Fortuna Favours The Brave - Ruud's Time Has Come

[danmcconnell1]

6 hours ago, deltablue said:

Good work getting into Europe. 

Cheers mate! Day off has consisted of housework up to now so hoping to have a good FM session tonight

3 hours ago, SixPointer said:

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!

Yeah the budget doesn't look too great straight away but the £5m plus will most definitely help.... I hope

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-season 2019

So after an epic campaign, it was back to the drawing board in trying to find replacements for those out on loan, as well as adding extra depth into the squad as we look to try and enter the group stages of the Europa League. We'll be entering that in the 3rd qualifying phase so will have 4 matches before we can even start to think about the groups, so we need to significantly improve the starting 11 as well as adding depth to the side.

Before we look at incomings and outgoings though, the first few pieces of news are afoot.

I signed another new contract, keeping me with the club until 2022 with a wage rise too, happy days! I was also going to be going for a new qualification, the continental B license after the board finally agreed to let me do it.

Both our data analyst and club training ground were to be upgraded too, meaning we'd have some better facilities to use heading into the new season.

We made it into early August, just before the season was to get underway when we found out who we'll be facing in the 3rd qualifying phase for the Europa League.

It's going to be very tough. Real Betis are a regular La Liga side with proven quality all over the pitch, I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't go through, but we will definitely try. We've been a little unlucky to get such a tough side at this stage of the competition in my opinion.

We didn't have the best pre-season but I'm not too worried about that, although the Real Sociedad match could be a sign of things to come if we don't buck up our ideas and quickly.

Moving swiftly on, here is the transfer business we conducted up until the beginning of the season.

We brought in more than we spent, which is a sign of how much we've improved in my opinion. Figures aren't huge but I did break my own transfer record when we signed Gildo, permanently this time for £80k.

Here is the new playing squad up to now, as well as the newbies.

Some familiar faces are back in Klein-Holte and Gildo as well as some new ones with Kuipers, Elder, Landinho, Feruz and Nmecha. We're not finished yet in the window and I will still be hoping to make some more signings before the window closes.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2019

So the biggest matches of my managerial tenure were here and arguably it's the most exciting time to be a Fortuna Sittard fan at the moment. Here's how we got on in August.

Unfortunately, the European dream was over almost before it began. We were thrashed 4-1 home and away and crashed out of the Europa League far sooner than we would have liked, although we can't grumble too much, Betis were the far better side in both legs.

We also didn't start well in the league, picking up just 1 point from a possible 12, that coming in a goalless draw against Excelsior. This all meant the table looked like this.

We were in the relegation zone for the first time in the Eredivisie since we got promoted, hopefully we could start to march back up the table sooner rather than later.

Gildo won player of the month after he got both of our goals in the European matches and started well in the league, despite the results.

We signed 2 more players before the window closed too, here they are.

Viv Solomon-Otabor is a player I know well IRL as he plays for my team and is a tricky little winger, I just hope he can make the step up. Nabil Alioui is a young striker on loan from our parent club Monaco.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2019

So after a nightmare start to the season, could we pick ourselves up ahead of the remainder of the season and get some much needed points on the board?

The answer was no. We've had a rotten start and only managed to squeak past De Graafschap in the cup AET. Losses against Groningen, Sparta and AZ have compounded us to our worst run under my management.

This in turn meant we headed into October bottom of the pile in the Eredivisie. Things need to change and they need to change fast.

Again, despite the poor performances, Gildo has been our shining light and the only one who looks like he can do something at the moment. It was the best of a bad bunch picking this award this month.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2019

After picking up just 1 point so far this season, we really needed to get a run of results together.

Unfortunately though, we just can't at the moment, absolutely nothing is going our way in the league and despite a morale-boosting 4-0 win against ADO 20 in the cup, we just can't buy a win in the league, or a point even.

Rather unsurprisingly we stay rooted to the foot of the table, but things look a lot worse as we're already 10 points off just 17th place, which means we really need to start picking up points as quickly as possible or this could get embarrassing.

Again it was tough to call the player of the month after such a poor month but Alioui did score a couple earning him the award.

[danmcconnell1]

November 2019

After a shambolic start to the season, I think it's fair to say the only way I'm still in a job at the moment is due to the successes of last season. Most other managers in my position would be dead men walking at the moment, but I still seemed to have the backing of the fans, players and most importantly, the board. How long that would last is another thing.

Now, there is a reason why this fixture list is shorter than usual, I'll get to it in a moment, but we did manage our first league win of the season against ADO Den Haag who were in 6th place at the time.

The next game against Vitesse was my 100th in charge of Fortuna and we managed a 1-1 draw, stopping the rot and not losing back to back games for the first time this season.

Now, we move onto why the initial update was so short...

I have moved on.

Derby County is my new home. They offered me a lucrative contract, far more money than I was on before and a real challenge in terms of league position. Firstly, I am very disappointed with the way my time at Fortuna ended and many will see this as potentially jumping a sinking ship, but I was getting tired of everything I tried not working or going against us and felt as though I'd done all I could with the modest budgets in place at Fortuna.

I felt as though a change may have been needed for the club and for me, hence why I took the decision to move on. I will try to keep an eye on Fortuna and their progress but will be focusing solely now on my new job at Derby.

The iPro Stadium holds 33,600 spectators and is a ground I have visited on a number of occasions. It's very impressive and I can't wait to get started in this new job.

The team are struggling. I joined with the side in 22nd place in the league, in the relegation zone. My first match in charge would be against no other than Nottingham Forest, the clubs' biggest rivals at home. Here is the club's current playing squad.

There is a lot of experience in the squad, some of which needs replacing in my view. The squad is lacking balance and has far too many central minded players, so that's an issue I'll look to address in the winter transfer window if I can, but first, let's see how we got on in the rest of November in my new job.

