The Dutch Dream a FC Groningen Story

[leckuno]

Club Information


Year Founded: 1971

Stadium: Hitachi Capital Mobility Stadion

Capacity: 22,579

Rivals: sc Heerenveen (Van Het Noorden Derby)

Training Facilities: Excellent

Youth Facilities: Great

Media Predication: 8th

So why have I picked FC Groningen?

Well the last one died very quickly and I have been toying with the idea of this save for a while now and its going to be an interesting save. Well one why wouldn't you want to manage a team that Arjen Robben has come out of retirement to play for the team he started his career at. Two - the club is relatively new in football terms with being less that 50 years old. Three - Even with Robben in the squad at 36 it still only has an average age of 23.. Four - The youth facilities are some of the best in Holland with producing the Koeman brothers along with Virgil van Dijk. They were even the club to bring Luiz Suarez to Europe.

We can shake this division up over the next couple of seasons and then make strides in Europe and hopefully we can get some top youth products coming through to help the national team with some more international competitions​

 

[leckuno]

The Squad

Well the squad we have has a lot of strong players in it who have the potential to mix it up in the league but we do have a few weaknesses. We could do with a pretty much a whole new defence as we are seriously lacking there but apart from that we have a good squad. They key player for us this season though is going to be Arjern Robben.

At 36 apart from the physicals he is still going to be a top class player for us. At the moment we only have him until the end of the season but we'll try to keep him and if not we'll sign him to the coaching staff.

In the youth department at the moment there is one key player who is currently out on loan for the season but will come back to the first team at the end of the season. Romano Postema will be key going forward for our chances.

Club Vision

The board don't expect too much of us as we are just expected a top half finish before becoming the best of the rest after that.

Club Finances

The club have a healthy balance which is good going forward as it should mean we will have plenty of money to spend going forward.

Expectations

Well as mentioned above we just need a top half finish this season. We have a decent pot for transfers but if we were to sign anybody some of it would need to be moved to the wages so we can afford them.



​

 

[leckuno]

Friendlies

Well preseason went well and we even managed a great win over A.C Milan. ITs even more impressive given the fact we managed to score 20 goals while only conceding 3 across the 7 games. The Milan game was the only real challenge and we even fell behind after 14 minutes but were the much better team during the 2nd half which won us the game.

Senior Affiliate

With is needing to make up the gap with the big clubs it was important that we do anything we can to close it and so we found a senior affiliate in Benfica who we can utilize over the coming seasons to bring in some quality young players in on loan from.

We bring in one player straight away in the form of Goncalo Ramos who joining on an initial 6 month loan and will become the starting strike for the club.

Off the back of this there have been no further transfers as I am looking to implement a transfer strategy of only signing players under the age of 21 unless they are Dutch then they can be signed at any age.

September

A nice start to the season as we have 2 very winnable games out of our three.​

 

[leckuno]

September

FC Groningen v VVV-Venlo

A great opening game to the season as Patrick Joosten scores a brace on his debut for the club but he was outdone by the veteran of the club with Robben getting on the score sheet on his return to the club.

Feyenoord v FC Groningen

We take the lead twice only for Feyenoord to get it back but the own goal was the turning point of the game before Robben makes a darting run off the wing to put the game to bed with 4 minutes left on the game.

FC Groningen v RKC Waalwijk

Robben is really showing that he's still got it at least at this level as he slots home another penalty before scoring a goal worthy of goal of the season as he makes a run from his own half before scoring.

League

We sit behind Ajax on goal difference but we've got a 100% record and thats all that matters.

October

4 of the easier games in the league so we will look to make the most of them along with the 1st round of the cup so hopefully the draw is favourable for us​

 

[leckuno]

October

Heracles v FC Groningen

Robben!!!! He carries his form over from last month and gets us off to a fast start before its doubled before the half hour.

FC Groningen v Willem II

A great match against an inform team to show how far ahead we are of the rest already.

FC Twente v FC Groningen

Our first dropped points of the campaign. It looked like we were good value for the 3 points but we struggled to get the 3rd goal.

