporty revenge. And in particular revenge on general manager Reijntjes, of whom Verheydt and Kishna have had their fill ‘after months full of lies’.

It resulted in a duel full of battle, but the football enthusiast, as often this season at matches of the residents of The Hague, came off badly. In the 34th minute, Roda JC was close to 0-1 via Lennard Hartjes, but ADO goalkeeper Hugo Wentges prevented the Feyenoord mercenary from hitting the ball into the goal with a feline reflex.

Despite few chances in the second half, ADO again failed to win a game at home. A header on the crossbar by Silvinho Esajas almost meant an own goal after more than an hour of play, but neither team came to much greater danger.

While the slogans and chants towards Reijntjes flared up towards the end of the match, there was Roda JC striker Dylan Vente in the 84th minute, who nevertheless put the 0-1 on the scoreboard from the edge of the sixteen-meter area and thus determined the match. ,,We already had to give a lot of energy this week, about a lot of peripheral matters. Then you want to put all your energy into the match and keep the focus on the players,” Kuyt said afterwards. “We need that bit of luck for once. We’ve had a painful series.”

Kuyt’s team suffered its eighth defeat in sixteen games and must seriously take into account that it will enter the World Cup break as number 19. It caused frustration among the supporters afterwards, but where in recent matches the trainer had to pay for it with white handkerchiefs, after the final whistle in the stands it was mainly about the position of the general manager.

“Is it affecting me? Yes, it touches me,” said Kuyt. “The situation within the club is very unsafe. Everything we do is out on the street very quickly. You no longer know who you can trust and who you can’t. Apart from the fact that I wants to perform something as a trainer, this club deserves better. It is time to make choices that are good for the club.”