What a start we had in beating our fiercest rivals Forest. Chris Martin scored a late free kick to give us the bragging rights and ensure the perfect start to my new tenure. We then managed a goalless draw away to Birmingham which was also pleasing as we'd yet to concede a goal. Unfortunately we lost our next match at home to top of the table chasing Ipswich Town. They're flying high at the moment so games like this won't be the ones that keep us up, it'll be beating the sides around us that does it.

These results meant we were still in the relegation zone after 20 matches going into December but with renewed optimism and belief that we could stay up at a canter this year and really look to progress in the coming season.

Craig Forsyth has been my player of the month at left back. He's been very impressive so far and although he's just reached 30 I'm hoping he'll be a key player for at least another 18 months or so.

[danmcconnell1]

December 2019

So after a steady start to life in the East Midlands, we headed into the busy festive period with renewed confidence and self belief that we could get ourselves out of this situation we found ourselves in.

We didn't start well though. A poor loss against Luton was followed by another poor defeat, this time at home to Reading. We then travelled to the Etihad to face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup quarter finals where we lost narrowly 1-0 thanks to a late Mauro Icardi goal. Things started to pick up rapidly after that defeat though and we managed back to back wins for the first time under my management against play off chasing Brentford and Middlesbrough, both away from home. They were huge wins for us. We finished the month with a derisory draw against bottom of the table Peterborough, a game we really should be winning.

After our good end to the month, we have climbed out of the relegation zone and into 20th place. We face Millwall in our first match of 2020 so that will be a big game.

Joe Ledley has been a solid performer this month. He opened the scoring away to Middlesbrough from the spot and put in some brilliant performances towards the end of the month earning him the award.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2020

A new year and hopefully a fresh start is upon this Derby side. We ended December well with some good results against sides higher in the table than us but seem to be struggling against those around us in the matches which matter.

And that trend continued in January. We didn't win in the league at all and only managed to beat Luton, the third time we've faced them already under my stewardship in an FA Cup 3rd round replay. Losses came against Millwall, QPR and Sunderland while we could only manage a draw against Hull.

This all means that we're still in the relegation zone and in danger. We face Norwich in February which is a very big game for us as we look to try and buck the trend of playing poorly against our nearest rivals.

Craig Bryson has been our best player this month. He's been rated at least 7.4 in each of his 3 appearances in January earning him the award.

Finally you can see our transfer dealings for January highlighted. A lot of the incomings were youngsters brought in by HOYD Darren Wassall, but I did manage to sign Jack Harrison on loan from Man City, left back Antunes on loan from Watford after both of our left backs Marcus Olsson and Craig Forsyth suffered a broken leg and cruciate knee injuries respectively, we had to find cover quickly in that area hence Antunes' arrival. My final signing was Ahmed Hegazi from Bournemouth for a lowly fee of £250k. I feel as though it's good value and a slightly younger replacement for the LA Galaxy bound Curtis Davies in the summer.

[danmcconnell1]

February 2020

After a less than promising start to the year, we really needed to pick ourselves up in what promised to be a very busy month.

We played 8 matches within 29 days in February (leap year) and not all of them were good ones. We started the month brilliantly with a huge 4-0 win against Ipswich in the FA Cup which saw us drawn away to Man City again later in the month. We then went on a 6 match losing streak in all competitions with defeats coming against Villa, Norwich, Fulham, Sheffield United, Man City in the FA Cup and Sheffield Wednesday, but it wasn't all doom and gloom as we ended the month with another big 4-0 win, this time against Bristol City, which just kept our hopes of staving off the drop alive I think. 

All of this meant we remained in the drop zone and were 5 points off Norwich who are one place above us at the moment. We really need to go on a good run of form to try to catch up to them as soon as possible as the games are running out thick and fast.

Matej Vydra has been my player of the month. In what's been a difficult few weeks, he's been the best player and scored a total of 4 goals, quadrupling his tally for the season before this month, he now stands on 5 for the campaign.

One more piece of news to bring you was this seasons' youth intake. Nothing to write home about unfortunately, but Sean Graham could become a decent player in the future.

[danmcconnell1]

March 2020

After an extremely busy February, March was significantly less busy but arguably even more important.

We started the month with another important win, this time against Leeds meaning we won back to back matches for the first time since December. We then were beat handsomely by Crystal Palace but responded well again overcoming play off chasing Blackburn. We couldn't find a way past Preston but ended the month on a high again with another win, this time against high flying Cardiff.

We've reached the business end of the season now. 6 games to save ourselves from what would be a rather humiliating relegation. I'm confident we can avoid that though as our run in could be a lot worse.

Vydra picks up the player of the month again bagging himself another 2 along the way, he's been vital since the injury to Okazaki earlier in the season and really scored some vital goals for us.

[kidthekid]

That's a really close table. Best of luck

[danmcconnell1]

April/May 2020

With just one game to come in May, I thought I'd combine the 2 months updates together.

We lost the derby against Forest and then lost at home to Birmingham to really compound our misery at that point, but just 2 days later over the Easter period we managed a gigantic win over promotion chasing Ipswich, 2 late Shinji Okazaki goals earning us the 3 points in that one. We then lost horribly to Luton at home conceding a 92nd minute penalty which they scored, then managed a scoreless draw away to Reading in our penultimate match. That result all but kept us up with a game to spare. Millwall needed an 11 goal swing on the final day an for them to beat Aston Villa away from home who had already been confirmed as champions. They did win 3-1 but the swing didn't happen, despite us losing at home to Brentford by a solitary goal.

We stayed up by the skin of our teeth and will be playing Championship football again next season. I think we need to seriously think about a overhaul to the squad. There are a lot of ageing players who are on very good contracts which we could definitely do with either reducing or getting rid of completely. The board have recently had to invest £4m to ensure the club gets through the summer, so I'll definitely need to sell before I can even think about bringing in any players.

Shinji Okazaki wins player of the month purely for his heroic performance against Ipswich, scoring both goals which gave us real belief that we could beat the drop. He's on a very generous contract for the Championship and his deal expires this summer so I'll have to think long and hard as to whether we extend his deal or let him go and bring in somebody younger and on less wages.

