[FM 15] Valentijn's Gift

[Tom Ashley]

Prologue:  Autumn 2012

This story began the day Valentijn Koordes said goodbye to the world.

Not quite ninety-one years before, Valentijn was born in the city of Eindhoven, in the south of Holland.  In the decades that followed, he never spent more than a few weeks away from his home town.  Valentijn's printing business was prosperous, and he and his family lived comfortably, but not ostentatiously.  His one indulgence seemed to be the money he spent supporting his favorite football club.  Valentijn discovered FC Eindhoven as a young boy, and his love for the club never wavered.  Otherwise, he seemed to be a rather unremarkable man in most respects.

That's why nobody in his circle of friends--and it was wide--could have predicted what happened the day Valentijn breathed his last.

 His wife, Cornelia, spent sixty joyous years by his side. When she quietly passed in 2010,  only two people were left who knew Valentijn's secret. The other two were his financial planner and his lawyer.

Valentijn had inherited a remarkable sum of money from a bachelor uncle.  He invested it wisely, and at the time of his death he was nearly three times as wealthy as he'd been the day Uncle Jacobus's will was read.  When the terms of Valentijn's own will were revealed, any worries his son Willem, his daughter Elisabeth, and their families might ever have about their financial security disappeared.  Several charities Valentijn and Cornelia had supported over the years received donations that made their directors' mouths gape.

And Valentijn's favorite football club--a club that had provided him with countless moments of joy and disappointment over the decades--received a bequest that could possibly change their history, too.

FC Eindhoven were the second club in the city, but it hadn't always been that way.  When Valentijn was young, the Blauw-witten were a bigger team than PSV. They won the Eredivisie championship in 1954, but not long after, they fell behind their cross-city rivals. PSV were now a fixture in the top flight, while FC Eindhoven had been a second-division club since 1977.  Still, Valentijn's alliance never wavered.  however. He could count the number of home matches he'd missed over five decades on two hands.  He'd made a number of away trips, too, and he always said he'd follow his beloved club all over Europe if he ever got the chance.  

Valentijn's greatest joy as a football fan was watching young players move from the youth program into the senior team and following their careers, whether they stayed at the club or moved on to bigger clubs, in Holland or beyond.  One of them, a right winger called Jan Louwers, went on to an even more successful career as a businessman.  After his death, FC Eindhoven's stadium was named in his honor.  

Stories like Louwers' resonated with Valentijn Koordes.  He dreamed that his beloved club would produce scores of players as talented as Louwers had been.  Perhaps some of these lads would be even better, like his old friend Noud van Melis.  A center forward, van Melis scored fifteen times in thirteen appearances for Holland.  Since van Melis won his first cap in 1950, dozens of players from PSV had gone on to international greatness, while FC Eindhoven had produced only a handful of stars.  The best was probably midfielder Bas van Harten, who had just hung up his boots after playing 33 times for his country.  

Valentijn wanted players like van Melis and van Harten to be the rule, rather than the exception. That is why he left FC Eindhoven the funds they would need to create a top-flight youth development program, with facilities that would rival the best in the Netherlands.  The funds were earmarked for this purpose, because Valentijn wanted his club to build for a secure future, rather than splashing cash on a star or two in an attempt at a quick fix.

There was one more string attached to Valentijn's gift.  When its managerial job came open, the club were required to interview at least one player who had come up through their youth system for the position, or the funds required to maintain their superior training facilities would be withdrawn.  

 

Football Manager 15. Holland loaded, with top players from surrounding nations. Fake names;  Jan Louwers and Noud van Melis are real people, but everyone else who appears in the story are fictional characters.  

I edited the database to improve FC Eindhoven's Training Facilities, Youth Facilities, Junior Coaching, and Youth Recruitment to a level that compares with those of PSV, Feyenoord, and Ajax.  We'll see what happens from there...

 

[Tom Ashley]

Spring 2014

Bas van Harten was an Eindhoven lad, just like Valentijn Koordes had been.  Valentijn had never been much of a footballer himself, but he had a fairly good eye for talent, and he'd recognized Bas's promise when the boy was no more than seven or eight.  He wasn't alone.  At seventeen, Bas made his debut with the first team.  He was tall and powerful, a central midfielder who could control the middle of the park and set the tempo for his team.  

Bas was honestly too talented for the second division, so it was no surprise when he moved on to Groningen.  The career highlights came in rapid succession:  his full international debut; a transfer to Denmark and FC Mitdjylland; another move, to Germany and FC Werder Bremen; a spot on the Holland squad for the 2008 World Cup; a return to the Eredivisie, with Feyenoord.  Along the way, he married his long-time girlfriend, a vivacious brunette called Kim, and they welcomed son Thomas and daughter Eva in fairly short order.  

On the first day of December 2011, Bas turned thirty-three.  That day, he told Kim that the current season would be his last as a player.  He informed the Groningen staff of his plans, and his manager, Bas de Bruine, gave him his blessing.  Van Harten had already decided what his next career move would be.  He had spoken with the manager at his boyhood club about a coaching position, and Walter Jörst had already agreed to add him to his staff for the 2012/13 season. 

Before their last home match, on a dazzling April day, Bas stood with the Eindhoven players and coaches to honor the supporters who had passed away during the season. He smiled as he remembered Mr. Koordes, the kindly gentleman who had told him what a good player he was, and would be, and whose warm smile had greeted him when he returned to the club back in June.  Bas had no idea of the connection between the sweet old fellow and the work that was proceeding on the improved training facilities the club had announced a few months earlier.  Almost nobody did.  That's the way Valentijn had wanted it to be.

