Football Season Guide

Dordrecht were brilliant last season and made it a second campaign in a row in which they wildly overachieved on the expectations placed on them. What made their third-place finish, coupled with an unbeaten home record all season, was the fact that they had a new manager and a massively different squad at the start of the season but still maintained an excellent level throughout. They eventually came out second best against Willem II in a heartbreaking penalty loss in the play-off and the fans and players must wonder what could have been if they had progressed given that a bearable Telstar side was waiting them in the playoff final and a promotion to the Eredivisie was very much on the cards. Now that opportunity may be gone for a long time as it is hard to sustain these sort of heights and consistency for a club of their size that undergo massive overhauls pretty much every summer. They also have again a new coach as Melvin Boel was lured by the prospect of European football with Cup winners Go Ahead Eagles and jumped ship after that phenomenal campaign last year. in his places comes a famed former player of the national team and a Rotterdam legend in Dirk Kuyt. As for his managerial career so far, the less said the better, having been sacked by ADO Den Haag just three months into the job in 2023 after a terrible start of the season, and then getting relegated with Beerschot in the Belgian top-flight last season. He has a lot to prove and massive shoes to fill at Dordrecht but will hope that some of the cornerstones of the team from last season remain and keep on the same level of performances, and even build on it. That applies mainly to the likes of Yanis M'Bemba, Sem Valk, John Hilton and Joep van Sluijs. That said, losing Davin Haen and Jaden Slory up front and Jari Schuurman in midfield are two huge losses and they will be very hard to replace. The signings so far look positively underwhelming, coming from Swedish and Swiss second division sides, and the one actually established new arrival is Nick Venema, who has played for Utrecht and VVV. As a whole, the squad looks some way off the level of last season's one and it will take quite a few loanees from neighbours Feyenoord to prop them up and make them a more realistic play-off candidate.