[danmcconnell1]

1 hour ago, kidthekid said:

That's a really close table. Best of luck

Cheers mate, stayed up by the skin in the end

[danmcconnell1]

After a difficult few months at Derby, I met with the board to discuss budgets and objectives for the next season. The talks didn't go well, with a mere £3m to spend with no increase in available wages either, I took the decision, inwardly, to look elsewhere, while doing what I could with the modest budgets at Derby.

The opportunity soon arose to return home when I noticed both the Feyenoord and PSV jobs were available. I was still being offered interviews left, right and centre during my time at Derby so I took a punt and applied for both. Both sides interviewed me and soon after....

I was the new manager of 4 times in a row Eredivisie champions Feyenoord. I was offered the PSV job also, but decided to try and continue the legacy of van Bronckhorst here in Rotterdam and believe this is the perfect place to show my talents on the European stage properly this time back home.

Derby got a decent deal out of letting me go almost bagging £1m, I hope the fans can see my reasons for moving on after what many would consider a short period of time at a football club, but I did what I was brought into do at Derby and that was keep them up, albeit just about.

Feyenoord have a rich history in Holland and are currently the most feared side in the country, winning the title for the previous 4 seasons and 2 of the last 4 Super Cups too. No domestic cup win has come since 2016 and it's one I'm really hoping to win after not really getting the chance with Fortuna. I will also get my first crack at the Champions League too. As champions, we march straight into the group stages, the groups will be drawn soon.

My new home, De Kuip. The impressive 51,177 seater stadium is the second largest in Holland behind the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam so I'll be hoping it can produce a fantastic atmosphere as we try to continue van Bronckhorst's legacy.

The season will soon be upon us so I'll update with our transfer activity and squad going into the new season.

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-Season 2020

So a new job means a new set of players and new set of expectations of me. I feel as though this is a special time at Feyenoord with 4 league titles in a row, I would absolutely love to continue that phenomenal run for this special club.

Here is our transfer activity up to now, those highlighted are the transfers that took place after I arrived, those not were completed before.

The club pulled off some magnificent business before I arrived, signing Timothy Fosu-Mensah on a free transfer from Manchester United and recognized striker Gregoire Defrel for just £4m from Roma. After I arrived, I raided my old club Fortuna Sittard and signed 2 of the big talents I feel like I raised there in Gerard de Boer and Lazar Kojic. I feel as though Kojic could have an impact in the first team, de Boer isn't quite ready yet I don't think. I also bought in Dominic Calvert-Lewin from Everton. He's a player I almost signed back in January for Derby but he decided to join Middlesbrough instead, but for the lowly fee Everton wanted I felt as though this was good business again. Finally, Ibrahima Konate joins on loan from RB Leipzig. An up and coming centre back, I'm hoping he can step right into the first team and perhaps become a mainstay in the side, if not the minimum I expect from him is to be at least the 3rd choice centre back, he's definitely added depth to the squad.

We only lost one player for a fee before I arrived, Amro Tarek joined Genk in Belgium. Almost immediately after arriving, Jerry St. Juste was attracting interest from all over Europe. We eventually agreed a deal with West Ham, a generous deal in my opinion for him for £13.5m which could rise to £16.5m depending on his level of performance over the contract. I'm happy with the deal and it provides us now with almost £26m to spend in the remainder of the summer. We also sold the likes of Eric Botteghin, Dennis Diekmeier, Bilal Basackikoglu and Bart Schenkeveld. Ramon Hendriks and Achraf el Bouchataoui both left on loan.

Before the season got underway, we had the small matter of the Dutch Super Cup to contend against PSV, the club I very nearly joined this summer.

We were fortuitous in the way we finished on top in the end thanks to a penalty shoot out which we very nearly lost, but my first competitive match in charge of Feyenoord has yielded a trophy, something I'm extremely happy with. Kike got our goal late in normal time but PSV equalised meaning we had to win it via penalties, but I'm happy with the side for winning the traditional season curtain raiser.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2020

Before the season got underway, we had some news regarding season tickets.

We had sold approximately 600 more than last season which is a small boost to our finances this year.

Here's how our season has begun.

As you can see, we are unbeaten in every game so far, including friendlies. We've had a very strong start with the aforementioned Super Cup win against PSV which was followed by early season wins against Utrecht, Willem II and Heerenveen. We ended the month with a draw against fellow good starters Groningen. After 4 matches, the table looked like this.

We were third, only behind Ajax on points as they have the only 100% record left in the Eredivisie so far, but of course there's plenty more football to play.

Kike wins the player of the month award after a very strong start to the season scoring 4 goals already. Hopefully the 30 year old can continue his goal scoring form and better his total of 17 last season.

Next, we'll look at what transfer business we conducted before the end of the window. Again, both columns have highlighted the first deal which I sanctioned, anything above that was done before I arrived.

Following on from the preseason update, we had signed some more players in an attempt to improve our starting 11 as well as providing depth to the side which was much needed with a Champions League campaign coming up. In came some more familiar faces in Ro-Shaun Williams, permanently this time from Manchester United and Rhian Brewster on loan from Liverpool. Both players played at Fortuna for me and I tried to sign both again at Derby but they opted to go elsewhere, I'm really hoping the can rediscover their magnificent form for me at Sittard. Other arrivals included Olexandr Zinchenko from Manchester City, again for a relatively low fee for a player of his quality, Jordon Ikoko from Brugges in a deal which broke our transfer record and the final incomer on deadline day was goalkeeper Bartlomiej Dragowski on loan from Fiorentina. He will provide backup to Hansen in goal and potentially could become our number 1 as the season goes on. We did have a few more younger players leave on loan but nobody else left the club on permanent deals.

Going back to Ikoko, he is now the most expensive player the club has signed. The right back will take over the starting berth and Fosu-Mensah who was playing there will now be used in his preferred midfield role, providing cover in defence if and when needed.

