For the Telstar management, these will be two very busy months. After the first promotion in 47 years, the small club has to make many adjustments to be able to play football in the Eredivisie. NU.nl lists the measures.
Telstar has been one of the smallest professional clubs in the Netherlands for years. This season, the Velsen team worked in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie with a budget of 2.6 million euros. Only TOP Oss had less to spend.
Telstar’s budget will be significantly higher in the Eredivisie, partly due to the higher TV revenues. But the Velsen team will also not have much to spend at the highest level.
Therefore, it will be a challenge for the club management to meet all the licensing requirements for the Eredivisie. Telstar has just over nine weeks for this, because the new Eredivisie season starts in the weekend of August 8 to 10. “We are a football club and are not going to whine,” said general manager Leon Annokkée this week to NH Nieuws.
These are the most important matters that Annokkée and his colleagues have to deal with.
– Artificial grass must become real grass. From next season, it will be mandatory in the Eredivisie to play on real grass. Telstar currently has an artificial turf in the 711 Stadion, so it must be replaced. That costs about 1 million euros.
– There must be field heating. To keep the natural grass playable in the winter, the KNVB football association makes field heating mandatory in the Eredivisie. “A ridiculous licensing requirement,” said Annokkée to NH Nieuws. “It freezes maybe ten days a year. In the context of sustainability, it is crazy, and it is also incredibly expensive.”
The construction of field heating quickly costs a few hundred thousand euros. And then tens of thousands of euros in energy costs have to be paid in a year.
– Minimum of eighteen players under contract. In the Keuken Kampioen Divisie, clubs must have at least sixteen players in the selection who earn at least the minimum wage. Stricter rules apply to Eredivisie clubs. They must contract at least eighteen players with a full contract.
Telstar will have to have a higher player budget anyway, also to be able to field an Eredivisie-worthy team. “I think five or six players with Eredivisie experience will be needed. Otherwise you won’t make it,” said club icon and technical advisor Frans van Essen this week to NU.nl.
– Stadium must be improved. The 711 Stadion – which is still popularly called Sportpark Schoonenberg – is almost eighty years old and certainly not a modern football temple. The capacity is only 4,200 seats.
Telstar will have to make several adjustments to the stadium. For example, the lighting must be improved, there must be better facilities for fans and media, and security will have to be addressed.
A week ago, during the home match against FC Den Bosch, the security problems in the stadium already surfaced. After a pitch invasion, fans of both teams clashed with each other. It was not difficult to get onto the field from the away section.
For the home match against Willem II, Telstar placed extra fences in front of the away section, but more will have to be done to improve security in the stadium.
