The derby against fellow Germans SVBO has the potential for WKE ’16, but the club from Sportpark Grote Geert on the Sluisvierweg in Emmen cannot ignore Nico Haak for the time being. Not everyone wants to talk about that, but the Haak story is not yet completely a thing of the past. The match is great, the score is 2-2 and captain Henk Bakker says: “Nico Haak? No, as players we don’t want to say anything about that.”
When Nico Haak joined WKE’16 last summer after five excellent and successful years at Hoogeveen, it was quite surprising. Haak, who also works for the youth of professional club FC Emmen, wanted a new challenge, also because the FC Emmen/Hoogeveen combination was becoming somewhat of a problem. Expectations were high at WKE. After all, Haak has an excellent name in northern football. At the Emmer club of the caravan camp, Albert Koops, who won the second-class title with the orange shirts last season, had quit due to family circumstances.
Hook came, saw, but did not conquer. In fact, WKE ’16 started the season in the first division moderately, taking only three points from the first four games. It turned out that things didn’t click very well. Haak himself said: “Everyone knows that I am an ambitious trainer. I have expectations of the group of players I lead. I did not see the ambition I expected in all players at WKE. I spoke about this with the board and also with the playing group. Ultimately, it turned out to be a situation where it seemed best for both sides to stop this adventure. It wasn’t so much about the football, more about the ambition and attitude I expect from players. We weren’t on the same page with everyone there.”
Disappointment
At WKE ’16 the break is mainly experienced as a disappointment. Board member for technical affairs Koop Hindriks puts it this way: “Of course this was a setback. But it was also a fact that voices came to us from the player group, that here and there there were different thoughts about ambition and way of experience. Look, Nico is used to working with Hoogeveen at a club at a higher level, where different demands can be placed on players. We discussed that problem with Haak and with players and the conclusion came that it was better to stop the collaboration. We are now happy and satisfied that Albert Koops has returned to us and will train and coach the team together with Harm Hindriks and Harold Wolters.”
So Albert Koops. The born Valthermonder has a thing for WKE. “Beautiful club, nice to work here. I stopped because my parents needed care, but now that that has been properly arranged, I said ‘yes’ when WKE asked me to fill Nico Haak’s place.”
The derby against SVBO showed that the WKE players absolutely wanted to go into this first match without Haak on the bench with the will to make the best of it. Hindriks and Koops in particular coached fanatically on the bench and players who went all out. Perhaps SVBO was the slightly easier team, but WKE ultimately took a deserved point by playing a hell of a second half.
Combative spirit
The home team took an early lead thanks to a nice goal by Djairo Fik, the eldest son of Robert Fik, famous at WKE. Then SVBO took over with a strong midfield and took a 2-1 lead before half time through Dylan Wessels twice. As mentioned, the second half was for WKE ’16, which had clearly stepped up its game. That fighting spirit translated into an equalizer from the foot of Florian Zeqiri five minutes before the final whistle. where the three trainers fell passionately into each other’s arms.
The last word came from the captain: “No, no comment on the case surrounding Nico Haak.” So it is clear that WKE ’16 wants and must continue.