Football Season Guide

Heracles had a pretty miserable season last year in which they never really got going and struggled at the foot of the table throughout. A record of a single league win from November until the end of the season speaks for itself as the Almelo side were just nowhere near the level required and ultimately deserve to go down. The last time they were relegated, the Black and Whites torpedoed themselves back into the Eredivisie without leaving any doubt about their strength and quality but now things are certainly looking trickier ahead of the new season. The young manager Vincent Heilmann, who has no real experience as a first team manager after being appointed back in March, will need to get the squad focused and working towards a common goal. Yet he has to accept the loss of most of the key players from last season as very little of the starting 11 that featured mostly in the top-flight is still around. Ajdin Hurstic is the big loss in midfield while Jan Zamburek, Ivan Mesic and Alec van Hoorenbeeck are substantial losses as well. More worrying seems to be with whom they have been replaced as most of the new additions are players coming from the second or third divisions in Germany and Spain without any major pedigree. Some of them may prove to be hits but the chances of that happening are pretty slender and on first sight this squad looks very short of the standard required. Young coach Heilmann will need to work his magic to make this a serious contender for the play-offs and it may well be a season of downsizing and realism for the local fans. That said, players like Jeff Reinde-Adelaide, Mario Engels and Luka Kulenovic up front, and Mike te Wierik and Djevencio van der Kunst at the back, provide some sort of a baseline quality and experience for this level and if they remain with the team post the transfer window, this is still a side that should be good enough for the play-offs.