TOTKNVB Beker First Round
FC Groningen v UNA

We fully rotated the squad here to give bit part players a chance. An injury early on meant Robben had to come on and he showed he is the main man at the club getting his first hat-trick of the season. This game prompted me to offer him a new 2 year contract which he accepted. We will now face Ajax in the next round of the competition

PEC Zwolle v FC Groningen

Robben shows his thanks for the new contract with a goal in the 3rd minute. His skill is just too much for the defence here.

League

We still sit just behind Ajax on goal difference as it will be dangerous to let them open up a gap as they'll just run away with it given the chance

November

A very short month and we get our first taste of the Van Het Noorden Derby in the final game of the month​

 

[leckuno]

November

FC Groningen v Fortuna Sittard

What a start to the month as Robben gets us underway yet again. These are the games we need to make sure we keep winning to stay at the top end of the table.

FC Utrecht v FC Groningen

Joosten and Robben showing how important our wingers are as they just keep cutting in to get the goals. Robben is already on 12 goals so far for the season and there is still a long way to go.

FC Groningen v sc Heerenveen

Our first taste of the Van Het Noorden Derby and its our main man again that gets his 13th goal of the season in only the 3rd minute but sadly the get the equalizer and neither team get the breakthrough after that.

League

We sit at the top of the league with a nice 2 point gap. How long will we stay there and can we grow the gap over Ajax.

December

We have a nice mix of games in the league as there are a couple we will look to be winning and then there is PSV to try and overcome. We also have our first game of the season against Ajax in the cup so that will let us see where we are compared to them.
​

 

[leckuno]

December

FC Groningen v ADO Den Haag

Well we were missing 3 of our 4 starting defenders thanks to bans and injuries and it showed as we were 2-0 down by half time and just couldn't recover.

FC Groningen v PSV Eindhoven

PSV showed they are just a class above as they scored early and late on to get the win.

TOTO KNVB Beker Second Round
FC Groningen v Ajax

Our first meeting with Ajax and they were just a lot better than us and we just didn't have an answer for the, I want to say the goal line flattered us as it should of been a lot worse.

Sparta Rotterdam v FC Groningen

The draw was a tough one to take as I really thought we had enough in us to get the 3 points here but sadly we only got a point but it was nice not to lose 4 games in a row.

Vitesse v FC Groningen

Our defence has been costing us as Vitesse went 2-0 up after 33 minutes. We managed a consolation goal at the end but we never really challenged them and it was a fair result.

League

Well after a terrible month we have now dropped down to 4th spot. There are only 3 points between us and 7th so we need to pick it up going forward.

January

Got a few tough games again this month as we're going to have to pull our finger out after last month and start picking up some points again.

Youth Intake Preview

Well apparently we have the chance of a golden generation coming through even though only one player seems to have caught the eye but hopefully he's a good player and makes up for the rest.
​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Also decided to do a long-term save in Holland which I'll start posting about in the next few days... I enjoy having just 34 league games and one cup competition rather than playing up to 60 games a season in England!

 

[leckuno]

Also decided to do a long-term save in Holland which I'll start posting about in the next few days... I enjoy having just 34 league games and one cup competition rather than playing up to 60 games a season in England!

Nice one. I'm looking forward to it. contemplated with going the league below but something kept taking me back to Groningen

 

[Sam91]

Nice start mate and a great link with Benfica!!

 

[leckuno]

January

Transfers Out

So we had 3 players leave the club and they were all third or fourth choice so thought that I may as well cash in on them and also free us the modest wages they were on as well.

Transfers In

So as the club that brought Luis Suarez to Europe we have decided to splash a wee bit on cash on another future Uruguayan star in Matias Arezo . We sign him from River Plate Montevideo for £2.1 million and hopefully we will make a small fortune on him when it comes to selling him.

The only other piece of business we did in the transfer window was signing young Dutch midfielder Dirk Proper from N.E.C for a fee which is probably more than we should of paid but I rate him highly and for £3 million up front and a further £5 million over the next 3 seasons he will hopefully be worth it.

Both players will be going straight into the first team as well as I want to start building the team in a shape I want with young hungry players.

FC Groningen v Ajax

Well I was never confident going into this game but we did ourselves proud and managed to keep it to only 1 goal.

AZ v FC Groningen

Well we finally end our winless streak with a great win and it was badly needed to get some confidence back into the squad.

