Fortuna Favours The Brave - Ruud's Time Has Come

[danmcconnell1]

After a while away, I have decided to start a new journey as a former footballer, Ruud van Nistelrooy. He's the Manchester United legend who made his way over to England from the Eredivise back in 2001 and scored bundles of goals in the process. Now he's taken the Fortuna Sittard job in the Dutch Jupiler League (or second division). Here's a quick overview of Ruud's new club;

 

As you can see, not a huge amount of success has come Fortuna's way over the years, but hopefully the winning pedigree of Ruud from his playing days can get the club back into the Eredivisie and really progress from there. Facilities are to be expected for this level of football, so I'm pretty content with what we have to offer at the moment. Here is our stadium;

Not the biggest in the world but a lovely touch behind that left hand side goal, the Ricksen side, in homage to club legend Fernando Ricksen, who many of you may remember played for Rangers after starting his professional career at Sittard.

Here is our playing squad and I've picked out 3 of the better players in the team, the ones I'll firstly be hoping to keep, as well as try to build around for now.

Before I get onto my 3 picks, you'll see a TRN next to Perr Schuurs, he's a 17 year old defensive midfielder with a lot to offer us, but he's joining Ajax on 1/1/18 so we'll only have the pleasure of his talents until the new year, but we'll definitely be giving him lots of game time with a 4* CA already. Here are my 3 picks so far;

Tom Ghislain is a young Belgian with bags of potential and a lot to offer our back line already. At just 18, he's definitely one we'll be hoping to keep for a while.

Raghmani Carli is another youngster with lots of promise, hopefully he'll become our number 1 central midfielder once Schuurs leaves the club in January. He'll get game time.

Finally, it's Djibril Dianessy. A pacey winger who can play either side as well as upfront, I hope his versatility may come in use throughout the campaign.

So, there we have it, a brief overview of the club and the squad. My next post will recap pre-season and any transfer business we complete, if any.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-season went as follows;

A slow start was followed up by 3 consecutive wins against lowly opposition. A highlight was the hat-rick for Norwich City loanee Todd Cantwell against RBC.

On the eve of the new season, this was the transfer business we had concluded so far;

We were a little low on cover on the left side of midfield and when I noticed Tim Tillman was available from Bayern for a loan I pounced immediately without even scouting him, he's a huge talent and significantly improved our starting 11 immediately. We lost 3 youngsters as they were on amateur deals pretty quickly, including Tom Ghaslain, but the beauty of amateur contracts means that it was pretty simple getting him back, this time on a permanent deal. He spent approximately 2 weeks as a De Graafschap player before coming back to us. We also raided De Graafschap's defence again and brought in right back Rannick Schoop to provide competition in that position. Oh the beauty of amateur contracts.

Ideally I'd like 2 more players in before the end of the window, another central defender and a striker. If a keeper became available too I'd look into that, but I think we can make do for now.

I'll update monthly throughout the season and see how it flows, if you'd like to suggest any changes or give any feedback please do! I like the interaction 

[danmcconnell1]

August 2017

So the new season was upon us and here's how our first 2 games went;

Well it's safe to say it's not been the best start. We lost at home to Dordrecht by a goal to nil despite having all of the ball and over 20 chances, a counter attacking goal for them was the difference. We then travelled to the capital to face the Jong Ajax side and despite falling behind and drawing level twice, we ran out of steam against a very good young side.

This meant going into September we were at the foot of the table after 2 matches but there's a long way to go yet.

We managed to bring in 4 players on deadline day also.

Vitesse have become our parent club and loaned us Joris Klein-Holte, the centre back I was looking for. We also managed to get in a young striker by the name of Josh Bohui from Man United who I'm very excited about. He only has a 2* CA but I'm hopeful a few matches in the first team will be good experience for him and he can get on the score sheet a few times. Next in on deadline day was veteran striker Didier Ya Konan. The Ivorian has plied his trade around Europe and knows where the net is and automatically becomes our best striker now. He'll have Stokkers and Bohui close behind though. The last man through the door was another youngster who left due to amateur contract rules earlier in the summer, goalkeeper Job van de Walle. He rejoined us from FC Emmen and becomes our number 2 for now.

