FM2009 - Feyenoord Rotterdam: The Legion

Brief history

Feyenoord is a professional football club located in Rotterdam. Alongside Ajax and PSV, Feyenoord are one of the "big three" clubs in the Netherlands, but have faced a steady decline in results over recent years. These three clubs have won every Dutch League Championship since 1965 – with the exception of AZ '67's 1981 title – and they are, together with FC Utrecht and Roda JC, the only clubs never relegated from Dutch first division football.

The culture of the club is expressed in their motto Geen woorden maar daden ("Not words, but deeds"). Feyenoord fans don't expect the team to play beautifully, but want them to fight for every single metre on the pitch.In the 2008-2009 season, Feyenoord will officially celebrate their 100th birthday

Rivalries

Rotterdam is the city with the most professional teams in the Netherlands, besides Feyenoord there are Sparta Rotterdam and Excelsior and therefore the city is often referred to as "Voetbalstad nummer 1" (city of football number 1); Writer Bart in 't Hout wrote a book with this subject and the same title. There is a rivalry between the teams, mostly between Feyenoord and Sparta as Excelsior can be seen as Feyenoords feeder club, but it is not comparable to other city clashes like in Glasgow, London, Liverpool, Madrid, Rome or Milan for instance. Feyenoord fans would often rather see Excelsior or Sparta win a match than any other team. The rivalry between Sparta and Feyenoord is mostly seen on the Sparta side.

Ajax from Amsterdam are Feyenoord's arch rivals. The two clubs share a long history together and matches between the two clubs are called the Klassieker (The Classic). The rivalry is not only between the two teams, but also a confrontation between the two largest cities of the country, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, two cities with extreme differences in for instance attitude and culture. While Feyenoord are the team of hard working no-nonsense players with guts, anti-heroes that put their money where their mouth is and fight for every ball, Ajax, on the other hand, are a team of self-assured players, creative artists which most of the time have more technical skills. People from Rotterdam dislike Amsterdam, while people from Amsterdam dislike Rotterdam. Where Amsterdam attracts many tourists from all over the world, for their canals, but also for their historical buildings which survived World War II, Rotterdam was bombed and hardly attracts tourists at all. Amsterdam is seen as an arrogant city; Sparta Rotterdam fan Jules Deelder once said "Holland's money is earned in Rotterdam, divided in The Hague and flushed down the toilet in Amsterdam."

The club's Feijenoord Stadion, located in the Feijenoord district of Rotterdam, is nicknamed De Kuip, Dutch for The Tub. It was built in 1937 and is one of the major European stadiums. It has 51,117 seats and has hosted a record of 10 finals of UEFA club competitions, including the 2002 UEFA Cup Final which was won by Feyenoord.

New Stadium

In December 2006, Feyenoord director Chris Woerts announced that Feyenoord were developing plans to build a new stadium 'De Nieuwe Kuip' which would have a capacity of roughly 70,000 seats. The stadium would most likely be placed at Varkenoord (Feyenoord's youth center) and should be completed by 2016.

In May 2008 Woerts announced further details: the club is aiming for a stadium with a capacity of around 100.000 seats. If possible, a capacity of over 106.000 should be realized according to Woerts, which would earn the title of biggest stadium in Europe. The club emphasized its efforts to make it a true football stadium with seats close to the pitch. The stadium will get a retractable roof so that other events can be held as well. According to plans, the stadium should be ready in 2016.

Introduction

Hello, and thank you for looking at my Feyenoord thread. I would encourage people to give Feyenoord a try, and if they do, to post here - share your thoughts and experiences; why not let us know about your transfers and success stories (or lack of them!). After I've been at the helm for a few months I can help with any team queries you might have.

Personally, I chose to manage Feyenoord, simply because I wanted a change from my normal 'theatre of operations' and I've always liked the Feyenoord colours, kit, and badge.

The Plan

It'll also be refreshing for me because I intend to play a 'nationally authentic' 433 formation - something I've never did before, never swaying from the 442!

My plan for my save, at this point, is obviously to get the team back on top, not just in the Netherlands, but also in Europe - after all, they've enjoyed success there in the past! But I want to do it in a certain way.

