A special bond has developed over the past season between Douglas, Chris David and Rajiv of La Parra. The three Dutch football players ended up at Würzburger Kickers independently of each other and offered each other something to hold on to in what was all in all a difficult year in which the ambitious club was relegated fairly ingloriously from the 2.Bundesliga. Football zone talked to Douglas, David and Van La Parra about their experiences in Germany, the 2.Bundesliga, numerous coach changes, the resulting band and their near future.
By Chris Meijer
Würzburg is a medium-sized city by German standards, in the northeast of Bavaria between Frankfurt and Nürnberg. A university town with a picturesque center, over which the so-called Residenz looks from a hill. Wilhelm Röntgen once discovered X-rays there and Würzburg is considered the heart of the Franconian wine-growing region. However, it may not be the place where you would immediately expect one of the most ambitious clubs in German football. At the beginning of this century, Würzburger Kickers still played at the seventh level, but had to storm the top thanks in part to main sponsor Flyeralarm. The printing company from Würzburg, also involved in the Austrian FC Admira Flyeralarm, brought in Felix Magath as Global Sports Director.
Douglas was one of the no fewer than seventeen reinforcements that Würzburger Kickers brought in a year ago after promotion to the 2.Bundesliga. The 33-year-old center defender – in the past active at FC Twente, Dynamo Moscow, Trabzonspor and Sporting Portugal – had been without a club for two years and in the meantime completed internships at FC Emmen and Go Ahead Eagles, but eventually found shelter in Germany after a successful trial period. “It was tough,” says Douglas, whose last official match due to a doping suspension was in January 2017. “But I was lucky that I had attended the last training camp and was able to play a number of practice matches there. The first three to five games after such a long time were very tough. I might have expected a little more football in the competition, you see that clubs mainly play very physically. That is just different from Dutch football.”
Did Chris’ arrival in October make it easier for you?
Douglas: “When I got there, Eric Verstappen was already there. He helped me a lot in the beginning.”
Eric Verstappen was indeed still there. The Dutch keeper already signed with Würzburger Kickers in January 2019. He still came in as a striker against SV Darmstadt in December, when there were hardly any reserves left due to countless corona infections.
David: “Eric, yes. That was a moment that we will not soon forget. I think you experience that sort of thing once in your career. Some don’t even. That was a different story.”
Douglas: “Yes, all in all it was a special year. I had never experienced such a situation.”
Duo of FC Twente reunited in Germany: ‘We are together every day’
Football Zone spoke to Chris David in October when he chose Würzburger Kickers.
David: “I came there and the trainer (Marco Antwerpen, ed.) still knew me, but I only knew Douglas of the boys. From my Twente time. I trained with the first when I was eighteen, where he played at the time. We hadn’t spoken personally until I joined Würzburger Kickers. He lived in a hotel of the sponsor and I also got a room there. That was easier, because we also had the curfew. We could watch football together in the evenings and came over to talk. That was very important. Otherwise you will be there all alone, without family and friends being able to visit you.”
Rajiv, was it a motivation in your choice for Würzburger Kickers that Chris and Douglas were already there? Before you went from Red Star Belgrade to UD Logroñés in Spain, the necessary clubs from England and the Netherlands were interested. In the end you chose Würzburger Kickers in February.
From La Parra: “That made it a bit easier. I knew what kind of guys Chris and Douglas were, they just proved that in how we got to know each other and how they helped me. It was a good step to go to Würzburger Kickers, also because those guys were there. They have proven their added value and I am very grateful to them for that. In terms of facilities, it was quite a small club. They just got to the second level and wanted to grow from there, but unfortunately they didn’t succeed. It was a warm club, the people were very nice and made us feel good. I’ve had good and bad experiences, but that shapes you and helps you in your further career.”
It has indeed not been a very happy year from a sporting point of view. Würzburger Kickers has been at the bottom for almost the entire year and was already unofficially certain of relegation three games before the end.
From La Parra: “It was not very positive from a sporting point of view. But you also learn from these kinds of things, it gives a certain kind of experience. It was difficult for me anyway, because I came quite late and it took a lot of getting used to. You played a completely different system, with no wingers. I actually already came in with a backlog, so to speak. You try to make the best of it and if you can’t, it’s very disappointing. From a sporting point of view, it was not as it should have been.”
Van La Parra in one of the ten games he played for Würzburger Kickers.
You have had the necessary trainers. Douglas started with Michael Schiele. Then came Marco Antwerp who brought Chris in and only lasted a little over a month. Rajiv came under Bernhard Trares, but he was sacked in April and replaced by the duo of Sebastian Schuppan and Ralf Santelli.
