Feyenoord director Te Kloese wary now that things are going well: ‘Often turns around quickly’

The best thing about Feyenoord? “That soccer really comes first.”

“The people who are at the nice dinners, they go to the stadium really quickly. They want to be in their seats on time. They want to see the soccer,” noted Dennis te Kloese, the club’s general manager. “I like that traditional soccer feel.”

Things have been going fast for Feyenoord since the 48-year-old Te Kloese started his job there a year and a half ago. “What has happened in Rotterdam in recent weeks is of course very special,” realizes Te Kloese, who saw his club take the national title for the 16th time.

But even without a championship and Champions League, the director said there would have been enough support to continue building Feyenoord together with coach Arne Slot. “We just want to continue,” he said.

Slot’s staying on was not ratified in a chat with his business manager. Already months earlier, Te Kloese and Slot expressed their intention to continue their successful cooperation in the coming years.

Te Kloese could go to Tottenham Hotspur, as could Slot. And Chelsea also spoke to the coach. “Nice that people within the organization are wanted. That has to do with success.”

Another crucial phase is now beginning for Feyenoord. In which players might be sold for the highest price and worthy replacements have to be attracted. Because the bar has been raised again, with also the many millions to be earned in the Champions League.

Since the departure of Frank Arnesen in 2022, Feyenoord has been operating without a technical director. Together, Te Kloese and Slot are responsible for the buying and selling policy and, given the title, have done an excellent job.

With last year’s experience, Te Kloese faces the upcoming transfer period with confidence. “Then there were also a lot of players leaving, leases expiring. Occasionally you did taste the feeling: this is not going quite right.”

“But the turnaround from foreign legion into an adjustment and transition year has resulted in a fantastic result,” Te Kloese continued. “We are now going to see how we can deal with that in a good and proper way.”

Doesn’t he worry that things are going too well for Feyenoord now? “It’s often the case that if things are going very well here, it can quickly turn around and things can go down again. But in my first year things went well too. Above all, we are trying to stay close to ourselves.”

Because Feyenoord, unlike Ajax and PSV, are already certain about the head coach, the Rotterdammers already seem to be ahead of their closest rivals.

“I have a good relationship with Arne, I think it comes from respect. I think he is open, someone who is good to communicate with. Someone who also sometimes comes with a good opinion outside the pure field matters, the technical matters.”

“We have a good feeling about working together. How games are played, how the club is presented. He has a very big contribution to that,” Te Kloese says. “There will surely come a time when he flies out and goes to a bigger horizon.”

That moment is not here yet, certainly not for Te Kloese. “Far from it.”