Namely, by using players who have progressed through my youth ranks, players who have been freed from clubs (not Bosmans still playing for a club), and buying only transfer listed players, ones who have been listed as 'not needed by the club' and not 'by request' - in other words, my youngsters and players nobody else wanted. I do however reserve the right to buy a goalkeeper!! I'd rather not, but with it being a specialist position it's not one you can compromise on. All players will be scouted (no peeking in their profile!) and staff will be hired from the job centre - so the search page won't be used at all, other than being left on the transfer list.

In this way I'm hoping for a reasonable challenge, that also provides for financial stability. I've never managed in Holland before, but I'm aware there's not piles of cash in the game there. In addition, hopefully, I can get to the stage of having a very high number of Dutch players in a successful continental team.

The Database

I'll be starting on 9.2 (large) and patching to 9.3 when it's available. I'll have only the Dutch top division playable, but there'll be quite a few DDTs in there too, to keep important clubs/nations competitive, and provide a healthy number of regens for everyone. I thought of adding the new stadium to the database for 2015 (IIRC), but decided against it.

EDIT: The DDTs are the top divisions from ARG, BRA, ENG, FRA, GER, ITA, POR, RUS, SCO, SPA.

Balance + budget: £4.02m + £1.6m

Wage budget + current: £292.5k p/w + £291k p/w

1st squad dom. bias: 75%

1st squad aver. age: 25.9

OK, this is the first time I've tried a 433, but if I'm going to manage in Holland it has to be tried! That's my first team squad above and what I'm going to go with in the first pick team, for the moment at least. I'm pleasantly surprised to have every position filled, and all I'm looking for is a back-up DL and DMC.

There are a couple of players of note missing who don't make my cut. Buijs on the right side is lacking in teamwork and natural fitness, a couple of attributes I think you need for consistency. And De Guzman, as well as lacking natural fitness, is short on decisions and determination; his other attributes point to playing him through the middle, but I can't consider that if he's missing the two mentioned.

Despite their age I think Van Bronckhorst and Makaay will be key players in my campaign. The full-backs too, should excel in this formation.

Our available transfer budget should be acceptable in as far is getting in the two back-ups I need. The only problem being the wage cap - which brings me nicely on to the staff.

As you can see, the coaches aren't too bad - I'll just be looking to replace Rekelhof with somebody more suited to fitness. The regimes are appointed as follows -

assistant - Jansen

strength -

aerobic - Wielart

gk - Hiele

tactics - Jansen

ball control - Lammers

defending - Oost

attacking - Vlemmings

shooting - Adriaanse

set-pieces - Gosgens

That's the best that can be done with the available staff, promoting youth coaches where necessary and freeing anyone not mentioned - freeing up some of the wage bill!

Scouts really are atrocious and I'll be signing a couple and freeing the existing ones depending on termination fees. Due to my transfer policy, I'm only going to need a couple of good scouts, to cover transfer listed players, and one or two of the existing ones can roam for youths.

I think that's all for the moment. I'll report back with transfers in a little while. In the meantime I'll be setting-up individual training regimes, appointing tutors, asking players to learn moves, trying to get surplus players in the reserves fixed-up with loan moves, and making my way through pre-season friendlies.

Please feel free to comment, ask questions, and share your Feyenoord adventures......HERE!

EDIT: Euro co-efficient at start is 33.607, which ranks us 77th. And when you start the game you have a debt of around £5m until August 2013 which works out at £95k per month. It doesn't seem like lots but that £22k p/w could be used on two or three players wages.

Bumped....for the three introductory posts being completed.

Great OP.

Have to say never really looked into Holland before, but if (or should i say when) my Napoli game packs in i'm gonna go in with Feyenoord.

Cant stand Ajax or PSV!

The thing is mate, there's so many leagues unplayable now because of 2nd strings playing in regional leagues, that there's not many nations left!

Ajax have fantastic history and Kudos, but that's why they get people drawn to them.

I just like being different - and I've always liked Feyenoords strip LOL.

The thing is mate, there's so many leagues unplayable now because of 2nd strings playing in regional leagues, that there's not many nations left!

Ajax have fantastic history and Kudos, but that's why they get people drawn to them.

I just like being different - and I've always liked Feyenoords strip LOL.