FC Groningen v FC Emmen

Arezo gets his first goal of the club to get us on our way and will hopefully be his first of many. We leave it late to get the win but we made sure to get the 3rd goal to kill the game off.

FC Groningen v FC Utrecht

This was a hard fought game but we managed to grind out the win and thats all that matters at this point in the season.

sc Heerenveen v FC Groningen

Our second taste of the derby and this time its a goalless draw as we share the spoils for the 2nd time this season.

VVV-Venlo v FC Groningen

Arezo manages to get on the score sheet again with an excellent brace . It was a nervy final 20 minutes though after Venlo got their goal.

League

Well we're now 9 points off the top of the table but still in the hunt for a European spot.

February

3 tough games next month but the other 2 I'll be looking to try and win though.​

 

[leckuno]

February

FC Groningen v Feyenoord

I knew this would be a tough game and we were poor in front of goal and just now able to take our chances

PSV v FC Groningen

What a game. I did not see this result on the cards at all. 3 players got hat-tricks in the game which is a first I've seen but to see Arezo get a 3 minute hat-trick was something special.

FC Groningen v Vitesse

We got off to a great start but Robben's sending off made it difficult for us as we threw away a 2 goal lead.

Ajax v FC Groningen

Well this was more like it against Ajax as they pummelled us in the opening 15 minutes. It looked like we were finding our feet but were just snapping at chances in front of goal before they put the game to bed with the final kick of the ball.

Fortuna Sittard v FC Groningen

It was good to get back to winning ways as we fight back from 1-0 down. Arezo is starting to make a name for himself so it will be a matter of seeing how long we can hold onto him for,

League

Well Ajax are just running away with it and will seal the title next month probably.

March

The months are getting shorter as we get towards the end of the season and to top it off its 3 games we should win.​

 

[leckuno]

March

FC Groningen v PEC Zwolle

Arezo just can't stop scoring just now and he is fast becoming a fan favourite.

FC Groningen v FC Twente

I've got to say we got lucky here as we really struggled in front of goal and only managed 3 shots on target the whole game so just as well we got the penalty early on as I wouldn't of wanted to be chasing the game.

ADO Den Haag v FC Groningen

We were made to work for this as we fell behind in the 1st half before the Robben made an excellent run and slotted past the keeper before Arezo showed him the youngsters can do it as well.

League

Still down in 4th but only 6 points off of 2nd place so who knows what will happen. We now at least have a 3 point gap over 5th spot now.

April

6 games left to go and the game against Willem II will be a test but it would let us go above them if the results before it go our way.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Looking like a decent first season

 

[leckuno]

Looking like a decent first season

I think the second will be tougher than the first as will need a lot of replacements and pretty much a whole new defence

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I think the second will be tougher than the first as will need a lot of replacements and pretty much a whole new defence

Hopefully you'll have the lure of European football to get some decent players into the club.

 

[leckuno]

April

RKC Waalwijk v FC Groningen

It was a tale of two halves here as we went in at half time 1-0 down but after a tough team talk a different team came out and we showed why we are sitting in the top 4.

FC Groningen v Sparta Rotterdam

We fall behind to an early goal again and yet again it takes the hair dryer treatment at half time to get the team to perform how I know they can and Robben and Arezo show just how good they are to get us the 3 points.

Willem II v FC Groningen

A tough result to take as it looked like the 3 points were in the bag with 3 minutes to go but we fell apart right at the end to drop a big 3 points

League

We've climbed up to third now and if we want European football we need to finish here as Twente have taken a Europa League spot after winning the cup.

May

The final 3 games and we have been fortunate that we only have AZ out of the big teams to face.

Youth Intake

Well the youth intake is finally here and I was right not to expect the golden generation but we did get one central midfielder like we were promised and he looks like he might make the first team one day.

Mendes

Mendes looks promising but he's got a lot of work to do on the training grounds to realise his protentional and start to get some first team minutes under his belt.​

 

[leckuno]

May

FC Groningen v Heracles

What a game and it saw Proper score the fastest goal in the clubs history as well to write his name into the history books.

