This is something I've been meaning to ask, given that the Dutch league is generally a fairly popular one with Aussie players. I know it's a little preemptive, but is AZ going to be big enough to hang onto its team at the end of the year, or will they go like most small(er) clubs who have a successful season and be stripped? I don't know much about Dutch football outside the top 3 teams.
I think AZ have a chance. They're currently building a new stadium I think, and they've been fairly consistent contenders over the past couple of years, plus their fanbase could potentially be big. Clubs typically get financial problems after building a new stadium though, I'm hoping that won't happen to AZ.
I think it would only be considered a big four if they actually manage to win the league at least once (and then of course contending for it in the following seasons) instead of only being able to hang in the top region like they're doing so far and last season. Heerenveen and Willem II managed to get a 3rd (2nd?) spot in past seasons, wouldn't and didn't consider them part of a big 4. This of course doesn't make AZ's performance any less good.
i dont really know, but the bold part is true and something i wish for. with a good showing this year, that new stadium could cement them towards the top in future years.
We have about 8000 fans each match (almost sold out as there can only be 8400 people in our stadium). The building of our new stadium will hopefully start very soon (if there eon't be new protests of a few stupid shop-owners which are stalling it for many years already). That new stadium will have 13500 seats, and can be extended later to about 20000 if needed. We really need the new stadium and the money it brings to really have a chance to get inside the top 4 consistently. I don't think we can really become one of the topclubs, as they have much more fans and income. But I think we can keep inside the top 5 with sometimes maybe 2nd or 3th in the future.
Having another top performer in the eredivisie would be excellent. That it is a team located in Alkmaar and/or Heerenveen makes it even better - it is nice to get people that are more North than Amsterdam to cheer about a local team. I think AZ was quite strong in the late 70s and early 80s. Then they sort of disappeared: perhaps this was because there was a resurgence of the relative strength of the big 3 clubs. Let's hope that doesn't happen: as much as I love to see Ajax take titles, it would definitely add some flair and flavor if Heerenveen or AZ won the title
The real question is can AZ compete financially with the other big 3, to make it a big 4? They certainly are looking good now, and with a new stadium on the way things should be good, with Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord's budget so high, can AZ keep up without going into mass debt? I hope they can, then maybe Forza AZ will gain some friends on this board.
But where are they in relation to Feyenoord (who has the 3rd biggest budget, right?). I can't imagine they are even close to Feyenoord and that's not even talking about PSV and Ajax.
Its true that AZ won't be considered a top club until they can win a title and compete for the title every year. But I think Co has done an outstanding job with AZ, and Landzaat has been amazing as well. And despite their success I think they are going to be relieved of their good players by richer clubs at the end of the season.
I think Heerenveen is 4th in budgets. b.t.w. AZ got a "yellow card" from the Dutch football association earlier this month for going 375,000 euro over their budget. These are the "unofficial" budgets:
Wow, excellent stuff johan derksen, where did Feyenoord get all their money? I thought they were behind PSV in terms of budgets. And from what I see until a 4th club's budget gets a lot closer to the one of the big 3's budget, they are always going to be on the outside (of course if the win the title that will change my opinion).
Didn't we all think we had found our 4th club when Vitesse was rocking a couple of years ago? It all comes down to finance always has always will So, unless Az can sell some players for millions AND at the same time stay a good competitor i doubt they will be here to stay.
Ajax, PSV and feyenoord's budget probably aren't that far apart. Ajax and PSv are both in the low-middle 50 million figure. feyenoord are estimated at somewhere very close to 50 million. I believe AZ has a 16million euro budget and is closely followed by Heerenveen. But it might also be the other way around. feyenoord, more than other clubs, is an estimate. They've been very secretive about such numbers and the last few years people who've done some research in feyenoord (and jorien vd herik, the chairman)'s finances believe that feyenoord has a lot more money than they'd like people to think. IIRC they sold more merchancise in the NL than Ajax or PSV did last year.
And I gotta give it to them, their away jerseys this year are really stylin'. Almost made me buy one... wait a minute... let me correct that.
Seriously, that baby-blue away shirt is the ugliest football shirt I've seen since... well, since Feyenoord's pink keeper shirt
to each his own I guess. But I agree with you on one thing - pink keeper shirts are ugly. I just remember seeing Peruzzi wearing one for Juventus. I can just imagine what was going through his head at the moment when he found out that he would be wearing pink for a whole season...
Whether or not AZ are there to stay will depend on their multimillionaire maecenas. AZ also had a good run with Van Hanegem as coach, but when, kut hoe heet die gozer ook alweer!, anyway when there were some problems and he threatened to back out AZ crashed. Feyenoord and Ajax have a large local fanbase, they are situated in the 2 biggest cities of Holland, they both have an impressive (inter)national trophy history and they are wellknown throughout Europe. So for them it is less difficult to find sponsors and a steady revenue (through merchandise). PSV managed to push themselves into the top of Holland, because of the stable and constant backing of Philips Electronics. So yeah, if that gozer doesn't go broke and keep on backing AZ sufficiently AZ might be able to become a consistent topteam, although I doubt that very much, considering their location and the size of their town. Vitesse tried to do this, through the backing of a semi-government company and the unsavoury dealings of its chairman, which eventually lead to local taxpayers coughing up for the losses when the whole cardhouse fell down. Den Haag and Utrecht are in my opinion the only two teams who might have a shot to nestle themselves permanently in the top, if only we got a decent sponsor who would be prepared to do some major capital injection.