The lairy green kit is a bit special. Well I just plain dont like PSV and i've always wanted to do a challenge in Holland but not with Ajax because they've 'been there done that'.

I came very close to starting a game with Gronigen last week but then decided against it and headed to Naples instead.

The lairy green kit is a bit special. I came very close to starting a game with Gronigen last week but then decided against it and headed to Naples instead.

Ehm, the greens' not my favourite LOL - like the red and black. Strange though, 'cos I'm Inter through and through. I wish Napoli all the best though, they're a breath of fresh air in the league.

EDIT: the thing about Feyenoord is their potential, and I'm sure it can all be won with them.

Ehm, the greens' not my favourite LOL - like the red and black. Strange though, 'cos I'm Inter through and through. I wish Napoli all the best though, they're a breath of fresh air in the league.

EDIT: the thing about Feyenoord is their potential, and I'm sure it can all be won with them.

Thank you. I wish you all the best with Feyenoord and hopefully i'll join you soon in this challenge.

Nice OP and updates mate. Well done.

Best OP of the year imo.

Well actually i agree. (closely followed by Lyon of course)

Great OP, mate ..

I'll hopefully be able to start a game with Feyenoord tonight, after I've finished my homework :/ ...

I've always hated PSV and loved Ajax, but it isn't very fun to play with Ajax on Football Manager IMO. It's just too easy to get a good team, and winning the league.

I'll keep you updated .

Well actually i agree.

Reported for post editing.

Sorry i don't know how that happened mate, i'll change it immediatly. It should say that on my post.

Sorry i don't know how that happened mate, i'll change it immediatly. It should say that on my post.

Ahh, I wasn't actually annoyed btw, I thought it was quite funny.

When I first saw this thread I didn't think it was brilliant, but the second post especially made it very, very good.

Contender for thread of FM09.

Then again, anything looks good compared to the Lyon thread;)

Nice OP and updates mate. Well done.

Best OP of the year imo.

Well actually i agree. (closely followed by Lyon of course)

Great OP, mate ..

When I first saw this thread I didn't think it was brilliant, but the second post especially made it very, very good.

Contender for thread of FM09.

Thank you all very much; I wasn't expecting a reaction like that!

I've still to check out the Lyon thread - obviously it's the place to be!

Pre-Season Update

The pre-season results were unremarkable, but I'm not too bothered as we were playing a better standard of opposition than I would've liked; these fixtures are purely for gaining fitness and I never attach any importance to them.

I brought in the fitness coach I was looking for, although he's not really to the standard I'd have liked - it's always a bit hit and miss with the job centre. Koutcherov was brought in as a scout, from Willem II, and is quite acceptable. There were a couple of staff freed to allow these additions, but on the whole not many changes (it can get quite expensive freeing too many staff!).

As you can see I got in the two back-up players required, neither of whom were required by their clubs, and I'm very pleased to get both of them, Molinaro especially. I've never had him before, but he got five stars from my scout and came at a great price; incidentally, he's a player I really like in real life. Guana is a sound anchor-man, and although the asking price was higher than I would've liked he'll be a sound aquisition.

We managed to off-load a few players, the most important one being de Guzman. He went for market value, over 24 months, plus a 40% clause, and freed up around £15k on the wage budget.

Finally, our first fixture was against P.S.V. in the Super Cup, at the Ajax Arena. Unfortunately we went down to them on penalties. I was pleased we competed well with them to be 0-0 after 120 minutes but it's never pleasant to lose a penalty shoot-out.

That's all there is to report from De Kuip at the moment, I'll be back with news of the European campaign at some point.

Good luck everyone.

Good sell on de Guzman.

Good price for De Guzman:thup:, though I have to say I'm not going to sell him ..

I think he's a good player, and that he has great potential.. I'll try to keep hold of him at any cost .

I had to trim the team for financial reasons and it was difficult to pick who to move on from the midfield; I would liked to have kept him to see how he done, but he drew the short straw.

He's doing OK at Bolton, but please let me know how he does for you.

I had to trim the team for financial reasons and it was difficult to pick who to move on from the midfield; I would liked to have kept him to see how he done, but he drew the short straw.

He's doing OK at Bolton, but please let me know how he does for you.

