Supporters threatening football club managers when their teams don’t perform well
Employees of at least six football clubs in the Netherlands have faced threats from supporters in recent years, often at times when the teams aren’t performing well. Supporters have also targeted employees’ families, which has often led to managers, board members, and security staff resigning, Trouw reports after extensive research.
The newspaper spoke to 18 football club employees who have worked in various positions in recent years, including general and technical directors, supervisors, and security coordinators. It found that supporters have threatened employees at six professional clubs - Ajax, FC Groningen, PEC, Zwolle, Willem II, MVV Maastricht, and ADO Den Haag - in the past five years.
The club employees faced physical threats and harassment from supporters. Club managers and directors were frequently the target, but also their partners and children. The latter resulted in managers resigning several times.
Club employees often find their names on banners or in chants, sometimes with threats attached. That’s still manageable, a former Ajax supervisor said. It’s the quietly delivered death threats and harassment, physical confrontations, and untold security measures and protocols that got him down.
The reason for the threats or intimidation is typically the performance of the first team. “If expectations are higher than the results, then the shit comes,” a former Willem II board member said. At Ajax, a bad match automatically means trouble, several employees said.
Decisions that are detrimental to the hard-core fans also often result in threats and confrontations. For example, if fans aren’t welcome at an away match. An ADO Den Haag director once got a note on his doormat, signed by “an anonymous supporter,” informing him that they knew where he lives.
Managers are often willing to risk their own safety, but they draw the line when supporters start targeting their families. One manager came home to his child crying over a death threat on social media. A Willem II board member received a text with his child’s class schedule. A PEC Zwolle supporter video called the wife of a board member and threatened to throw her husband into the IJssel. Several resigned over this. “If it comes to your children, it is game over,” a former Ajax employee said.
Several managers that Trouw spoke to said that aggression toward managers in professional football has been wrongly normalized.
“Everyone knows what is happening, but no one does anything,” a former board member at PEC Zwolle told Trouw. “Oh, it is part of it, people say. No. It is not part of it. Board members see it, know it, but do not want to get involved themselves. That is why they often choose to keep their mouths shut. They give in to pressure and leave other managers out in the cold, instead of openly supporting them.”