David: “It was not really an easy year. The trainer who made me a contract offer after an internship, wanted to play attacking football. 4-2-3-1, a nice system. However, he was sacked after five games. I was not eligible to play the first three games due to paperwork, but I did play the last two under him. He wanted to calm me down, but unfortunately it stopped early for both of us… Then a new trainer comes, who wants to play a completely different system and football. That doesn’t make it any easier, we’ve had four trainers in total. There were a lot of new players and it takes some time to make a team out of them. You don’t have that much time, especially if you keep changing trainers. He always demands something different from the players.
I personally think sometimes you just have to give a trainer time to make a system work and the guys you have to function. If at some point you get used to each other, after two months someone else comes in and wants to change everything and you have to start all over again, don’t hurry. A change of coach can stand out in both directions, unfortunately that effect has not been favorable for us.”
Has it at times felt like a hopeless year?
David: “Sometimes, yes. Ultimately you have to look at yourself. We lost points in important games. Braunschweig, for example, got two red cards against us, with fifteen or twenty minutes to go. We were still tied then and if you don’t win games like that, it’s going to be difficult. You have to win it to stay in it.”
How did you experience the 2.Bundesliga?
David: “The 2.Bundesliga is different. Certainly not easy. You have a number of teams that are of a high level. Bochum, HSV: those kinds of teams easily go along in the Eredivisie. I think it has been good for our experience to see what it was like in Germany. Actually, I have always looked forward to playing in Germany. There are not many leagues that can match the 2.Bundesliga in terms of intensity and speed.”
From La Parra: “It was a good experience. I just came to play. In the end I was able to play quite a bit. You have four or five teams that play very good football and win their matches easily. The rest of the teams mainly do it on intensity.”
With a total of sixteen appearances, Douglas played the most often of the three for Würzburger Kickers.
Douglas: “Very disciplined and physical.”
From La Parra: “Yes indeed. The five teams that play good football do have an advantage over the rest.”
David: “You can see that a bit in the exhibition games of 2.Bundesliga and 3.Liga teams against Eredivisie clubs. The Dutch clubs then have a very difficult time. It just takes some getting used to because of the intensity.”
How much did you have in each other during the period in Würzburg?
From La Parra: “You couldn’t do much because of corona, so we were together every day. Watching football, talking a lot. Chris also likes walking, so we walked a lot through Würzburg. That was fun too.”
David: “You couldn’t do much, right? We sat there and everything was closed because of corona. I don’t sit in my room all day, so it’s nice to take a walk.”
From La Parra: “We have seen almost all of Würzburg! We had fun, often the weather was nice and it was nice to walk. Have a little chat. Yes, that was nice.”
After the relegation, you, like fifteen other players, left Würzburger Kickers. Did you keep in touch after that?
David: “Douglas and I train daily with a personal trainer, we both live in Enschede. Rajiv lives in Rotterdam, but we keep a close eye on him via social media and also call every day.”
David has a total of seven appearances for Würzburger Kickers to his name.
From La Parra: “Hell yes. The transfer window has started with difficulty due to the European Championship and corona, I think. Clubs are in a bit of a budget cut. A number of big players are still without a club, so that says that it is quite difficult to find a club in these times. Look, we keep ourselves fit. That’s all you can do. We have to wait for something to come and when it does, we have to be ready. That’s all we can do now, and keep faith. I am confident that all three of us can get started somewhere within the next three weeks. It will take a little longer, but you should not lose faith in yourself. It should motivate you to train harder.”
Is a return to the Netherlands an option for you?
David: “I’m personally open to everything, I don’t know how Rajiv and Douglas feel about it.”
From La Parra: “I am certainly open to the Netherlands. My career has been difficult for the past two years (with Red Star Belgrade, Logroñés and Würzburger Kickers, ed.). I have decided for myself to say to myself: I have to go back to basics. And what is the basis? That’s the Netherlands. As a result, I am certainly more open than ever to the Netherlands, if something fun comes along. I’ll have to wait and see until something comes up that interests me. I’ve got offers from Greece and Israel, but those aren’t the countries I want to go to right now. If nothing comes from the Netherlands, I’ll have to think about it. I don’t want to wait too long to get started somewhere, because I want to be there somewhere from the start.”
Douglas: “I have been abroad for the last ten years. That is why I would rather stay in the Netherlands than go abroad again. I am also a bit older than those guys and have my family here too. But we’ll have to wait and see what comes next. I want to play football for at least a few more years, I’m looking forward to it again. It would be very nice if something comes to the Netherlands, I hope so.”
From La Parra: “We can certainly add something to a lot of clubs, if they want to take over all three of us at the same time. Then Chris is the spokesperson.”
David: “They can call me!”
From La Parra: “We have every confidence that he can arrange that.”