I will.. : )

At the start of the game the assistant tells you that we need a player on the right wing (on my he recommended Mota), but do you think we're too weak there, or is it just the assistant?

The two I'm using I'm happy enough with - 1st choice is Biseswar who's averaging 7.25 and then Vincken (back-up) is getting 6.7, purely coming off the bench.

It's up to you how you prioritise the small transfer kitty (regarding filling out your formation), but AMR was far down my list. Those players stats don't look fantastic, but I'm happy with what they're doing. It's not my team though LOL. Your call mate (and your job)

The two I'm using I'm happy enough with - 1st choice is Biseswar who's averaging 7.25 and then Vincken (back-up) is getting 6.7, purely coming off the bench.

It's up to you how you prioritise the small transfer kitty (regarding filling out your formation), but AMR was far down my list. Those players stats don't look fantastic, but I'm happy with what they're doing. It's not my team though LOL. Your call mate (and your job)

Yeah, I wasn't sure if I should buy when, but I got Biseswar, Vincken and De Guzman (1st choice MC) there, and I'm rather going to buy a R/LB..

I've already sold Lucius for £850K to Sheffield United, and that made the budget a bit bigger..

I'm currently trying to sign Landry Mulemo from Standar, but they want £1.5 Million for him, but I won't give morethan £1 Million...

Another transfertarget is Rafael Carioca, but he's pretty expensive... But if I wait, his release clause will probably go up .

EDIT: I also checked Guana, and he was transfer listed for £375 K at the start .

Well I've decided to play a game as Feyenoord, because of the brilliant thread (definately candidate for thread of the year) . My aim is to restore them to there former glory and win the champions league with them!

Wish me luck

EDIT:

BTW do you think he is good enough for back up for Van Bronkcaust! I'm selling De Cler because I'm playing with attacking full backs.

Well I've decided to play a game as Feyenoord, Wish me luck

Good luck Joe. There's not much money under the club mattress but the players aren't too bad. Stick at it

Good luck Joe. There's not much money under the club mattress but the players aren't too bad. Stick at it

What do you think of Van Heulen?:confused:

Just my opinion - necessary technicals are OK, necessary mentals are quite good, but pace is quite lacking? But I don't play with wingbacks so you'd know better than me mate.

Well I've signed Van Heulen for 200k and I'm really pleased becuase his morale is high and my ass man says he is as good as Van Bronkcaust !

EDIT:

I've just signed Leonardo from Ajax for 1.1m! Bargain in my eyes!

Mascio has signed for 100k! He's gone straight into the under 18 squad but might feature in a couple of pre-season friendlies.

Always loved the Feyenoord!!!!

have played as them on many occasions but have yet to capture the coveted eredivisie!

but im gonna try again, nice op!

Just a quick check-in to let you all know I'm still around. We've qualified for the Euro group stage and the league campaign is going fine.

EDIT: I also checked Guana, and he was transfer listed for £375 K at the start .

AARGHHH! And you didn't buy him ?!?!? LOL He was transfer listed on my save, as that's one of my rules for this game, but he still cost me £1.4m!

How's your save going anyway? And you JoeTiger??

Incidentally, I've made an edit to post 3

good thread, but wouldnt it have been easier just to link us to wikipedia instead of copy/pasting all of it?

good thread, but wouldnt it have been easier just to link us to wikipedia instead of copy/pasting all of it?

I'm tempted to add a poll entitled "Have you ever seen a stranger first post??"

European Update

After beating Dinamo (CRO) 4-0 on aggregate in the first round we went through to group H. We could have drawn a harder group, but we could have drawn an easier one too! Winning our first game, away from home, took some pressure off, followed by a draw with P.S.G., who I thought would be a contender in the group.

On the final match day I thought a draw would maybe suffice, but that we'd probably need to win. We went behind twice, but showed spirit to equalise both times. After the second I could have stepped it up, but checked the live scores and the draw was adequate.

I put the live table on the TV view to keep track of events, in case I had to make changes, but nothing developed. At the full-time whistle though, Portsmouth had got the winner against P.S.G. - it hadn't shown on the live table because it was an injury time goal (I assume). In the event, one goal either way wouldn't have mattered; but I would've got a shock if it was tighter!

So we're through until after christmas - Europe is a nice distraction from the league. The league season is still going fine, but I'll report more on that after christmas.

