As NOS Sport describe, Telstar arenโt yet โEredivisie-ready,โ having surprisingly been promoted to the top flight in early June after a 47-year absence.
Five or six more players are still needed. Plus, the club are moving to a nearby artificial turf field for daily training, and plenty of work still needs to be done in and around the stadium before football can truly begin.
Ahead of the first league match against Ajax, scheduled for a little over a month away, technical manager Peter Hofstede said, โThereโs still plenty of work to be done, but weโre on the right track and itโs a great challenge.โ
Starting with the positive: the stadiumโs turf installation is on schedule. โAlthough itโs still a bit of a Copacabana,โ says coach Anthony Correia about the condition of the pitch, which is mainly sand.
However, Hofstede exudes relief and confidence. โThe pitch is the thing Iโm least worried about. Weโve hired several companies to take care of that for us. So itโll all work out.โ
โBut if someone from the KNVB were to come by with a checklist right now, they would be arriving too early. There are still plenty of things to be arranged in the stadium, such as the away section and media facilities. But we are in good contact with the football association and we are on schedule to meet all those requirements before the start of the season.โ
Besides the facilities and organisational side of things, Hofstede is mainly busying himself assembling the squad, which still requires some attention. โThe core of our squad remains intact, only Youssef El Kachati has left. I think we still need five or six players. And then I really see us having a chance of getting points at this level.โ
The club is exploring various markets, NOS claim. โThe well-known Second Division, where Telstar has been successful in recent years, has been well-studiedโ. Loan partners and free agents are also attractive.
GBeNeFNย |ย Max Bradfield