Before the Champions League groups were drawn, we received an always welcome financial boost.

Over £11m was pumped into the club due to our participation in the competition, a huge help to a club of our stature on the European stage. Speaking of the Champions League, here is the group we have been drawn into.

Being seeded 4th always meant we were going to play one of the big boys, but I wasn't quite expecting all 3 of our group stage opponents to be as tough as this. French champions PSG, Spanish giants Barcelona and Portuguese runners up last season Sporting Lisbon complete our group. I think the best we can realistically hope for is possibly 3rd place ahead of Sporting which would ensure Europa League participation in the new year but even that would be very difficult to do. We've been a little unlucky there just like I was last season with my Europa League draw with Fortuna against Betis.

Finally, this past 2-3 months has of course had an impact, as it does at every football club in the summer, on our finances. Here's how we're shaping up going into the rest of the season now the window has closed.

We're in a very healthy position, easily the best I've had to work with at a club so far. Hopefully that pink graph will keep rising as we try to continue the good work done by the previous managerial/coaching regime which has put the club on a sound financial footing.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2020

So after a positive start to the season, we hoped we could carry on with our decent form. There was an international break so had to wait until the 12th for our first match of the month. Firstly we'll round up domestic matters, then review our European progress from the month.

We remained unbeaten in the league and also progressed into the second round of the Dutch Cup after beating Almere City. The first game of the month was an absolute classic as we drew 3-3 against PSV, our midfield maestro Tonny Vilhena scoring in the 95th minute to equalise and ensure we remained unbeaten.

Groningen have had an amazing start to the season and we really need to ensure we don't let them run away with things. Luckily for us, we have a game in hand over them which if we win we'll go to the top of the league.

Firstly, we were absolutely awful against Sporting Lisbon.

We were 4-0 down before half time and Sporting got a late 5th to compound our misery.

Moving swiftly on, we managed an historic win against the mighty Barcelona in our second match of the group back at a sold out De Kuip. It was exactly the kind of atmosphere I expected on a European night here and what a way to really propel this time into the limelight, especially after falling behind early. A late John-Paul Boetius goal ensured he wrote his name into Feyenoord history.

We remain rooted to the foot of our group, but with renewed optimism as we look to realistically finish 3rd in the group, anything above that would be a bonus, but we have showed that we can be competitive in this group of giants.

Finally, Tonny Vilhena won the player of the month award. He's been brilliant all month, firstly scoring the later than late equaliser against PSV and also putting in a brilliant performance against Barcelona, earning him the award this month.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2020

Domestic matters first. Here's how we got on.

We remain unbeaten still after wins against Vitesse and PEC Zwolle as well as a couple of draws against Sparta in the derby and FC Eindhoven. We also progressed into the Dutch Cup 3rd round after seeing off Be Quick 1887.

We have moved to the top of the tree after a strong month again which really should have been stronger after drawing against sides towards the foot of the table, but top going into November isn't bad at all.

We have some transfer business to bring you too as we saw 2 outgoings deals confirmed this month.

Justin Biljow is a young keeper who unfortunately isn't going to make the grade so instead of offering him a new deal to sit on the bench for eternity he's going to get some much needed first team football in Greece with Atromitos. QPR fans will remember Nasser El Khayati, well he's on his way too, he'll be joining Rapid Vienna in Austria in January. We'll receive approximately £2.4m for the 2 deals, possibly rising to £4m depending on the El Khayati deal.

Just the one game this month to bring you.

We faced the mighty PSG and while we didn't play badly, we're a long way off that kind of quality. A 2-0 away defeat isn't the worst we could have hoped for, but we're going to find it very difficult to progress now.

That's because the only side we have beaten were Barcelona, albeit a fantastic achievement, it was at home, so we really need a couple of big performances against PSG and Sporting at De Kiup if we're going to stand any chance.

Olexandr Zinchenko is my player of the month. He's really starting to show why Man City paid such a handsome fee for him when he was just 17, he's really sky rocketed into becoming on of our most crucial players on the right wing, as well as filling in at left back when Aldrete got injured early on in the season.

[danmcconnell1]

November 2020

With the nights drawing in, we head into November with a sense of confidence that we can continue our good start to the season.

Just the 3 league matches this month. Here's how we got on.

Another month down and the unbeaten record still stands. Wins either side against VVV and Go Ahead with a draw against Heracles sandwiched in between saw us pick up another 7 points from a possible 9.

Those results also saw us stay at the top of the Eredivisie and go 5 points clear of second placed Ajax.

We had arguably out most important month in Europe with 2 huge games at home to PSG and Sporting Lisbon.

Unfortunately for us though, we couldn't capitalize on home advantage and just picked up one point against Sporting after losing again to PSG.

This meant we remained bottom of the group but still had a fighting chance of progressing if we could beat Barcelona thanks to the head to head rule of at least making the Europa League should all go well. The big sticking point was that we will face Barcelona in the Nou Camp which is going to be very difficult.

My player of the month for the second time in a row is Olexandr Zinchenko. He's been even more superb with every match and scored 4 brilliant goals, including a hat-rick against Go Ahead.

[mylescattle]

Great idea and a nice read. Ruudi can't fail!!

[danmcconnell1]

1 hour ago, mylescattle said:

Great idea and a nice read. Ruudi can't fail!!

Cheers mate! Loved him in his playing days

[danmcconnell1]

December 2020

With Christmas upon us once again, we go into the festive month with a big game at the Nou Camp in the Champions League which will decide our European fate this season, as well as busy month domestically before we break for the winter.

As I said, we had a busy month leading up to the festive period.

Without meaning to sound repetitive, we remain unbeaten yet again in league and cup. Draws against ADO Den Haag and AZ began the month slowly but we ended it brilliantly with wins against Utrecht, Willem II and Roda JC, as well as a win against De Graafschap in the cup meaning we're into the quarter finals for the first time in my career.