Good luck to everyone.

League Update

At the halfway point it couldn't be much tighter. The teams you would expect to be challenging are there, the only underperformers, really, being Twente and Heerenveen. I'm very pleased with our record, seeing as it's my first time using a 433, and tweaking as I go along. The only defeat was 0-1 away to P.S.V. - so no shame in that.

The club's been steadily losing money, I think due to the wage bill. The finances screen tells me I'm allowed up to around £290k, but I think a more realistic figure would be £250k. Luckily the UEFA money has helped a bit.

It would be possible for me to reduce the wage bill by bringing in players on smaller contracts but, ironically, that can't be done with only 30% of any transfer fees being reinvested by the board - if they'd only let me spend money I could save some!!

I have managed one move so far - I moved van Bronckhorst on to P.S.V. for £2.5m up front. Quite a good deal because although he performing OK, he certainly wasn't making any of the MC berths his own; and he was the clubs top earner on £33k p/w. He was replaced with Maduro (12 Dutch caps, 23y/o), who Valencia wanted rid of at £2.1m over 24 months. And with the player settling for £9750 p/w, I've reduced the wage bill by around £23k p/w, along with the capital profit of £400k. So I'm happy with that.

My top priority for replacing is my 36y/o keeper, followed by the 32y/o DR and a SC. At the moment my two strikers are 32 and 33y/o with the quickest one having 13 for pace. But unless someone comes in with a massive bid that can't be refused, those moves will need to wait until the summer. A shame, because Fergie has got Kuszczak listed for £2.2m just now and I like the look of him; and it's not easy to get decent keepers from the transfer list.

I'll finish by adding that we got drawn with Valencia in the UEFA, with the winner meeting Sevilla or Fiorentina. Can't see us going much further really, but stranger things have happened.

Would anybody like a change to the format??

Such as less/more images or info??? Any suggestions??

Would anybody like a change to the format??

Such as less/more images or info??? Any suggestions??

No it's fine. My game is going well. The team are playing like a typical dutch team. They create loads of chances. Will post an update soon.

EDIT: I've signed Oscar Ustari for 2.6m over 18 months. He stated in his first interview that moving to Feyenoord was the greatest day of his life and he wanted to become a favourite with the fans!

Found this quite funny

Found this quite funny

He's determined to get his name in the papers eh? LOL

European Update

As I though, our European dream didn't last any longer than the Valencia tie. Above is the first leg stats, and you can see we weren't outplayed, probably just a difference in class. We got a 2-2 draw in the second leg at the Mestalla, which I was pleased with, playing well again.

The target was to qualify from the group stage, so overall I'm happy with our campaign. We're now free to concentrate on the cup and league, so hopefully we won't have too much of a fixture pile-up near the end of the season.

Good luck to you all.

Pre-season update

Transfers:

Pre-season Results:

Squad:

I was dissapointed that we lost to PSV on penalties because we defended very well and consistently played well.

I was dissapointed that we lost to PSV on penalties because we defended very well and consistently played well.

It must be hard-coded in the game that P.S.V. win the first Super Cup on penalties!!

To make matters worse I've just lost to Ajax 2-1. Huntleer is unstoppable. Then the team drew 2-2 with FC Twente then lost at home 2-1 to Vit Setubal in the Euro Cup Round 1!

EDIT: Deadline day transfer: Nauzet Aleman for 400k from Las Palmas. He has great stats for a 23 year old and will be pushing Biseswar for the right midfield position.

I've decided to resign. The players weren't preforming and we were playing like relegation candidates, not title challengers.

Best Players:

Nauzet Aleman

Lucius

Budjis

Season Summary 08/09

League Position - 1st (media prediction 3rd)

Cup Round - Winner

European Competition - UEFA Cup, Round of 32

Title Odds - 16/1 jt3fav

Top League Scorer - Makaay 15

Top Rating - Slory 7.34

Player of Year - De Cler

Aver. Attendance - 46092

Champions League Winner - Chelsea

Euro Cup Winner - Man City

If you had said to me last July that this was how it would look come May I wouldn't have believed you! Until around March it was looking even better, but we had a dip in form and lost two and drew one or two. However, I'm absolutely delighted and surprised. That means Champions league football for us next season, and I can't explain how much the extra revenue means to us. We were never in debt all year, but we were steadily losing money despite player sales.