[CrazyBrains87]

Nice club choice! Hope you get them promoted just like real life this season. Good luck

[Timetxu]

I don't quite agree on the choice of club here  Good luck nonetheless!

[danmcconnell1]

4 hours ago, CrazyBrains87 said:

Nice club choice! Hope you get them promoted just like real life this season. Good luck

I noticed that when doing a little research on the club before writing this, be interesting to see how they get on 

2 hours ago, Timetxu said:

I don't quite agree on the choice of club here  Good luck nonetheless!

Haha well we'll see how we get on when we eventually meet.

[SixPointer]

Welcome to Holland!! Best of luck! I’m finding it a great place to manage myself. Pitty about schuurs heading to Ajax looks a player already. 

[danmcconnell1]

59 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Welcome to Holland!! Best of luck! I’m finding it a great place to manage myself. Pitty about schuurs heading to Ajax looks a player already. 

Yeah Schuurs is a favourite of mine already, maybe we could look at a loan soon though.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2017

So after a disappointing start to the season, things started to pick up in September.

We got my first win in charge against Almere City in the first game of the month, but followed that up with defeat against FC Emmen despite taking the lead in the first half. Another win followed against FC Volendam but we were knocked out of the cup against rivals MVV Maastricht after extra time. We then recorded a goalless draw against Jong AZ and ended the month with a convincing win against Telstar, leaving the table looking like this.

We're solid in mid-table but the motto of the season so far has been consistent inconsistency. I'm hoping we can kick on after losing just one in the league this month out of 4, and with us being knocked out of the cup early we can concentrate on the making our way up the league.

New signing Didier Ya Konan has had a great start to life with us. 4 goals in 6 appearances so far has meant that he's settled well and automatically become our number 1 striker at the moment. He's already equalled his goal scoring record for the whole of last season at his previous club so I'm hoping this form can continue.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2017

So after a decent run in the league last month, could we follow this up in October?

In short, the answer was no. 4 games and no wins has meant we've slid down the table, as you can see below, to 14th place. Another damaging derby day loss to Maastricht was followed up with a defeat against FC Eindhoven. We managed a credible draw with De Graafschap but ended the month with defeat again against what probably is the best side in the league, Jong Ajax aside, NEC.

The best player this month was youngster Schuurs.

He scored a cracking free kick against Eindhoven and hopefully he can carry on his brilliant performances until the new year when he goes off to Ajax.

[danmcconnell1]

November 2017

After a very poor month last time out, we needed to improve and get back to winning ways.

We managed another draw at the start of the month against Oss, but the remainder of the month was brilliant. 3 wins in a row, all coming against SC Cambuur, Go Ahead and Helmond Sport, we've rocketed up the table into 11th.

It's pretty tight in the top half, we're only 9 points off top of the league. November has really helped our league position and confidence in what this squad can do this year.

Player of the month is Finn Stokkers who bagged twice this month and scored a cracking goal against Helmond in the final game of the month.

To end though, we have some unfortunate news, Schuurs won't play for the club before he leaves for Ajax in January as he's now going to be injured for approximately 2-3 months, so will arrive in the capital injured. We also won't see our first choice left back again this season and probably not until the new year as Stefan Askovski suffered a broken leg and will be out for approximately 8-11 months.

We move into the festive period in good form and hopefully we can keep making our way up the table.

[Timetxu]

Are you sure Schuurs is leaving in January? In real life he didn't leave until the end of the season.

[danmcconnell1]

35 minutes ago, Timetxu said:

Are you sure Schuurs is leaving in January? In real life he didn't leave until the end of the season.

I did notice this online too, but according to FM he's leaving 1/1/18 which is unfortunate as he's missed all of December through injury. I'm going to look into the possibility of a loan though.

[danmcconnell1]

December 2017

So after an impressive November, we have 2 matches this month against Eredivisie Jong sides, so hopefully we can continue this form before the festivities start.

