2008: disaster year for Feyenoord

In the most recent Feyenoord Magazine, general manager Eric Gudde calls 2008 a beautiful year… This sounds bizar, alright, but he is purely refering to 2008′ celebrations (Feyenoord’s 100rd year).

In Feyenoord’s own glossy magazine, the sports dramas are being avoided. And since I’m not totally objective, I will also highlight a number of positives of this year.

Let’s start with a positive statistic: since the start of pro football in Holland, Feyenoord never lost to NAC Breda at home. There you go…

2008 statistics for the Stadium Club from Rotterdam:

Feyenoord lost 15 games in the ERedivisie. A negative high, never before did the Red/White army lose that many games in the competition. Till now, 1989 was the ultimate low, when Feyenoord lost 14 games.

In total, Feyenoord lost 25 games overall. Five of the six European games ended in defeat. They lost against PSV for the Johan Cruyff cup and Feyenoord lost four friendlies against Real Mallorca, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund and Celtic. In August, they even lost 2-1 against amateur club Barendrecht.

A positive record: Feyenoord hosted an average of 44.108 fans in 2008 in De Kuip. It emphasizes the loyalty of the Feyenoord Legion. In the worst year ever, the most fans ever come to witness it.

Feyenoord had 18 wins in 2008, of which six in the National Cup tournament. Bert van Marwijk cheered eleven times, Gertjan Verbeek only seven of his 25 official games. No coach in the history of the club performed so poorly, not even Gunder Bengtsson in the 1980s. The infamous Swede only won 8 of his 25 games.

One real highpoint: Feyenoord won the National Cup in their centennial year, defeating Roda JC 2-0.

Feyenoord had to miss 12 players against NAC on Boxing Day. Another record. Verbeek would be able to form a good starting eleven with

Henk Timmer,
Bahia – - Hofland – Vlaar – De Cler
– Landzaat – El Ahmadi
De Guzman Tomasson Bruins
——Vincken

Feyenoord conceded 69 goals and scored 78 times. Two big wins (Deurne: 0-4 and Volendam 5-0) help these statistics in Feyenoord’s advantage…

In 1988 Feyenoord lost five times in a row. In 2008, Verbeek’s men lost four times in a row, against De Graafschap, AZ, Lech Poznan and PSV.