We stay top of the league, but if Ajax can win their 2 games in hand then they'll be level on points with us, so it's not quite as plain sailing as it may seem, despite us going halfway through the season unbeaten.

As we got on the plane to Catalonia, we knew we had to win in the Nou Camp and beat Barcelona for the second time in this Champions League campaign to stand any chance of going through to the knockout stages or Europa League.

Unfortunately, we didn't manage anything but a feeble teaching in how to play attacking football. A 4-0 defeat in my first trip to the Nou Camp as a manager, hopefully better next time.

We finished bottom of a tough group, but can be proud of the result against Barcelona back in September at De Kuip.

Jens Toornstra is our player of the month for December. Our captain scored 2 outstanding goals this month and has always been a mainstay in the side since I arrived. Long may his fabulous form continue.

One final piece of news this month was that we'd managed to tie academy product and midfield maestro Tonny Vilhena to a new long term deal which also got rid of his £13m foreign club release clause. There was interest in him at the end of the summer window and we'd been trying to get him to sign a new deal since that interest arose so it's a really good piece of news as we head into the second half of the season with just domestic matters to look forward to which is a shame, but hopefully we can keep up our good form and continue the title winning streak as well as get our hands on the Dutch Cup.

[danmcconnell1]

Mid-season Break

After a largely successful first half of the season and a winter break on our hands, I decided to start to look at who we could potentially bring in to improve our side. We will also be playing one friendly to ensure the old legs don't cease up over the break, that'll be at home to German side Stuttgart.

Speaking of that match, we managed to beat the German high flyers by a goal to nil, a late Kike strike giving us the spoils from the friendly.

Now, normally I would wait until the end of January to update on transfer business, but I feel as though the deal we've done deserves almost a post of its' own...

We have absolutely pulled off what I would say the bargain of the century to sign Marcus Rashford from Manchester United. He's not played much this season for them due in part to the form of Alexis Sanchez but mainly due to the signing of Ousmane Dembele. Rashford made just 5 appearances and with his contract coming to an end in the summer was available at a cut price so I pounced. The outgoing deals we did earlier in the season certainly helped get this one over the line, but with Rashford on a very generous contract for our standards, he's still taken a pay cut, which says a lot about the lad and his desire to play regular football.

The deal for Rashford is a new club record, the second time I have broken that particular stat since my arrival but I am more than happy to do so.

Overall, I'm absolutely ecstatic with the deal and cannot wait to let him loose.

[kidthekid]

shame about the UCL but great start with Feyenoord

 

Wow at signing Rashford. This is  a game changer

[danmcconnell1]

13 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

shame about the UCL but great start with Feyenoord

 

Wow at signing Rashford. This is  a game changer

Cheers mate, can't quite believe it if I'm honest. A generous contract but there's still plenty of wiggle room in the budget, over £100k left p/w at the moment so I'm not too worried financially, plus with potential prize money coming at the end of the season I can't see it being too detrimental financially.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2021

After the huge coup of signing Rashford, we had to get back to winning ways in the league as well as trying to win a quarter final against our nearest rivals Sparta.

The month got off to a great start with a late win against Heerenveen and progress into the cup semi with another narrow win against rivals Sparta. Unfortunately, our domestic dominance came to an end with defeat away to PSV.

We remain top of the pile with 13 games to go and a 4 point lead. Ajax have dropped points in both of their games in hand picking just 1 up in total which has really helped us, I hope the PSV result isn't the start of a bad run.

Yassin Ayoub is our player of the month, purely for the fantastic free kick he scored against Heerenveen in our first competitive match following the winter break. His 94th minute goal not only ensured we won the game but gave us great momentum heading into the quarter final.

A quick side note, Rashford has been largely unnoticeable in his 3 appearances so far, I'll certainly be looking for better from him in the coming weeks.

[SixPointer]

Great to see you back in Holland! Rashford for 9 million is great business if he kicks on. Good start to life in Rotterdam. What’s you main aim? Can you see yourself winning the champions league with them? I seen you beat Barcelona so could be there!!

[danmcconnell1]

59 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Great to see you back in Holland! Rashford for 9 million is great business if he kicks on. Good start to life in Rotterdam. What’s you main aim? Can you see yourself winning the champions league with them? I seen you beat Barcelona so could be there!!

Still in shock even today at that signing haha! I want to consolidate the league, really dominate domestically and go as far as possible in the next couple of seasons in the Champions League and who knows where we go from there. To win it would be amazing, even if we ended up in the Europa League to gain knockout experience wouldn't be the end of the world, but ideally, the CL is the ultimate aim.

Thanks for the comment too

[danmcconnell1]

February 2021

With us being out of Europe, domestic matters are all we have to worry about for the rest of this season now.

After losing our unbeaten record at the end of the month to PSV, we needed to ensure got back to winning ways and quickly to ensure the gap at the top stays as big as it can be.

We got off to a decent start to the month with a win against Groningen but lost just our second match of the season in the league to lowly Excelsior, they seem to have become a bogey side for me and this wasn't the best way to prepare for a cup semi-final against them next month, especially after being 2-0 up with 20 minutes remaining, I was not happy at all with that result. We did redeem ourselves though with a win after coming from behind against Roda JC. Rashford scored his first goal for the club after missing a penalty in that match while Ayoub scored yet another late winner for us. Rashford then really turned on the style against rivals Sparta with a sparkling hat-rick, Zinchenko bagging the other to become our top scorer so far this season from wide right.

All this means we stay at the top of the league and as long as we keep on winning the title should be ours. 

Player of the month is the new man Rashford. After a slow start and a confidence crisis following his time at Man Utd so far this season, it could have been very different for him, but his last 2 performances have shown why I was so keen to bring him in. A dazzling hat-rick is hopefully just the start of his Feyenoord career and hopefully he can really kick on from here and have a fantastic 2nd half of the season for me.

