Dissatisfaction among Feyenoord supporters is increasing now that the club is in difficult sporting times. Immediately after the winter break, the Rotterdam team proved unable to solve the structural problems within the team. As a result, the position of trainer Robin van Persie is increasingly being discussed.
Robert Maaskant sees that sentiment is also slowly changing in the media. According to him, support for Van Persie is crumbling, both externally and internally. ”In principle, he has always had support from the national media. He brought the Legion with him. It’s starting to disappear on all sides. Only when you hear the sounds from internally that they all connect together bullshitthen it becomes a problem. If you do not put your finger on the sore spot internally at Feyenoord after this series of matches and cannot say very clearly: this is what is going on and that is where we are going. Instead it says: we’re not doing that bad. If you start saying things like that to each other in a room, it becomes a committee of mutual self-aggrandizement.”
Mikos Gouka has heard that there is a critical evaluation within Feyenoord, but does not expect any firm conclusions in the short term. ”I hear internally that there are some shifts, because it is impossible to say that things are going well now. But what remains above water is that they hope and pray that the Van Persie project will succeed. That has to do with the fact that they are also the ones who appointed him. Also with the fact that it is a young trainer who they hope, at the club where he grew up, will stay above water. You can try to maintain that for a long time, but there are reasons to break now that the results are not being achieved.”
Dennis Kranenburg notices that there is increasing pressure from the public on the media to be more critical. ”We also notice it in the messages we receive, it is never critical enough. More work needs to be done.” Gouka recognizes that, but declines FC Rijnmond on the role of journalists. ”We also receive those messages, but I am not there to fire a trainer. Van Persie is about his own answers. Supporters prefer you to shout: can’t you leave? But that is not our job at all. We have to see how the team is developing and we ask substantive questions about that. Whether Van Persie will be there for another year or ten years, I don’t care at all.”
Kranenburg indicates that he mainly wants to talk to general and technical director Dennis te Kloese. ”The training camp had been a nice moment, but he was not in Spain. The New Year’s reception is next week and there he is. Hopefully we can speak to him there.” Gouka expects few concrete answers there. ”After the transfer window he will sit down, but the situation is now such that you actually want to hear him sooner. It doesn’t solve anything to send the technical and general director away. With a trainer you focus on the direct result, but with a director that is not the case.”
Maaskant does not want to participate in speculation about a possible successor to Robin van Persie. ”I would feel very strongly about saying against all currents: in Robin van Persie we have a club man, someone who has grown up with us. We clearly opted for someone who is still learning as a coach. We are extending his contract, because this is our man for the next five years who will make Feyenoord great again. Then we don’t have to look back to Slot’s period anymore. That’s different player material, different coach. You shouldn’t put everything on that yardstick. If Van Persie’s working method is good and if the players are satisfied. Only if there is unrest among the players, then it will be a different story. Until then, let Van Persie be the trainer and maybe he is the perfect man for Feyenoord.”
