The struggle for life in Holland's lower leagues

When I was deemed old enough to attend professional football games there were two teams nearby in the Dutch Eredivisie for me to pick from: PSV and EVV Eindhoven.

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PSV Eindhoven have enjoyed sustained success.

The Blue-Whites (EVV) played only a mile from our house so when they published a bargain offer for a season ticket in the boys enclosure I immediately pounced on it. Only days after my application dropped into their mailbox they were relegated on goal difference, never to return to the top flight again.

Since that fateful choice, PSV have won 15 titles, the European Cup and the UEFA Cup, while Eindhoven laid their hands on the pre-season Brabant Cup in 1982. Oh, how we danced on the wooden benches of the De Vliert Stadion in Den Bosch after winning the penalty shoot-out.

And it could have been so different. When professional football was introduced in Holland in 1954, Eindhoven were sportingly on a par with PSV and clearly better supported. PSV were a factory team of Philips, while EVV were the people's club of the vast, growing city.

In the last season of amateur top flight football in Holland, EVV had managed to win the championship, finally fulfilling expectations. This was just one year before the start of the European Cup in 1955-56. Of all the domestic champions in Europe in 1954, there was only one who would never achieve European football in later years: my club Eindhoven.

It was a game between Wolves and Spartak Moskow that led French journalist Gabriel Hanot to have his brainwave about a competition between Europe's champions. What if that had happened a year earlier in 1952? Eindhoven would have entered the first round of the European Cup and the course of history could have changed dramatically. Then again, maybe not.

For the 20-odd years that I have stood on the terraces, incompetence has been the standard for Eindhoven. The promotion of 1975 was the work of the inspirational coach Rinus Gosens whose attacking style of football managed to grip an ageing squad. He was let go in 1979 after securing a satisfactory fifth place in the Eerste Divisie as the board was seeking a more professional approach.

A great ambition, but as fans we are still waiting for it to happen. Chairmen, directors and managers came and went, but three unsuccessful appearances in the play-offs is all the club can show for more than 30 years merrily playing at the bottom of professional football. Until this season their amateurism and ineptitude went unpunished as there was no relegation possible from the Eerste Divisie.

For years this league has been a lot of fun. One year's bottom club could be next season's promotion candidates and vice versa. Everyone played to win, not to avoid defeat. But in recent seasons an invisible barrier has arisen, which half of the league has not managed to cross.

The same names pop up at the wrong end of the table each year and unfortunately Eindhoven is one of them. I made a run for it at the start of the new millennium when seats became obligatory in all the stadiums and it suddenly sunk in how badly they were actually playing. In the standing room days the atmosphere made up for that, but to sit down and watch closely must have broken my resolve.

The lack of ambition at Eindhoven and several other small clubs killed the adventure in the league, which is now little more than a pretext for local businessmen to meet on a Friday night.

As members of the professional league, the clubs have to maintain standards relating to health and safety, while there are also requirements for the staff and the youth teams. And they also have a ground and stadium to maintain, resulting in a number of fixed costs.

Then there is the not-so-small matter of assembling a squad. This proves increasingly difficult as the 84 clubs in the highest amateur league have much cheaper standing costs, but not necessarily less income through sponsors.

Without the constraints of the licence of the league these amateur clubs sometimes have a bigger budget than their professional counterparts, who at least still have the windfall of television income as an incentive to keep their struggle for life going. Transfer revenues were once the solution to fill the pockets of the clubs but now most teams consist of bigger clubs' cast-offs who constitute hardly any footballing value.

Probably half of the clubs in the Eerste Divisie have cut short their ambition for promotion to the Eredivisie. Maybe rightly so, as last season's play-off winners RKC Waalwijk only just managed to steer away from bankruptcy last month. With one win and ten defeats they are doomed and can only hope they can carry on until the end of the season.

Financial problems have become acute now the credit crunch has dented sponsorship income. It is up to the rich fans of the ailing clubs to fill the gaps. Last year, Fortuna Sittard and my own Eindhoven almost lost their licence for this season. Fortuna were officially out, but the court reversed the decision as the Dutch FA made some mistakes in their processes.

This season HFC Haarlem are in dire straits and several unnamed others are said to be in big financial trouble. The current loophole is to employ players as temps. While on the dole they get their chance to earn a contract. They can even play games in the league. In these circumstances it is not strange that rumours have surfaced regarding alleged bribes by illegal gamblers in the Eerste Divisie, but that is another, unconfirmed, story.

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Clubs in Holland are suffering from financial problems.

The narrow escape from financial breakdown means Eindhoven can celebrate their centenary this month as a professional club. Yet, again, this season might be their last. For the first time since 1971 it is possible to be relegated.

There will be a Topklasse next season which brings the best amateur teams together in two leagues; one on Saturday and the other for Sunday clubs. The worst two clubs from the Eerste Divisie will join them.

Furthermore, promotion to the Eerste Divisie is optional after the 2010-11 season. Relegated professional clubs will almost certainly walk into a death-trap as they will struggle to find the money to pay their employees and most of the players, who will be out of contract anyway. Neither can they change the capacity of their costly stadiums overnight.

Fortuna Sittard, with 12.500 seats, will have a particularly hard time should they go down. Eindhoven might fare better as their finances have been amateur for the best part of the last 50 years anyway. It would be sad to see them go, but at least this time it would be on merit. However, it is still early in the season, so maybe...