2 wins and 2 defeats against the aforementioned Jong sides is how we got on. I'm pretty happy with that as it's clear all of the Jong sides are a class above the rest of the division, so I'm not too displeased with losing these two. We did manage to beat RKC and Den Bosch, managing 4 goals against both of them. This meant that we ended the month in a play off position, despite still being in 10th place.

Player of the month was Didier Ya Konan again.

After 16 appearances and 9 goals, I'm extremely pleased with his contribution so far.

We now enter an almost 3 week mid-season break, we're going to have some time off and look back at the first half of the season before we prepare the second half of the season.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2018

So with the transfer window open again, we had a quiet month with just 3 matches being played.

We could only manage one win and two defeats, the first against the Jong Ajax side again, despite taking the lead, the second against Dordrecht. We rounded off the month getting back to winning ways against FC Emmen, leaving the table like this.

We remain in the final play off spot in 11th place, but I definitely want to push on and get into the top half now.

We did some business in January too, here it is.

2 more loanees came in, Tahith Chong on loan from Man United and another loanee from our parent club Vitesse, a central midfielder Julien Calor. The only outgoing transfer was the pre-arranged one of Per Schuurs. Ajax were not interested in any kind of loan deal at the moment, so I imagine he'll play in the Jong team for the remainder of this season.

Midway through the month, we heard that one of the players I featured at the start of the season, Djibril Dianessy would be moving on at the end of the season to the Eredivisie to play for FC Twente after not agreeing to extend his deal with us.

Finally, we had some good news about the infrastructure of the club. Our data analysis facilities had reluctantly been improved by the board.

As we move into the final months of the season, I really want to try and push on into the top half and confirm a play off spot and who knows where we could go from there.

[danmcconnell1]

February 2018

So after a slow start to 2018, what could February bring?

An unbeaten month! Albeit 3 draws against FC Volendam, Jong AZ and Telstar, but we managed a huge away win at the end of the month against NEC Nijmegen which really did please me. These results meant we finished the month in 10th place.

Timothy Tillman, on loan from Bayern no less, has definitely been the best player this month too.

I'd say alongside Ya Konan he's been my best signing so far. Only a loan I know, but he's been fantastic so far this year and who knows, with a relatively low valuation, we could see him here again next season in some capacity.

We face a big derby again MVV Maastricht next at home. After losing twice away against them season we really need to win this one as they're just one place ahead of us currently and should we do so, we could find ourselves in 8th if other results go our way.

[danmcconnell1]

March 2018

After another promising month, we entered March in decent form and were hoping to continue it.

Unfortunately, we couldn't. We picked up just 4 points from a possible 18, starting the month with a draw against Maastricht, despite being 2-0 up after just 7 minutes, we fell apart before half time and the game ended 2-2. We then suffered 4 defeats on the bounce against FC Eindhoven, De Graafschap, FC Oss and SC Cambuur before ending the month with what turned out to be an extremely important win against Almere City.

We ended the month down the table in 15th place after a very poor month in my eyes. My job is being talked about so who knows, this story could come to a premature end, but lets hope the win at the end of the month can be a catalyst for a late season play off push.

Nobody really deserved the player of the month award as it was such a poor month, but Didier managed another 3 goals in March and is still our top goal scorer, now with 12.

We also oversaw this season's youth candidates coming into the club. Here is a snapshot of the newbies and the pick of the lot, Gerard de Boer who I am very excited about again.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2018

So we enter the final month of the regular season still in with a shout of reaching the play offs despite a poor March. Here's how we got on.

We were fantastic going into early April and won 5 in a row going back to the end of March. April's wins came against Helmond, Go Ahead, RKC and Den Bosch and really propelled us into the top half and the play off spots. We then suffered an unlucky defeat against Jong Utrecht but ended the season with our only win against any of the Jong sides PSV.

All of this meant we ended the season in 9th place and within the play off spots. Sylia Sow for Jong Utrecht had a wonderful season scoring 25 goals, who knows, maybe we could have a look at him and try to bring him in for another campaign at this level.