FC Groningen v AZ

We concede early again but goals either side of half time from our 2 main men get us a huge win right at the end of the season when its needed

FC Emmen v FC Groningen

This was a much tougher game than expected but Emmen had nothing to play for and we were fortunate of the own goal to make it look more comfortable than it was

League

We manage to clinch 3rd spot which means that next season we will be playing in the Europa Conference League and any European experience is good and helps put Dutch football back on the map.

Budget

Just over £4.5 million to help strengthen the team. Safe to say we'll be looking for some bargains this summer as we try and grow the team.​

 

[leckuno]

Preseason

We managed to go through preseason undefeated and that even included a win over Red Bull Salzburg as well so it shows we're going in the right direction. The 16-0 result was against an amateur team but it did see Ramos get 5 of the goals.

Transfers

We've had one player leave the club on a permanent transfer and that was Tomas Suslov who chose to join Paderborn for £1.8 million. He did have potential but was too far down the pecking order to get regular game time so we cashed in on him just now.

So with my transfer restrictions of Dutch players or under 21's from other nations the transfer market has been difficult for us and at this point we have made to signings.

The only permanent deal so far we brought Bruno Martins Indi back to Holland from stoke for £1.4 million. At 29 he brings a wealth of experience into our defence.

Next in is Morato on loan from Benfica and again he bolsters our defence which is needed as we are low on numbers there for any real quality.

Expectations

So the board don't expect much of us in the league again thankfully as we only need to record a top half finish which will be easy as I will be looking for the top 4 again if I can. In Europe we just need to be competitive so as long as we make it through some qualifying stages they should be happy but I will be looking to make it into the later stages of the competition if we can.

As you can see we still have £5 million to spend and will be looking to bring more players in f we can before the transfer window closes.

August

This is going to be a busy month if we make it through in Europe against Brondby who we drew with in a friendly which will make the league games a lot harder as there will be a lot of games to fit it.​

 

[leckuno]

August

Transfers

So we made a couple of transfers this month but 2 loans along with 1 permanent. We were looking to reinforce the left back position so we brought in Riccardo Calafiori from Roma for the season and he will be first choice.

Next we needed another midfielder and so we looked to the loan list again and notice ex player Ludovit Reis back for the season from Barcelona and he will link up with Dirk Proper in the middle of the park.

Finally we needed somebody on the wing that can help replace Robben or pay down the left at first and we found an old favourite from previous games and we snap up Adam Hlozek from Sparta Prague for £5 million and he will be key going forward and we will be looking to make a big profit off him if he leaves.

The day after the transfer window closed for us there was a bit of controversy as Brighton bid for Damil Dankerlui and we managed to negotiate to get 10 million and 20% of the profit of the next sale. The only issue is he was the starting RB and no great cover so its a risk but if we rejected it he would of come unsettled so we will be looking for a new RB in January. The issue is now the rest of the squad is annoyed as we lack depth there.

Feyenoord v FC Groningen

The start of the season could of been easier but a respectable draw against Feyenoord.

Europa Conference League
FC Groningen v Brondby IF

Well we drew with them in a friendly so we knew it was going to be a tough set of games but we came out on top and take a small lead but it is a shame we conceded with the last kick of the ball.

FC Groningen v ADO Den Haag

We knew we needed a result here to get our season underway after the first game but this time we set a marker down and Indi gets his first goal for the club.

Europa Conference League
Brondby IF v FC Groningen

So a much easier game here and Robben shows that he's still important to us as he gets an excellent brace.

NAC v FC Groningen

We rotate the squad here a bit and Reis makes his second debut for the club and gets 2 quick fire goals before Postema gets his first goal of the season as well.

Europa Conference League
FC Groningen v Nea Salamina

We keep the same starting XI for this game after how well they did and Pstema repaid the fait with continuing his goal scoring and we're all but through into the group stages.

Willem II v FC Groningen

Hlozek finally makes his debut for the club and what a debut it is.

Europa Conference League
Nea Salamina v FC Groningen

We rotated much of the squad here and they struggled this time but at least the pressure was off and Hlozek wanted to show what he could do again on a larger stage.

League

Well we've had a good start but Ajax are creating the gap early on.

Europa Conference League Group

This could of been an easier group and I want to say 2nd will be the best we can do as Arsenal are going to be tough to beat.

September

Got a bit of a mixed month with big games against Partizan and PSV​