Feyenoord icons Jan Boskamp and Rinus Israël do not have a good word for part of the supporters. General manager Mark Koevermans announced this week that he is stepping down due to a series of threats. According to Boskamp, it concerns ‘a few crazy people’ who ‘discard’ the club. “You’re out of your mind if you do that,” Israel adds.
Koevermans succeeded Jan de Jong as general manager two years ago. Last month, he faced threats that affected him and his family. At night, the windows were smashed and his front door defaced. Presumably this was done by members of the hard core of the club. Plans for the departure from De Kuip and the move to a new stadium have been causing unrest among the supporters of the Rotterdammers for a long time. “Look, that you think Feyenoord is a great club, that’s great. But you have to leave it at that,” says Israel in conversation with football zone. “You can’t harass people, smash windows. It doesn’t fit and it shouldn’t. That is antisocial.”
“You have a few crazy people who make that happen,” responds former football player Boskamp. “But they forget one thing: they do throw the club away. This is already the third CEO to leave in five years. Then you have no stability and everyone is complaining again. Then we’ll sort it out and then you’ll get this again. By… How many are there? I don’t know how many people it is.” Boskamp understands Koevermans’ decision to resign from his duties as Feyenoord director from 1 December. “When your family is threatened, it’s not hard to make a choice.”
“That this is possible today. But at Feyenoord it is almost structural,” says Valentijn Driessen. “Because if you go down the list: Onno Jacobs, Jorien van den Herik, Eric Gudde and Chris Woerts have all had to deal with it. That hinders the growth of this club. Only very few people who make those threats just don’t realize it.” Israel calls the situation ‘very bad’ for Feyenoord. “It’s bad for your reputation and your name. You’re out of your mind if you do that.”
“A solution has to be found,” says Driessen. “That is very difficult. I think the most important thing is that Feyenoord should be the boss in their own house. It cannot be that you have played four or five European matches and that you have been fined 125,000 euros by UEFA? Because the supporters are not behaving. I don’t call these supporters, they are of course just hooligans who somehow come in anyway.” Some of the supporters do not want to leave De Kuip and do not see a new stadium. Boskamp thinks otherwise. “I never hear anyone say: What is the best for Feyenoord? Is De Kuip the best, or the new stadium? If I hear and read that you will have thirty or forty million more in turnover, then I will go to the new stadium,” said Boskamp.