New season ahoy! The Retirement Academy have gone through 9 indifferent seasons but are now the holders of the European Super Cup and the Cup Winners Cup. Twice actually. We finished 3rd once but have mostly been loitering around 5th and 6th. This year…could be our year.
I can’t remember if I told you or not but the stadium was upgraded at some point and we now have 25,737 seats in there. Lucky fans.
Naturally we are the favourites for the Cup Winners Cup but I’ve noticed Juventus in the mix. My focus is on breaking into that top two, it has to be.
The Pints Cup is always a laugh but our group include a fellow top division side alongside a second tier team and a non-league side. Tricky.
Onto signings then and Gilles De Bilde signs (he’ll be 35 by the time the season starts) – can he fix it?
Serge-Alain also signs, he looks decent still.
This man is who I am banking on to get us into the top two. However, he has one season to go and wants to join a bigger club. Please, please don’t leave me.
Another premium old fella here as George Finidi signs. He’s fantastic in his prime, hopefully we can catch some of that.
The squad is somewhat lopsided. So many attacking options, so few useful.
We do of course have the Micker for yet another season. He has been fairly consistent bar three seasons in the middle.
This is Pierre van Hoojidonk reincarnated. Hopefully he will develop enough to replace Rombouts when he moves on.
This is Frank De Boer. I don’t need him but I’ll probably look to move him on.
The Pints Cup is off to an underwhelming start as we need to come from behind to draw with VVV.
As usual the first game of the season is shoe-horned into the Pints and for some reason it’s nearly always Heerenveen. Only this time…we won. Wow. Maybe this is our year.
We’re picking up a few red cards but the Micker’s goal is enough to see off Den Bosch,
Whilst non-league TONEGIDO are battered by Micker and PVH junior. Rombouts is injured, by the way.
Defeat at VVV puts the pressure on a little bit, they’re newly promoted back to the top flight so this is a bit of a setback.
We have to beat Den Bosch and we do fairly easily but the returning Rombouts limps off after scoring a penalty. Problems there.
Somehow we’re without 9 strikers for the home game with Tonegido. That’s a bit of a problem but they’re non-league and it gives Janssen a chance to probably say goodbye.
Well if this is his final hurrah he nets a first half hat-trick. The former Under 21 International is unhappy and wants to play football.
Anyway, we’re top of the group and that’s all that matters.
Not a bad draw for the Pints Cup either. It’s our year.
It might not be our year. Utrecht batter us and go 3-0 up and despite a late rally, we still lose 3-2. All I can say is, Rombouts is still absent and he might make all the difference.
We start our Cup Winners Cup campaign in Turkey, where we face Besiktas. Daniel Amokachi is still there but he’s unable to help stop a 3-0 away win. The boys done good.
Hoogy strikes to see off Den Haag. Building momentum slowly.
Off we go to Ajax, an early test of our mettle and Rombo is back in up front. Hansson bops Ajax in front but like I keep saying, this time will be different I promise you. Quinnidi George wins us the game, yes, we’ve won away at Ajax and we’re coming for you, Feyenoord.
The lads are absolutely rampant now. Raw meat in the dressing room and we’ve scored 3 in half an hour against NAC. Sure, we’ve conceded two but nobody said that raw meat would help defensively.
A much changed side plays out an entertaining three all draw with Besiktas, securing a 6-3 aggregate win. Nice and easy.
Vejle looks like an easy tie but the Danish sides often turn into Barcelona. We’ll have to respect them.
Right, we’re off to Feyenoord. This could be Rotterdam, or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome. I’ve always found it odd they go for Rotterdam or anywhere as their first suggestions before suggesting Liverpool and finally Rome. If you don’t know the difference between Liverpool and Rome you’re in the wrong game, Beautiful South. Anyway. WE LEAD IN ROME. ROTTERDAM. WHEREVER. It’s a tremendous five minutes where I’m starting to think we’re going to win the league. Then we go 4-1 down and Rombo restores some pride late on. Is it terminal or just a flesh wound?
Well it’s just a setback for now. We’re actually level on points with them so we just need to match them stride for stride until we meet again. What could go wrong? The dangerous Roda and the pains in the arse that are Sparta are also hovering around, but there’s 28 games to go so calm down.
The squad is a state. Bellamy, Watt, Querella deville, Rombouts and Ortega all fancy life at a bigger club. Janssen and Zoetbier just want to play football. Lads, I’m just saying, let’s see where this season takes us.
Seems like some others have ideas of progression too. The Micker’s got his coaching badges.
I would really like him to play in the Champions League but it does mean his retirement is probably imminent. All the more reason for this to be our year. See you next week…