The dismay is great at Willem II after the relegation from the Eredivisie on Sunday. The Tilburgers lost 1-3 in the return match in the play-off final against Telstar, after things had been going wrong at the club for months.
“We believed for too long that it would be alright. As a result, nothing came that could turn things around,” said goalkeeper Thomas Didillon-Hödl half an hour after the loss in the Koning Willem II Stadium. “It got worse and worse. Like a ship that sank.”
Halfway through this Eredivisie season, Willem II was still in ninth place in the Eredivisie, but after that no match was won in the regular competition. The dramatic series led to the dismissal of coach Peter Maes at the end of April. Assistant coach Kristof Aelbrecht became the final responsible, but things did not improve under the Belgian.
“We are not just losing today. This has been going on for much longer,” Aelbrecht concluded. “The disappointment is huge, it is very emotional. I just came out of the dressing room, it was silent there. I saw tears. Disbelief.”
Aelbrecht emphasized that he does not blame his players for anything. “Everyone has behaved like a professional in recent months. What was it then? Maybe it was the nerves today. Maybe there was no confidence. You can let go of anything. The fact is that it was not good enough.”
‘It’s sad to say’
Didillon-Hödl drew the painful conclusion that Telstar was better in the two matches, even though the club from Noord-Holland works with a much smaller budget. “I think it’s cruel to say that we deserved to lose. But it is. And that makes me sad.”
The French goalkeeper said he feels guilty towards the Willem II fans. “I’m not a specialist when it comes to Dutch football. But when I see the passion of our fans, we don’t belong in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie.”
“We’ve been playing shit for six months and people still came en masse to support us. It breaks my heart that we didn’t pay it back.”
Didillon-Hödl hopes that the players and club management will evaluate critically. “No one is safe from criticism. Neither am I. A lot of mistakes have been made. Football is beautiful and fun, but not at the moment. This was the most difficult season of my career.”