6 months Ago
Pieter de Waard, the club's former general manager, who was in charge from 2006 to 2023, felt that there was something special about this season. He observed his season ticket was for row 7, seat 6, which corresponded to his lucky numbers 7 and 6. "63 is for the year we were founded, and 76's always been that number for me," he said. "When I saw the seat number, it was like, this could be a special season."
Telstar has been a fixture in the Eerste Divisie and is currently not a viable candidate for promotion to the Eredivisie. But this season, both the results and the spirit have been different, culminating in a play-off master class that stunned not just Dutch football, but soccer observers on the continent.
Pride, Passion and One Budgerigar Budget
The players and the staff members received a gift after the final whistle, white shirts with "Eredivisie" printed across the chest, and on the back, a play on words: "Guess who 's back?" One of those who did so is the fair current general manager, Leon Annokkée, who was grinning from ear to ear. "This is fantastic. We've done something here that people would never have believed could have been done," he said. "We have a budget of just over 1 million euros, the smallest in professional football, but we are in the Eredivisie. It's like a boy's book."
But now the club must somehow gear up for the Premier League. Telstar will need to modernize its facilities, to the tune of a real grass pitch and pitch heating to replace the artificial one. "We didn't want to jinx it earlier, but now we want to hurry," Annokkée said. "Tuesday officials will come to us to tell us what needs to be changed. It's going to be a lot of work, and with a small team."
Correia's Leadership Is One of a Legacy Signed A motion the mayor is leading.
The guidance of head coach Anthony Correia (a former Telstar player who played 328 matches with the club between 2001-2016) was also crucial. Renowned for his cool and composed nature, Correia continued to concentrate on fostering belief amongst the camp. Training days before the final match were disrupted by construction noise as security installations were being completed, but Correia made the adjustment without complaint. "Any other coach would've gotten mad," Annokkée said. "But Anthony saw the broader image of all that.
Correia's pre-final match message, however, was both simple yet powerful: "You only live once. Think of what legacy you want to leave behind." That legacy is now enshrined in Telstar history. "We tried something and we were kind of unique," Correia said. "With the whole Lange Nieuwstraat in IJmuiden full of fans. For us to bring a lot of joy to our community, it's special."