[danmcconnell1]

March 2021

After what I would probably say was our poorest month in February, we had to put some more points on the board, but before we could do that, we faced an Excelsior side in the semi final of the Dutch Cup, a side who had beaten us 3-2 in the league last month.

Unfortunately for us, they managed to repeat that same feat again, this time at their stadium and we were dumped out of the cup with a whimper. We then lost handsomely away to Ajax but responded with a 2-2 draw, again away to Vitesse. We rounded off the month with another away match against VVV in which we got our only win of the month thanks to 2 goals from Larsson and Rashford.

The gap at the top has been cut to 5 points but as long as we keep picking up points fairly regularly I'm confident we can retain this title.

Sam Larsson picks up player of the month after 2 goals and putting himself top of the total man of the match awards for the season so far in the Eredivisie. His place was initially under threat due to the arrival of Rashford but he's found his scoring boots and gone upfront leaving Larsson in his preferred position out on the left.

March also means the annual youth intake is upon us, here's the candidates as well as the pick of the bunch Adrian Gulmaelae.

Hopefully with the correct tutoring by the likes of Fosu-Mensah or Luyindama he could become a regular in the side in the not too distant future.

[danmcconnell1]

April 2021

The penultimate month of the season is going to be a busy one with 4 matches in total. Here's how we got on.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect month to come at a more perfect time. 4 wins from 4, maximum points and a brilliant atmosphere around the club again after the bitter disappointment of going out of the Dutch Cup at the semi final stage. Wins against PEC Zwolle, FC Eindhoven and Heracles put us in prime position to lift the title against bottom club Go Ahead in our final match of the month. As we won that, this meant...

… that we were champions of Holland for the 5th season in a row. My biggest achievement in my managerial career so far by a country mile and I couldn't be prouder of this fantastic team.

Marcus Rashford is again my player of the month. He bagged another 2 goals this month and his all round play has been fantastic yet again. He started slowly after his move but has really kicked on in the past few months and become a vital player for us, just as I had expected.

We confirmed some future transfer business in April too, here are the 2 signings who will arrive in the summer.

Marcos Alonso's deal at Chelsea is expiring and with him already announcing his intention to leave pounced. He's a serial set piece master, something we are lacking in the side, so will be looking to him to provide excellent delivery next season.

Also joining us will be Alessandro Murgia from Lazio for £1.8m. A young midfielder who, according to my scouting team, should fit perfectly into the side. I see him as a long term replacement for club captain Jens Toornstra, although he may have a while to wait with Jens being in such brilliant form again this year.

The board have also agreed to invest in the clubs' data analyst facilities, as well as looking into buying De Kuip outright to stop us paying a hefty £3m+ per month rent charge. This would also mean all takings at the gates would remain in the club should the purchase be successful.

And on one final note, just a little jibe.....

Unlucky lads.

[SixPointer]

Fantastic first season in Rotterdam 

[danmcconnell1]

3 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Fantastic first season in Rotterdam 

Cheers @SixPointer appreciate the support very happy and looking to make an assault on the CL next season!

[danmcconnell1]

May 2021

With the title in the bag, we could play without any pressure in our final 2 matches of the season in May knowing that we are already Champions!

And we didn't lose either of those 2 matches. An away draw to AZ was slightly disappointing but the final day win at home really got the party started after goals from Zinchenko and Toornstra from the spot gave us a 2-1 win ahead of lifting the title.

We finished 9 points clear in what turned out to be a comfortable season. We were top from game number 12 and didn't drop from top spot once after that point. A thoroughly deserved title win and hopefully the first of many here at Feyenoord.

Club captain Jens Toornstra was player of the month. He scored the winning goal from the spot in the final match of the season against ADO Den Haag and has generally just been fantastic all season alongside Vilhena in the middle of the park. 2 more dazzling displays this month mean he's player of the month.

Moving swiftly onto the awards for this season, here's who won what.

Toornstra was the overwhelming winner of the fans player of the year award winning 73% of the votes. Fosu-Mensah won goal of the season for his strike back in August v Groningen, a brilliant strike may I add. Jordan Ikoko won signing of the season, the club record fee at the time has been brilliant all year at right back and proved why he should be there ahead of Fosu-Mensah.

Finally, Olexandr Zinchenko won young player of the season and also finished top goal scorer too, overall the best season of his career so far, as well as mine may I add!

[kidthekid]

some great signings. Great work in the league as well.

[danmcconnell1]

10 hours ago, kidthekid said:

some great signings. Great work in the league as well.

Cheers mate! Going through preseason and hopefully update tonight or tomorrow

[danmcconnell1]

Pre-season Update

After the glorious end to last season, we went on a very good break and came back to prepare for the new season as we look to continue our dominance in the league as well as try to make more of a dent in European competition.

My aims for the new season are to of course win the title again, but I really want to make a push to get into the knockout stages of the CL this year, that will be our main focus.

Before we recap our preseason, let's look at some of the news we got at the end of last season.

The club now owns our home stadium of De Kuip. This has created a real feel-good atmosphere around the club knowing we now own our own stadium and we can look forward to reaping the benefits of all proceeds from match days staying within the club now.

I successfully gained my Continental A License and have immediately started work on gaining my Pro License which will increase my growing reputation around Europe and the world.

There was another shock in Champions League as German side Leverkusen managed not only to win the thing, but retain it! I hadn't noticed that they'd won it in the previous season which makes this win an even more significant achievement and rather selfishly gives me hope that an unfancied side can win the Champions League, even in successive years!

Sam Larsson was awarded the Dutch Golden Boot, closely followed by captain Toornstra.

Before we started pre-season, we also received some fantastic co-efficient news. From the 22/23 season, Holland will now have a team in the third qualifying phase of the Champions League instead of the second and still one side in the group stages from the beginning of the campaign. We will also have one guaranteed Europa League group stage spot as well as one spot in each the Second and Third Qualifying Phases.

Moving swiftly on, we did manage to win the Dutch Super Cup again thanks to a Jens Toornstra penalty against Vitesse. Another trophy to add to the cabinet, even if it's not the biggest one.

