I wonder if his skills will rub off on Aron! Do you expect Marco to be able to lift Aron to a higher level as a striker?
There is possibly an interesting confrontation looming, as AZ can face Heerenveen in the play off for a Euro league spot!
Dutch side Willem II, that promoted to the Eredivisie next season has 2 players on loan of AZ, Ruud Boymans and Jonas Heyman. Both hinted on their wish to stay there, but Earnest is very clear about that: No way, both are coming back". Boymans is an interesting one, as he is a striker. Avdic seriously disappointed when he was called upon to take over Aron's place up front, so perhaps Earnest wants to have more options in the attack then he has now.
Earnest has to play the mediator as a result of the signing of San Marco. He arranged a talk to be held between Marco and AZ player Jeffrey Gouweleeuw. Both got into a conflict when JG played under MvB at Heerenveen. JG was benched and he didnot like that, so he went off to AZ.
The new General Manager of AZ is a bloke who once played baseball in the USA for 9 years, 46 year old Robert Eenhoorn. One of the clubs he played for were the NY Yankees.
Eenhoorn. Proof that unicorns are real and alive. Robert's last name does mean Unicorn in Dutch, correct??
A backup/ utility player with the Yankees and the Angels. 37 career hits. Neglected in the discussion of the Dutch baseball players is a guy who's actually in the Hall of Fame.
Yep, and the beauty of this appointment is that he is a diehard Feyenoord fan. He even is present in a movie about Feyenoord fans: "the otherside of the heart is white" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3476372/
Stormy weather for good old Earnie. He is being criticized for the handling of the soap around van Basten's departure as head coach of AZ and the sacking of Alex Pastoor. The tranquil environment of AZ is being stirred.
In today's AD Sportwereld in an interview with incoming (first of October) General Manager Robert Eenhoorn he was being asked "What do you think of the enormous publicity that (=the conflicts and developments around Pastoor and Van Basten) goes with it" His answer:"When judge that to the Dutch baseball environment, you really think...omg..But compared to Amercan baseball.." AD: "..it's not that big?" Eenhoorn: "When you opened the locker room door at the NY Yankees, you were overrun by reporters. every day..and also half an hour before the match. And then you know too, if something is going on later on, something is going to break loose. But when you ask me if I was startled by the publicity of the last few weeks..then I say no. When you have a labour conflict with some one that worked here, that person will have an opinion about that. In soccer it is somewhat blurred." AD: "What do you mean?" Eenhoorn: " In baseball things are clear. When you leak something, you are a pussy and that's about the worst thing you can be... If it is about yourself you can say everything you want. Is it about someone else it is either positive or you say nothing"
Earnie found a new head coach......van de Brom, former coach of Anderlecht. .....and AZ managed to win against ADO Den Haag away 2-3, with goals from Poulsen (a glorious goal), Johansson and Gudelj.
I hear rumours that Earnie costed AZ 4 millions Euro's, because he didnot want to sell Gudelj to a club that wanted to buy him in the summer. In the contract of Gudelj there is a clause that limited his transfer fee this season to 10 millions. Next season his limited fee had been set to 6 millions. Gudelj is playing so good that he is expected to be out to a better club than AZ, as this 6 millions is a laugh for the qualities he has. So not a good decision for AZ from dear Earnie.
Depends on how far they can go. I hope the whole stretch. http://fusion.net/story/67548/why-feyenoord-has-so-many-players-at-the-world-cup/ I found this interesting article and the most interesting part is highlighted by me: Bayern Munich is synonymous with the German national team, contributing seven of its current players to Die Mannschaft. The Spanish squad had eight players that came through Barcelona’s famed youth academy, La Masia. Juventus, the Italian giants, contributed six players to Italy. And five Liverpool players came to the World Cup with England. Each of these clubs are among the biggest in the world, but there is a smaller club in a country with a smaller league that has helped its country’s national team make some very loud noise in this tournament. It is usually overshadowed by boldface perennial Champions League contenders, but Feyenoord is holding its own in one category: fielding more than a usual share of international players this summer. Feyenoord is the Eredivisie’s second biggest club, but it is dwarfed by four-time European champion and 33-time league champion Ajax. Unless you are intimately familiar with Dutch football, it will likely come as a surprise, therefore, to learn that it is Feyenoord, not Ajax, that has contributed the most players to the Netherlands’ World Cup squad. There are five current Feyenoord players on Dutch squad, and none of them is older than 24: Jordie Clasie, Bruno Martins Indi, Terence Kongolo, Daryl Janmaat, and Stefan de Vrij. Four more Dutch national team members came up through the Feyenoord academy, played with the first team, and have since moved on to other clubs: Norwich City’s Leroy Fer, PSV captain Georginio Wijnaldum (who, at age 16, became the youngest player to feature for the Feyenoord first team), Villarreal’s Jonathan de Guzmán (who is on loan with Swansea City), and Oranje captain and Manchester United striker Robin van Persie. Another two, Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa’s captain) and Dirk Kuyt, also spent time with Feyenoord early in their careers. All told, eleven members, nearly half of the 23 members of the Netherlands’ World Cup squad, either came up through Feyenoord’s youth academy or spent a significant amount of time at the club in the early stages of their professional