Kenneth Perez finds it incomprehensible that dozens of angry NEC fans waited for the players bus on Friday evening after their club’s defeat at Heracles Almelo. The team from Nijmegen took the lead at Erve Asito, but eventually had to bow 2-1. Last week, the team already lost the season opener at home 3-4 against Excelsior.
“NEC lost again yesterday (Friday, ed.), they have a difficult start to the competition,” says Perez ESPN. The Danish analyst finds it strange that the Nijmegen selection was already awaited by fans of the club after two rounds of play. “What are we doing? How crazy is this? It’s insane.”
“Will those people who do something like this go home with a good feeling and think: well, I helped my club with this,” Perez continues. “I understand that you are frustrated and annoyed by such a defeat, but think about what you are doing.” According to The Gelderlander it was about a group of about fifty fans who gathered after midnight at stadium De Goffert to start the conversation.
Lasse Schöne and Bram Nuytinck took the floor and technical director Carlos Aalbers also spoke to the group of supporters. The latter provided text and explanation about the purchasing policy. However, it was Rogier Meijer who suffered the most from the fans. The supporters demanded the departure of the head coach of NEC, but both Schöne and Nuytinck stood up for their coach. Meijer himself also showed up briefly, but did not talk to the fans. The supporters who traveled along showed their dissatisfaction on Friday evening by singing ‘Meijer fuck off’ and ‘shame on you’ from the branch. There were also throwaway gestures and whistles.
Reaction Wilco van Schaik
NEC general manager Wilco van Schaik understands the emotions of the fans. “It had been years since something like this happened. Now we have experienced that again,” he said in conversation with ESPN. “It’s part of the club we’ve become. We want so badly, but I always say: ‘We also have growth spurts, up and down.’ It is part of it. It indicates that some of our fans are high. That is also allowed. “
Fan frustration has been around for some time and goes back to the end of last season, when NEC took five points from their last eight games. “Football is emotion and that can really be expressed at times,” Van Schaik continued. “Yesterday it was done in a normal and neat atmosphere. This is society after all and is also part of a football company when things go wrong. As long as there is no aggression or scuffle and normal wording is used, there is always room for the dialogue.”