Here is the rest of the our preseason and we've managed to go unbeaten albeit against largely inferior opposition.

Finally, here is our transfer business up to now. We've not spent a penny more than what we have brought in. I confirmed that Marcos Alonso and Alessandro Murgia would be joining after the deals were confirmed towards the end of last season, but we also managed to bring in keeper Dragowski who spent the season here last year and became our number 1. He was out of contract at Fiorentina and on low wages so thought there was no harm in keeping him around. Nelson Bashir and Ibou Cherif are young prospects brought in by my HOYD. Antonio Sivera is another goalkeeper brought in who I see as an upgrade of Dragowski from PSG. For the fee they wanted for a 3* CA who could rise to 4* I felt as though this was a risk worth taking on this keeper. We made some more defensive improvements with the likes of Danilo and Joao Gamboa coming in from Benfica and Erik Palmer-Brown arriving from Man City. The 2 from Benfica are both defensive midfielders and I feel as though we are definitely well stocked in that area now, if anything possibly too well stocked but for the prices they wanted we couldn't pass up on the opportunities.

We did bring in some funds this summer too. The vast majority of those leaving the club were on loan, but the most significant deals began with the striker Kike leaving the club for just shy of £4m. Andre Hansen was sold too for £1m to Granada. Our biggest outgoing deal was Timothy Fosu-Mensah. He joined Swansea in a deal for £11.5m which could rise to £14m. Emil Hansson also left the club for approximately £775k after spending last season out on loan.

[danmcconnell1]

August 2020

With a successful start to the season already achieved with the Super Cup win, we began the season with 4 matches in August.

And we couldn't have had a better start to the season. 4 matches, 4 wins and a maximum 12 points all coming against Telstar, Excelsior, VVV-Venlo and finally Ajax which was a great win. You may notice we have a goal scorer who has yet to be mentioned, Eddie Nketiah.

We signed him after the match against Telstar and he had a fantastic start with 3 goals in his first 2 matches, in turn he won my player of the month award.

All of this meant we were in a great position after 4 matches.

We have cemented our place at the top of the league again and with a 100% percent record and we are extremely happy with our domestic start to this season.

Now, after this great start, we were excited to see who we will be drawn with in our Champions League group.

Again, after winning the league, it means we progress straight into the group stages and no qualification process for us which is pleasing.

Well, it's pretty clear my rotten luck in European draws has continued. We'll be facing my old club Manchester United, French champions PSG again and Italian sleeping giants who may well be awakening now Inter Milan. I was hoping for a slightly less difficult draw than last season and well, if anything, we have an even more difficult draw. I very much doubt we'll be challenging for the CL knockout phases this year so I think the best we can hope for is 3rd place, but that will be a huge ask in this group.

[danmcconnell1]

September 2021

After our strong start domestically, we hoped we could continue our good form as we begin our European campaign too.

We have had a brilliant start to the season remaining unbeaten domestically. Wins against Willem II and NEC were pleasing but the 0-0 draw against Groningen wasn't the best match in the world. We did get ourselves into the 2nd round of the cup too after a good 2-0 win against Spakenburg.

We remain top of the league after 7 matches and a 3 point lead going into October.

Although we played against 2 of the biggest sides in Europe, we didn't disgrace ourselves and actually got a great point against PSG, which was very pleasing after losing both group matches against them this time last year. The loss away to Man U was of course disappointing but a brilliant atmosphere back at De Kuip really helped us as we came from behind to draw against the French champions.

We are at the foot of the group but with 4 matches to go and a renewed sense of belief after the PSG draw means that in the double header against Inter we are confident that we can perhaps cause an upset.

Eddie Nketiah wins player of the month again as he scored another 5 goals this month, meaning he's scored 8 goals for us already in just 9 appearances.

[kidthekid]

Your attack must be incredible. How do you fit all these guys into your squad?

[danmcconnell1]

2 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Your attack must be incredible. How do you fit all these guys into your squad?

Frankly there is a lot of rotation but Nketiah has picked up an injury so there will be chances for those who aren't playing as much in the near future.

[danmcconnell1]

October 2021

After a god start to the season again, we look to continue our good form back home.

We have had another outstanding month remaining unbeaten with wins against PSV, Heerenveen, we absolutely thrashed our nearest rivals Sparta 8-1 and progressed into the next round of the cup too before ending the month against Vitesse drawing 0-0. 

This all meant that we remained at the top of the league although we are level on points with Utrecht who have had a similarly great start to the season.

We still have a chance of progressing in the Champions League but it's definitely going to be difficult.

Fortunately though, we got ourselves a memorable win at the San Siro, beating Inter Milan by 2 goals to 1. Jens Toornstra was the main man scoring 2 penalties which gave us a vital 3 points.

That fantastic win puts us ahead of PSG in the group and as it stands we are 3rd with 3 games left to play.

Player of the month is Marcus Rashford for his match-winning performance against Heerenveen and scoring 2 as well as assisting 3 in the spanking of Sparta.

[danmcconnell1]

November 2021

Just the 3 matches domestically this month and we remained unbeaten with wins coming against AZ, PEC Zwolle and a goalless draw against ADO Den Haag to round off the month.

Top spot is still ours and now we have a small amount of breathing space so that's a little more pleasing than last month.

In this make or break month we have 2 matches to play and really need to get a result in at least one of those to stand any chance of playing European football in the new year.

Unfortunately for us, we suffered 2 damaging defeats against both Inter Milan and Man U again which has really dented our chances of progression.

We go back to the foot of Group H and have no choice but to win in the Parc De Princes against PSG, which even if we do manage may only result in Europa League qualification, but would in turn knock PSG out of Europe altogether should we manage a win there.

Player of the month is Sam Larsson. He's requested to leave the club after deciding he's achieved all he can with the side and in his defence I hasten to agree with him. He's been great this month though scoring 2 in the league and getting a consolation against Man U in the Champions League so has been our shining light this month. Going back to his decision to want to leave, I think it would be a good thing for him to leave so that we have younger talent coming through into the first team.