The double! It was great to go all the way in the cup, a welcome diversion from league duty. It nearly ended in the quarter final, against P.S.V., though - it went to penalties and we pulled through 9-8, our GOALKEEPER scoring the winner LOL. After that round we were the best team on paper - but cup finals aren't played on paper! We made it though. Again, the extra revenue was welcomed.

The rewards. I'm proud of winning the league title, Feyenoords first for ten years and to have such a generally successful first season in a new country and playing with a new formation.

A Word from The Manager - All my signings performed to a satisfactory level, without excelling; so in the close season one or two will be moved on, along with any other players that I receive suitable bids for. My defence was the basis for the successful season I had - de Cler and Hofland in particular were rock solid. And I was pleasantly surprised by the contribution the two elderly and slow strikers made! There IS a lot of work to get done on the team but there's no great urgency, as we know know we can cut-it at a domestic level. The top priorities for the summer are first and foremost a GK, followed by a SC.

First Impressions - I liked playing in Holland and would recommend trying it if you haven't already been there. There seemed to be a good spread to the schedule, avoiding fixture pile-ups and you have the competitive reserve league which so many nations lack. In the top division itself, there are a few teams that can threaten you and there are half a dozen which are weak enough to let you try out youth or fringe players. In Italy where I normally manage, you don't really get that opportunity. So it was quite a good experience.

I've decided to resign. The players weren't preforming and we were playing like relegation candidates, not title challengers.

Best Players:

Nauzet Aleman

Lucius

Budjis

Could you not turn it round enough to get third or fourth mate? I think the board would be happy with that. Can't you stick with it?

Not really. I found out that my players had completely wrong player instructions (Striker had left back) and we were lingering at the bottom of the table.

Pre-Season Update

Balance + budget: £12.46m + £4.2m

Wage budget + current: £292k + £233k

1st squad dom. bias: 63.6%

1st squad aver. age: 25.9

Euro co-efficient is 38.131, ranked 67th

Debt of around £5m until August 2013 = £95k per month

Thankfully the wage bill is more servicable this season, at the moment, and there's been a considerable increase in the balance. Thanks to a reasonable performance in the UEFA Cup the co-efficient has increased too, the average age is exactly the same as last season, and the domestic bias has fallen - to be honest the bias will drop more over the next few seasons, until the regen youths start coming through.

To the above transfers you can add Kleber from Dinamo Kiev at £2.3m; strange, but in Holland the new season/year starts on 7th July, so with Kleber coming in on the 1st it shows under last seasons transfers. He looks as if he might play well in the lone striker slot. Guana played OK but didn't really impress in the DMC role, so he was shipped out at a little profit to Lyon and Garcia replaces him from Madrid and he'll hopefully show more quality. Seitaridis replaces Greene as DR cover and will hopefully succeed Lucius in that position, not least because I want him to earn his high salary. Costa is cover for the strikers; he's billed as the next Kaka but I'll believe it when I see it! Bustos was a loan to buy but was returned when Seitaridis became available. On the whole I'm happy with the dealings, but with no adequate keeper being available I extended Timmers contract by a year, until he's 38.

The only change to the staff was a more suitable coach for strength training and a good scout added for searching the transfer list. I played tougher opponents than last year in friendlies and I hope the squad gets some benefit from that.

The opening fixture was, again, the Super Cup against Ajax. We lost an early lead to go down 1-2 in an evenly matched game.

In the league we have a testing start in the fixture list, against PSV, Ajax, AZ, and Utrecht in four of the first five games; so it'd be nice to come through that relatively unscathed and then enjoy games against 'lesser' teams until christmas.

Note - I noticed, belatedly, that one of my feeders was promoted (Excelsior) after I sent a couple of players there. So I'll wait until the January window and cancel that link.

That's all until the Eutopean update. Good luck in your games everyone.

Have got a great game going. Buying players on the cheap and then selling them for a profit is really fun

2nd season for me with Feyenoord

Won Eredevisie and Dutch Cup, runner up UEFA CUP lost 1-3 to Arsenal:(

Now going into season 3