Scott Musgrave

 

 

PSV Eindhoven is a club with a proud history of achievement in both the Eredivisie and in Europe. Standing as the second most successful club in Dutch history, behind northern rivals Ajax Amsterdam, they continue to win title after title.

In recent history it has been the Brabantian club that has dominated the domestic league of the Netherlands. Under Guus Hiddink, a proud son of PSV, the Eindhoven based club won numerous titles at domestic and European level. Hiddink lead PSV to its only European Cup win in the 1987/88 season and followed up with the Eredivisie title in every successive season under his rule.

In recent years, before joining the Russian National Team, Hiddink provided more success for PSV. The 2004/05 season proved amazingly profitable with PSV reaching the European Champions League Semi-Finals only to be knocked out by a last gasp AC Milan goal. As with previous seasons, Hiddink brought home the domestic double in any case with the season culminating in a 4-1 thrashing of NEC Nijmegen in the Dutch Cup final.

Unfortunately with this European success, many PSV players found new homes abroad. Mark Van Bommel, the captain of the time, transferred to childhood heroes Barcelona, whilst Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United), Lee Young-Pyo (Tottenham Hotspur) and Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa) found greener pastures in the English Premier League. Swiss international midfielder Johann Vogel swapped the Eredivisie for Serie A with a move to AC Milan.

Unfortunately, the following season ended in relative disappointment coming off the back of such great success. The loss of so many talented players was too much to cope with and a Round of 16 exit to French Champions Lyon (5-0 on aggregate) ended Champions League participation.  

PSV lost Hiddink to Russian National team duties after he again faithfully delivered the league trophy but tasted defeat in the Cup final to bitter rivals Ajax Amsterdam.

Ronald Koeman took over from the illustrious Hiddink with obviously big shoes to fill. However, despite losing at home to title rivals AZ and Ajax, PSV still managed to run away with the title on the final day with a 5-1 thrashing of Vitesse Arnhem combined with AZ falling at the final hurdle with a 3-2 loss at Excelsior Rotterdam.

Things went surprisingly well in the Champions League as well with most kudos granted to Brazilian defender Alex and particularly the meteoric rise of youngster Ibrahim Afellay. Although only coming second in their group to Liverpool, they were able to beat Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate thanks to a 1-0 advantage provided by Edison Mendez and a starring performance from Alex in the away leg at the Emirates.  A quarter-final exit awaited the unlucky Dutchmen with a 4-0 aggregate loss to earlier group rivals Liverpool.

Season 2007/08 has not been without its tremors either with Alex moving to Chelsea after his loan ceased along with the sale of Arouna Kone to Sevilla and Philip Cocu’s exit to the lucrative Middle-East. Danny Koevermans was brought in to replaces Kone but little has been done to fill the enormous gap left by the departure of Captain Philip Cocu. Although an elder statesman of the game, his influence at PSV was immense.

PSV has been in turmoil with the departure of Ronald Koeman to Valencia in Spain and the appointment of Jan Wouters as interim coach. It has not been smooth sailing for PSV or their fans as points have been dropped to teams of lower stature such as FC Groningen and NAC Breda.

Even further inconsistency has been added to the club with Sef Vergoosen recently departing J-League club Nagoya Grampus Eight to take over as interim coach for the remainder of the season, with Huub Stevens, currently of Hamburger SV, preparing to take over for the commencement for the 2008/09 season.

PSV Eindhoven, like most Dutch clubs, seems to be slipping off the European map after failing to reach the Round of 16 in the Champions League ; beaten by Fenerbahce and Inter Milan. However there is still time for redemption for the last remaining Netherlands representative in Europe; Progression in the UEFA Cup aginst Swedish side Helsingborgs has meant another chance at European silverware is possible for 2008.

A time of turmoil may yet come to a strange fruition with the recent addition of Hungarian youngster Basazs Dzudsak. With the departure of Kenneth Perez (after only 5 months at the club) it has opened the door for the talented midfielders of the PSV ranks. Ismael Aisatti, Ottman Bakkal and Ibrahim Afellay, all products of the famous PSV youth academy, will now get their chances to shine as so many fans want.

Things are on the up. PSV are on top of the Eredivisie with a comfortable lead of 9 points despite their rocky start to the season.

As a PSV fan myself I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Huub Stevens to provide some solidarity to a club that desperately needs it. All the top clubs of Holland have had turnovers  in managers (with the exception of Louis Van Gaal at AZ) and it does seem to be making the field more competitive. With Henk Ten Cate’s move to Chelsea, Erwin Koeman’s sacking and Ronald Koeman’s move to Valencia a new era has truly begun. The Eredivisie has been reinvigorated with this chaos in the top clubs with teams such as FC Twente Enschede , NAC Breda and SC Heerenveen coming more and more to the fore as serious contenders to the superiority of the Big Three (Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord).

It makes for an interesting season. One can only hope that the quality of Dutch football increases from this improved competition as it seems unlikely, at least at the moment, that a Dutch club will win a European title which it so desperately needs to once again gain respect from players and the world of football.