[SixPointer]

Tough champions league group! Great start in the league

[danmcconnell1]

16 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Tough champions league group! Great start in the league

One day I might get a more favourable draw.

[MagicHat]

That champions league group was one of the toughest i've ever seen lol Barca, PSG and Sporting.... and then i saw your group this season lmao. Did well winning the league though buddy, see if you can do a bit better in the champions league this season but itll be tough with that group,  thats the only thing when you play in certain leagues u get seeded worse in the CL draws.

[danmcconnell1]

On 16/06/2018 at 15:08, MagicHat said:

That champions league group was one of the toughest i've ever seen lol Barca, PSG and Sporting.... and then i saw your group this season lmao. Did well winning the league though buddy, see if you can do a bit better in the champions league this season but itll be tough with that group,  thats the only thing when you play in certain leagues u get seeded worse in the CL draws.

Yeah had rotten luck in the CL groups, thanks for the sympathy though haha! Even with the 4th seeding, I still think I've had some awful luck haha!

[danmcconnell1]

December 2021

So once again the festive period is upon us and we have a busy month ahead with 7 games in total before the winter break.

We have 6 of those games back home, one of which is a Dutch Cup 3rd round tie.

We started the month well with a win against high flying Utrecht but followed that up immediately with a poor loss against Roda, our first domestic loss of the season. We were then poor again against Telstar and could only manage a 1-1 draw. We squeaked past ADO Den Haag in the 3rd round of the Dutch Cup which was followed by a 2-2 draw with neighbours Excelsior. We then ended the month with a morale boosting win against Twente, thrashing them 5-1.

This meant we had consolidated our place at the top of the league but were still just 3 points ahead of Utrecht after a relatively poor month by our standards.

We would play our final group match of this campaign knowing that anything less than a win would give us a chance of playing European football in the new year, but we would have to PSG and win to stand any chance.

Unfortunately, that was a step too far and again we go out of Europe with in the Champions League group stages. For the second year in a row we were given an almightily tough group so hopefully next season we can get a little bit more luck and not get at least 2 of the big boys in the draw, providing we qualify of course.

Marcus Rashford is my player of the month after scoring 6 in total and having an absolute stormer. He scored the only goal in the 3rd round cup tie which was important as we try to win that trophy for the first time under my stewardship too which really pleased me, as well as scoring a couple of braces in a row against Excelsior and Twente. He's definitely become a vital player for me in his first year here at Feyenoord and long may it continue.

[danmcconnell1]

January 2022

A new year brings a new sense of optimism that we can go on and win our 6th Dutch title in a row as well as trying to win the cup we so desperately want too!

The winter break was extended into the new year and we played one friendly match away in Gdansk before resuming league matters.

That friendly match ended in a 1-1 draw with Lechia. We played a lot of the second string side in a match that was purely designed to keep fitness up ahead of the second half of the season.

Moving on we managed a win against Ajax, a thumping trouncing of city rivals Sparta again in the cup by 5 goals to nil which secured out progression into the semi finals. We ended the month very pooly with a shocking 2-0 defeat away to VVV which was very displeasing.

We remain at the top of the league but PSV have clawed back to level points with us meaning we mustn't let the defeat against VVV effect our morale going into the next month.

Tonny Vilhena wins player of the month for January. His scorching volley against Sparta was enough to win any game but gave us a 3-0 lead at the time and frankly he's been the best performer by a country mile this month.

Now, January of course means the transfer window and we did do some business. I have highlighted the first incoming and outgoing of the window on either side, anything below that was also done in January.

We did most of our outgoing business before deadline day. Sam Larsson was making noises about achieving all he could at the club so when Burnley offered a potential £13m (addons included) I accepted and he was on his way. We also said goodbye to Calvert-Lewin, Berghuis and Ayoub in this window, altogether bringing in a handsome £27m immediately and the potential to rise to over £30m in the coming seasons. We let a few others go out on loan too but we expect those back next season.

Incoming we have Federico Valverde. Now we do have a lot of defensive midfielders and are possibly bloated in that position now, but I couldn't pass up on a deal as cheap as this for a player of his quality. Mahan Mahdavi is another young prospect from Iranian football who has a 2.5 CA rating already and for the price, again, I couldn't pass up on such a bargain. Lucas Ocampos' contract was running out in the summer so due to the departures of a lot of wide men in this window I felt it necessary to bring in a younger, cheaper alternative who still has plenty to offer at 27. Next in was a youngster, Maxim Gullit. I don't believe he's any relation to Ruud but he looks decent, my HOYD brought him in. Finally we had two deadline day loan deals to shout about. Giorgio Chiellini is retiring in the summer but had joined us on loan from Man U until the end of the season to provide vital experience in a title run in as well as possibly becoming our best centre back at the same time. Also, we decided to bring Nicolai Jorgensen back to the club for a short loan deal from Wolves. Again, due to the departures in the wide positions we were left a little bit short so felt we needed just some extra cover there.

Finally, I brought a couple of lads back from their loan deals early to help cover the wide positions. Toure and Summerville will be in and around the first team as they both look to become long term replacements/squad players.

[danmcconnell1]

February 2022

After a relatively poor January by our standards, we really needed to pick things up in February to really ensure we don't lose grip of top spot.

Unfortunately, February was an absolute disaster of a month and we could only manage 1 win in 5 matches. The month began with consecutive goalless draws against Willem II and Groningen and was the followed by successive defeats against Twente and PSV. We ended the month with a much needed win against NEC.

All of this meant we'd dropped to second with 8 games to go. Luckily, our near neighbours Excelsior did us a huge favour and beat PSV in their last match which has kept us within touching distance but we're going to need them to drop more points if we're to stand any chance of retaining the title.

Eddie wins player of the month after scoring 2 goals since his return from a 4 month injury lay off due to a broken foot.