My final player of the month award goes to Djibril Dianessy. He scored twice this month and we'll get to see him a few more time in the play offs before he goes to FC Twente.

Some other news to bring you before we enter the play offs was that I was rewarded for a decent season with a new contract by the board.

And finally, here are our play off opponents.

[danmcconnell1]

May 2017 - Playoffs

We entered the play offs in decent form from the end of the season and faced a side we'd beaten the last time we played them in NEC Nijmegen. The playoffs are played over 2 legs and away goals do count, the same format as European competition, so we have to make sure we're still in with a chance heading in the second legs.

And that's exactly what we did heading into the second leg against NEC. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg which we actually took the lead in only to concede a late equaliser, I was happy enough with the result even though we should have won. We did the job away from home though thanks to a Ya Konan goal, equalling his best ever goal scoring season with his 14th of the season.

This meant we headed into the final round of play offs where we would face Eredivisie strugglers Willem II.

Despite losing the second leg, we ended the tie level at 4-4, our 2 away goals seeing us promoted into the Eredivisie. Two expertly taken Timothy Tillman goals in the first leg saw us go into the second with a lead away from home which were followed up by two more for Ya Konan and Saddiki before half time in the second leg which proved to be a step too far for Willem II. We survived late pressure from them to ensure we would be back in the Eredivisie next season!

Here's how the final table looked.

And our messages at the end of the season were as follows.

Promotion confirmed and not much in the way of financial backing yet, but we'll see what happens once the dust settles and we can see what we have to play with after some departures potentially in the summer.

I finished runner up in the manager of the year award also.

[SixPointer]

Well done on promotion!! First season is very impressive. Fortuna finished 15th in my heerenveen save in the first year. So bravo 👏🏻 

[danmcconnell1]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

Well done on promotion!! First season is very impressive. Fortuna finished 15th in my heerenveen save in the first year. So bravo 👏🏻 

Cheers! Not been a great season by all means and investment is needed but if we can stay up then hopefully we can build on that .

[SixPointer]

Loan players will be key I’d imagine with your budget. 

[danmcconnell1]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

Loan players will be key I’d imagine with your budget. 

Oh definitely, already got a few promising youngsters in and will try to update tonight.

[warlock]

Good story, Dan, and a good first season.

Onwards and upwards, mate!

[danmcconnell1]

11 hours ago, warlock said:

Good story, Dan, and a good first season.

Onwards and upwards, mate!

Cheers bud! Hoping for a little better from the first season in all honesty, lost a lot of games still against poor sides but promotion was the aim.

Thanks again

[kidthekid]

great first season, what a twist

[danmcconnell1]

11 hours ago, kidthekid said:

great first season, what a twist

Cheers! Definitely going to try and update tonight, been busy with a new kitchen being fitted this week!

[danmcconnell1]

Pre Season 2018

So after the jubilation of being promoted, we quickly got to work and looking at who we could potentially bring in on such a meagre budget. Here's our squad going into the new season.

There's good cover all around the pitch now so here's hoping we can have a successful season with what we have. Personally I'd be happy if we could avoid the relegation play off, anything more than that would be a bonus. Here are the new arrivals, most on loan.

As you can see, there's a lot of young talent that has come into the ranks, 3 of which are from English clubs. Ro-Shaun Williams, Thierry Ambrose and Rhian Brewster are going to become big players in the future and I really hope they can kick start their careers with me. Gildo is another who paying peanuts for in terms of wages and we have him for the entire campaign. I spent money for the first time in my career on a goalkeeper, Mickael Meira from Portugal. Also we welcomed back with open arms Joris Klein-Holte on loan from Vitesse despite now being in the same division as them, whilst the final arrival was a right back called Clarence Bijl, snapped up from an amateur deal at Dordrecht to provide competition in that position.