careers. Ajax, on the other hand, can count only six. Ajax has an edge over Feyenoord in terms of total World Cup participants—three Belgian players, two Uruguayans (including Luis Suárez), and a Cameroonian who played for the Amsterdam club at one point—but Feyenoord currently rules supreme among Dutch players. What is it about Feyenoord that enables it to produce so many talented young Dutch players? Quite simply, its youth academy is a talent factory. Feyenoord’s academy was just voted the best in the Netherlands for the fifth consecutive year by the Coaches Betaald Voetbal (Dutch football coach’s association). It appears that much of the credit is owed to Stanley Brard, the former head of the academy who left in April 2013. Brard left an excellent foundation in place for Damien Hertog (the head of youth development) and Rob Kurvers (academy manager) to continue developing elite young players. Of all the clubs that compete in the top eight UEFA ranked domestic leagues, Feyenoord’s youth academy has the fifth-most players playing professionally in Europe (behind Ajax, Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, and Real Madrid). In fact, of the 13 clubs whose youth academies have trained the most players currently playing professionally in Europe, five are Eredivisie clubs. In addition to Feyenoord and Ajax, players who come through the academies at Twente, PSV, and Heerenveen are all extremely well prepared to make a career in football. So this article claims one of the smallest Euro leagues has about 50% of the clubs responsible for the development of the players playing for the silver ware. By the way, this season AJ’s AZ has stolen the crown of the best Academy from Feyenoord. Earnest Stewart smile was as big as a barn door wheb he talked about it. Dam it, took our spot in the Euro League and our Jewel for 5 years in a row too
Oh, just when AZ is moving into new training grounds in Zaandam, some 5 minutes walk from where I lived, I moved to Rotterdam. For you YA followers that's a pity, because I could have had a daily message from Aron to his thread readers from the training pitch.....alas. So the Illinois connection should deliver a talent (or two) for our Academy and in 2 years into our Ateam so that I can give a regular insight from talks with the Feyenoord YA.
Best Youth Academy part I: Earnest Stewart Published on june 5th 2015, 15:00:00 Alkmaar – AZ won in May the Rinus Michels Award for the best Youth Academy of the Netherlands. In a 6 part sequence on AZ.nl the main characters explain this success. Manager Football Affairs: Earnest Stewart:”Know what is needed” Is AZ the rightful winner of the “Rinus Michels Award”? “We won this election by the votes of all in the end responsible of all youth academies of the Netherlands. Those are the absolute experts of the trade. A logic reasoning: that we won is justified. Why did AZ win this prize? “It becomes more and more known: when you want to become a professional soccer player, you have to be at AZ. With us talents get individual attention and chances. Players all differ from each other, for instance on physical and mental traits. So you cannot treat them as one. It is all about tailor made approach. Beside youth coaches we have a large number of specialists contracted, from school education experts to top sport minders. Our talents are being coached continually and mirrored, in order to make them develop optimal. In that we are ahead.” “Why is it that more and more of the own youth are braking through into the first team?” “In the old situationwith an owner it wasnot eyecatching, but donot forget that in that time guys like Marko Vejinovic, Jeremain Lens and Ron Vlaar came in from our youth. Not the least for sure. Because of the financial head room in that period the choice was faster for a buy, instead of having patience with the youth. After the demise of DSB (bank as a sponsor went bust- FS) a new policy was layed out. We wanted to make AZ financially sound and in the future with a recognizable eleven keep challenging the Dutch top. Our Youth Academy had to become our aorta. Educate players, make them break through, get success with them and in the end sell them on.In that way we can make AZ continue to grow. The success of that policy is now also becoming clear to the wider audience.” “The award was won on the outdated Sportcomplex ‘t Lood. Than AZ just cannot fail the title next year on the brand new AFAS Trainingcomplex.” “Let’s not rush things. We all know that staying on top is a hard and tough thing to do. We even have to work harder to stay successful. The arrival of our new compound is a good step. Our talents later can utilize the most advanced facilities and equipment, thanks also to AFAS and our new outfit partner “Under Armour”. The new compound later has to radiate also: if you are a talented young soccer player, head for AZ. With us you genuinely are being made better.” “Does AZ become the club where most Dutch talents break through?” “That’s absolutely our ambition. The competition on the other hand is huge. At the moment all our youth teams are competing fully with the Dutch top. That for sure isnot going to change the next ten years. We know what is needed to be successful. It is important that the talents present get their chances. With coach John van den Brom we currently have a coach with the gts to bring in those youth players. You see how that worked. We secured qualification for European football, with a team in which our own talents like Wesley Hoedt, Derrick Luckassen, Ridgeciano Haps, Thom Haye and Dabney dos Santos play an important role. The next generation is also already trampling. Think for instance about the kids of AZ U19, who almost became champion and played the cup final. In the end we all go for that one target: play for the silver ware with a first team mainly consisting of self educated players.” I will post this in a thread dedicated to youth development too, with the question if the readers are interested in the other parts too.