The pressures of managing a football club took their toll on Walter Jörst.  By the time another year had passed, Walter had decided to leave the game.  He had once imagined himself leading a revitalized Eindhoven side, filled with young stars groomed in their brand-new youth setup, but now he was going to pass that opportunity along to a new manager.  When Walter told the club's chairman, Hicham Jansen, of his plans, he recommended they interview Bas van Harten for the position.  

Jansen smiled and nodded.  The chairman was fully aware of the terms of Valentijn's gift.  He had identified van Harten as a logical choice for fulfilling Valentijn's wishes, but he doubted the young man was ready to take the reins of the club himself.  Jörst thought he was, and he told Bas so.  Kim did, too.  Together they removed any doubts Bas had about applying for the position.  

Bas crushed the interview. He was thoroughly prepared. His vision for the club was clear.  His excitement for the task ahead was tangible.  Walter Jörst and the other members of the board were, frankly, blown away. 

Two weeks later, Bas van Harten was announced as the next manager of FC Eindhoven.

 

[neilhoskins77]

Cracking start on this one Tom. Looking forward to seeing where it goes. Keep it up mate.

[Tom Ashley]

8 hours ago, neilhoskins77 said:

Cracking start on this one Tom. Looking forward to seeing where it goes. Keep it up mate.

Thanks, Neil. I appreciate the support--it's especially appreciated in the early stages of a new project!

8 August 2014

It was now time for the season to begin, and Bas took stock of the team he'd lead into the Eerste Divisie campaign.  It had taken shape over the course of a preseason that had seen the Blauw-witten win twice, lose twice, and draw once.  They had recovered well from a frightful 1-5 beating they took from Swiss top flight fixture Young Boys, but they hadn't faced strong opposition since then.

Raffael Amrein was the first choice keeper, a spot he held onto despite a shaky pre-season.  He had saved fewer than half the shots his opponents had put on target until he kept a clean sheet in his last appearance.  Raffael liked to leave his line and sweep up behind the defense, and he was comfortable enough on the ball to do the task well.  His understudy, Sven Duits, was one of three amateur players in the first team.  Sven was very tall and good in the air, and he had surprisingly good reflexes for a big lad. He’d played quite well in several friendlies, albeit against weaker competition.

Bas wanted his full backs to push forward and join the attack when the opportunity arose.  He liked right back Daniel Aadland a lot.  The Norwegian was a tough competitor who marked his man tenaciously and tackled anything in sight, and his pace and crossing ability made him an offensive threat, too.  Left back Danny Reekers would turn 30 during the season, but he hadn’t lost a bit of his blistering pace.  Reekers was a natural leader, and his teammates were delighted when Bas made him the club’s vice captain. 

Center backs Jeffrey Koevermans and Terry McCann were both solid and reliable.  Koevermans lacked the size to compete effectively in the air, but he was extremely fast and was a tidy passer. The peripatetic McCann had been born in England and trained in Belgium, and he was eligible for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Take the classic English center half, add an extra helping of pace, and you had McCann.

A former midfielder himself, Bas tended to tinker with his central midfield setup.  When he used a holding player in front of his back four, teenager Sjaak Nijman was his first choice.  Sjaak had been trained at Ajax and Willem II, and he was a polished, all-action player.  Allan Neumann, from across the border in Belgium, was a lively ball-winner who scored two goals during preseason.  Spaniard Juan Gabriel was a flashy playmaker who worked hard, but his lack of defensive savvy limited him to a purely creative role.  Neumann and Gabriel were both 22, and Nijman was four years younger.  The club had a talented, versatile midfield corps.

The club captain, Kees Peters, could fill a variety of roles along the right side of the formation.  He was best as an active winger who tracked back and helped cover the ambitious runs of Aadland.  In a pinch, Peters could shift to the middle of the park. 

The club’s Director of Football, Alexander Meurs, had attempted to shore up the team’s lack of wide attackers by bringing in two loan players.  Lightning-fast Marcel Bakker arrived from Utrecht.  Giovanni Swinkels, from Feyenoord, liked to cut in from the left side on his stronger right foot.  Both players would be first team regulars, but Swinkels would have to demonstrate some interest when the other team had the ball. 

Joris de Vries and Thanasis Mandrapilias gave Bas two decent choices to lead the line.  Mandrapilias had a slight edge; the Greek hitman was a crafty finisher and a more unselfish player, while de Vries offered a surprising potent aerial weapon, despite not being quite six feet tall. Both strikers were fast, but Mandrapilias was next-level quick. 

The manager was pleased with his team’s depth. Wilco de Lange was a capable backup in the middle of the formation, from the back line through the midfield stratum.  Veteran Dennis Vos was a Swiss army knife, and he was left-footed—a trait no other man in the team who could play center half possessed.  Marílla was an atypical Brazilian player:  no flash and all grit.  He was comfortable on the right wing or as a central midfielder.   Daan Ploeger, Kevin Schmitz, and Rinus van Dijk were available as substitute attackers.  Schmitz and van Dijk had the advantage of youth, both being in their teens.

Bas had completely bought in to the team’s policy of developing young players, and he eagerly awaited the fruits of the Blauw-witten’s improved training facilities.  Right now, none of the players below the first team, with the possible exception of young Aussie goalkeeper David Soley, were considered top-flight prospects, and the Eindhoven reserves and Under 19s were regularly getting smoked by their rivals. 

The board expected the club to make the promotion playoffs this season, a goal Bas and his players all felt was reasonable.  The pundits tapped Eindhoven for fifth place, a position that could land them in the playoffs, given the results of four-period system that settled such things in the Dutch second flight.  A return to the Eredivisie might be a long reach, but Bas thought the club was good enough to dream.

Edited November 15, 2020 by Tom Ashley