Here's a quick overview of all of the transfer dealings throughout the summer;

Schoop was complaining about a lack of first team action but Braun was too good ahead of him so we offloaded to RKC. Other outgoings took our total takings to just shy of what we spent on the new goalie so I think we've been pretty frugal with our spending this summer. Hopefully what we have will be enough.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2018

So now the summer was over and we had a season to start...

And what a start it was. Unbeaten after 3 games including a fantastic opening day win away to Heerenveen, an epic 2-2 draw in our first home match of the season against PSV and then a creditable draw away to ADO Den Haag. 5 points from a possible 9 in our first 3 matches was far more than I could have hoped for, particularly with a match against the mighty PSV in there too. Very happy with the start and long may it continue.

We went into September in the top half in 8th place after our opening 3 matches.

Rhian Brewster has had a fantastic start to life with us including a well taken brace against PSV which has earned him my player of the month for August.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2018

So after a great start, could we keep up this decent form going into September?

You bet we could. 5 matches overall and we're still unbeaten as well as into the 2nd round of the Dutch Cup. We began with another draw, this time against Go Ahead Eagles but then followed that up with 4 consecutive wins. We beat our biggest rivals Roda JC 3-2, then got a great result against Utrecht by winning 1-0, then we beat UNA in the cup 2-0 and ended the month strongly again, this time beating Sparta 2-1.

This blinder of a month meant we were up to 2nd after 7 matches played. I wonder how long we'll be able to keep this up!?

Unfortunately, my screen shot for player of the month isn't loading I'm afraid, but it's Lazar Kojic. The defensive midfielder has been a rock in midfield and has stepped into the big shoes left by Perr Schuurs last season. At just 18, he has future captain potential written all over him.

One final piece of news this month was that we now have another parent club after the association with Vitesse ended due to us being in the same division.

French giants Monaco were that team and we could start to look at some of their talent who we could potentially try and bring in to help us now.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2018

So could we keep up our unbeaten start?

No was the answer in short, but it wasn't a bad month by any means. A loss against PEC Zwolle brought an end to the run, but we recovered well with a goalless draw against Vitesse and a follow up 1-0 win against VVV. We played them again a few days later in the cup by lost this time by the same score line and crashed out of the cup, one round later than we managed last season. Finally, we recovered well from a setback again, this time with a 2-1 win against Heracles at home, which left the table looking like this.

Still in 2nd place, now behind Feyenoord, after 11 games we'd managed 6 wins, 4 draws and the solitary defeat. I was more than happy with this return so far.

Chris Braun, the captain is my player of the month. Mr Consistent is all you can say about him, gets on with his job and barely makes a mistake, he's a player we really do miss when he doesn't play.

A quick look at the end of the month messages, we are struggling financially.

We've only been in the black for a very short time early on in my reign which means we either need some significant player sales over the next few months or so, or we qualify for some continental football, which after the start we've had may well be a possibility, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves.

The board, fans and players all seem to be happy at the moment though after a brilliant start to life back in the Eredivisie, we've created a really good atmosphere and togetherness around the club at the moment and long may that continue as we head into the winter months.

[danmcconnell1]

November 2018

So after suffering our first league defeat of the campaign and going out of the cup, we only had league matters to concentrate on for the rest of the season.

And frankly, November couldn't have been more perfect. 4 wins on the spin from 4 matches and despite lady luck being on our side in some of the matches, we held on and recorded another unbeaten month! Wins against FC Twente, Excelsior, AZ and Groningen were enough to....

…. see us go TOP of the Eredivisie after 15 matches!!! Okay yes the sides below us have games in hand but that doesn't take anything away from the whirlwind start to this season that we've had. I say a start, we're almost halfway through the season, so if we can keep this up, then who knows where we'll end up this year!?

Player of the month has been Dries Saddiki. He's been a vital player in the centre of midfield since I arrived here and he loves a goal from midfield, he's definitely become one of our key players.

[danmcconnell1]

December 2018

So as we headed into the festive period, could we keep up our brilliant form?

