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Volendam remain realistic
Eddy Veerman
Telegraaf
Friday 21 November 2008
On the eve of yet another final
autumn pours cold showers over the small fisherman's
town and a firm breeze blows brown leaves around wildly.
But within the walls of the Volendam
stadium peace and realism is preached.
The newcomers are planted firmly
at the bottom of the Eredivisie since day 1.
"But we will make it in the
end," says a determined coach Frans Adelaar a ay
before the game against Roda JC.
"We play at home," he
says in a both cryptic and clear tone.
Once away from the shores of the
IJsselmeer Volendam look sure to be relegated but on
their own artificial turf there have been some results.
Last week Ajax went down in the
KNVB Cup.
"But four days later we went
down 4-0 at Sparta and we as technical staff would have
preferred it the other way around," Adelaar says.
"But that's something you
can not manage. You can not rest players on a day when
we attract a lot of extra people. But the thing was
we got all thumbs up after the game against Ajax and
four days later everybody thinks you worth nothing.
Those four days were a nice illustration of the delirium
of football. Years ago I was in the middle of that with
a lot less experience. Now I refuse to go along with
that opportunism."
Adelaar has been seed-free after
tumultuous times at FC Utrecht, De Graafschap and ADO
Den Haag.
"Turbulent clubs they were,
but it was all very instructive."
After the boisterous and premature
departure at ADO he followed football from the sideline
for a year and was made to look in the mirror.
As a coach under pressure he would
see all kinds of wolves in the forest.
"Because of certain circumstances
I constantly had to look over my shoulder and walk on
the tip of my toes. I don't want that anymore. You'll
be more aware of certain things, also of what the press
think. In hard times you are thinking day and night
about what you might change, you come home full of frustration
and you are a nuisance to your family all weekend. Now
I can shrug it off when I am home. That's also because
things are quiet at the club and they have set realistic
goals from the start."
"We had a difficult start
but the goal then is the goal now: keep one team below
us. At home we have gained confidence in recent weeks,
but away we are unable to enforce anything, haven't
even scored a goal. That's on everybody's mind. Roda
JC have a better squad and are ranked too low but for
us it's a possibility to bring our goal a bit closer.
And we'll be playing at home...
FC Volendam-Roda JC 20h45
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