Well, not quite, but after the calibre of opposition we've faced, I'm pretty happy with the return from these 3 matches. A draw against title holders Feyenoord away from home was a great result, while another win against Heerenveen followed by a late defeat against Ajax isn't a bad return for a side of our stature.

This meant we headed into Christmas and the new year joint top of the Eredivisie. We would have been outright leaders had Ajax not beaten us in our final match of 2018. It's been a phenomenal year for us and I really hope we can do something special in the second half of this season.

Gildo has been our player of the month. He's been consistently good on the left hand side and definitely a player I'd be looking to bring in permanently should the opportunity arise in the summer.

[SixPointer]

Flying start to your first year in the Eredivisie!! I find my heerenveen most teams have a go at home no matter what the league standings makes it a very interesting league!! 

 

 

Keep up the excellent start!! 

[danmcconnell1]

3 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Flying start to your first year in the Eredivisie!! I find my heerenveen most teams have a go at home no matter what the league standings makes it a very interesting league!!

Keep up the excellent start!! 

Cheers mate! Can't quite believe the first half of the season if I'm being honest but I'm not complaining! Thanks again

[danmcconnell1]

January 2019

As we welcomed in the new year, we started off slowly with a couple of friendlies after the winter break to try and break us in gently.

We got off to a poor start against Telstar losing 4-2 but recovered well against lowly Laura-Hopel Combinatie, winning 6-0, Thierry Ambrose bagging 5.

As we got back to league matters, it didn't get much tougher than a trip to PSV but we held our own again and took another point off them with a late Williams equaliser. We then beat 9 man ADO Den Haag by a goal to nil which momentarily put us top ahead of Ajax's match that weekend.

Unfortunately for us, they won it, then drew their game in hand which meant that they're now just 3 points ahead of us. I'm really hoping we can continue this magnificent form which has taken us so far already and potentially do something special this season.

Ro-Shaun Williams is my player of the month thanks to his heroic performance away to PSV. He was outstanding and topped it off with the equaliser, his first for the club.

[danmcconnell1]

February 2019

So after a decent start to 2019, could we continue it?

In short, the answer was no. It was arguably our worst month in the league so far, although we need to remember how far we've come. To be disappointed with 2 wins and 2 defeats in February for a newly promoted side says a lot about us as a team, therefore I'm not too disheartened, despite the 2 defeats coming against sides languishing towards the bottom of the table. We did beat Go Ahead and Utrecht but lost the local derby to Roda and then a home match against 17th place (at the time) PEC Zwolle, they've done the double over us now.

This left us in third as we head into March, still a fantastic achievement at this point in the season.

Player of the month was Thierry Ambrose. He scored both of our goals and is now into double figures for the season and just 5 off Ya Konan's club record for a season with 15. Hopefully he can beat that for us.

[kidthekid]

wonderful season. Best of luck down the stretch.

[danmcconnell1]

18 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

wonderful season. Best of luck down the stretch.

Cheers mate! March update coming

[danmcconnell1]

March 2019

So after an inconsistent February, how would we fare in March?

I was a very similar month in terms of results, another 2 wins coupled with another 2 defeats. Vitesse and Heracles beat us while we overcame Sparta Rotterdam and VVV meaning we picked up another 6 points heading into the business end of the season with the table looking like this,

We've dropped to 4th, but it's very tight at the top and we still have Feyenoord and Ajax left to play so it could still all change.

Ambrose had another stormer of a month, our only goal scorer in March. He managed another 5 which equalled the record for goals scored by a single player in a season for Fortuna Sittard, one more and he'd hold the record outright.

March always means youth candidate time and with a couple of recruitment upgrades this season, we're starting to bear the fruits of our investment with some decent little players coming into the academy. Here's the list as well as the pick of the best.

On a final note, there have been job interview offers galore this season, none of which I've felt the need to bring up yet as I don't intend on leaving Fortuna any time soon, but this one almost turned my head....

Perhaps my stock is rising.....

[warlock]

Gonna stick my neck out here and predict you'll finish 3rd or 4th! And ignore those oil-rich sirens from the Babylon-end of Lancashire... nothing good can come of it, mark my words.

[danmcconnell1]

5 hours ago, warlock said:

Gonna stick my neck out here and predict you'll finish 3rd or 4th! And ignore those oil-rich sirens from the Babylon-end of Lancashire... nothing good can come of it, mark my words.

I'd be more than happy with either of those! My only hope was to finish above the relegation zone so to be in this position is brilliant.

Not looking to leave Fortuna at the moment anyway but the recognition is nice, don't think I'd have had much of a chance against Ancelotti who got it in the end anyway

[SixPointer]

What a season. Even if you do slip up you will still find yourself at least in the Europa playoff places!! Hopefully you can carry on! You deserve automatic just on what you’ve done so far!

[danmcconnell1]

3 hours ago, SixPointer said:

What a season. Even if you do slip up you will still find yourself at least in the Europa playoff places!! Hopefully you can carry on! You deserve automatic just on what you’ve done so far!

Thanks bud! Yeah can't be too disappointed with the season as a whole, it's been great! Hopefully finish off tonight and hopefully update tomorrow.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2019

So after an inconsistent couple of months, could we get back to the form like early on in the season?

Unfortunately, it was another poor month on our part. A very poor home loss to bottom club at the time Excelsior was proceeded by a convincing 4-2 win against FC Twente. We then drew with AZ and lost our final match of the month which all but kissed goodbye to any chances we have of finishing in the top 2.

We remain in 4th place after a bad month to all accounts but again, we can't really complain after the brilliant season we've had.

Thierry wins player of the month again after breaking our goal scoring record for a season and generally just being fantastic up top!

[danmcconnell1]

May 2019

Could we consolidate a play off spot in May? With just 2 games to go, we'll find out.

The win against Groningen did that as a late Finn Stokkers goal saw us take the spoils but we lost our final regular season match away to Ajax, despite taking an early lead through Brewster.

This meant we finished 4th in the league and in turn meant we qualified for the European play off spots. We will be facing Heerenveen, a side we did the double over this year so I'm confident we can make it into the second playoff round.

Our final player of the month was Rhian Brewster.

The 19 year old on loan from Liverpool has had a fantastic year scoring 5 goals and creating 10, a brilliant season for him.

[danmcconnell1]

Playoffs 2019

After qualifying for the European playoff places, we will be facing Heerenveen home and then away.

The first leg was a 1-1 draw in which we took the lead but they equalised late on, getting a vital away goal for them.

The 2nd leg was a tight and cagey affair but we just about came out on top thanks to a late Lisandro Samedo goal. This may well be his last significant contribution for the club as his 2 year loan deal is coming to an end.

We will be facing Vitesse in the 2nd round of these European playoffs.

We were fantastic in this first leg at home, beating Vitesse 3-0 thanks to Ambrose, Malsa and Gildo. I felt confident going into the second leg and hopefully we can find ourselves in European competition next season.

We made it very hard for ourselves, but we came through thanks to a penalty shootout, our captain scoring the decisive spot kick, meaning we'll definitely be in Europe next season!

Our budget has been announced for next season very soon after the playoffs and we might need to pull some rabbits out of hats again I think...

Hopefully with some league prize money and European cash we might see this increase.

[danmcconnell1]

Post-season 2019

So after the rollercoaster of the playoffs was over, we found ourselves in Europe after our maiden season back in the Eredivisie.

This is most definitely going to help us and I think there may well be some more coming in if we can do well in the qualification phases of Europe (I presume this will be the Europa League too).

We recorded Fortuna's highest ever finish too which was pleasing.

I personally finished second in the manager of the year which was pleasing. van Bronckhorst has been fantastic with Feyenoord winning 3 titles in a row so I can't really complain too much.

Finally, we have some good financial news which means any sales will now mean we get 70% of the sale to spend ourselves which is also pleasing.

[deltablue]

Good work getting into Europe. 

[SixPointer]

Superb stuff mate!! Europa in your first season is unreal stuff!! Hopefully the board backs you with some funds to carry on your magic progress!