General manager Robert Eenhoorn explained on Saturday why AZ stepped up to UEFA without informing the KNVB to still claim first place and thereby claim a direct ticket for the main tournament of the Champions League. According to the director, random choices have been made and AZ has been ignored by the union.
Eenhoorn explains in an interview with The Parool that AZ has wanted to think along with the KNVB about solutions for professional football since the start of the corona crisis. The club made three proposals in April, but received no response. Meanwhile, the union itself did not come up with a plan.
“During the meeting on April 24, it soon became clear that we were not the only ones who had encountered a closed counter in Zeist,” says Eenhoorn. “While during the deliberate discussion there was also one-way traffic from the KNVB.”
“We then asked during the meeting to examine the support for the distribution of the European tickets, just as had happened with the promotion relegation scheme. That proposal was dismissed.”
“Not surprised that Gudde shouts that”
Because the KNVB does not want to be open according to AZ, it feels for the Alkmaarders that random choices have been made. Questions were not answered after 24 April, so the club management decided to contact UEFA.
“That director Eric Gudde shouts that the KNVB is surprised by this, does not surprise me again,” says Eenhoorn. “If you do not delve into another, it is only logical that you can be surprised. This is how it works inside and outside the field. He could have known exactly how we are in the match from 21 April.”
Eenhoorn does not want to say more about the situation, because the procedure is still ongoing and he is therefore not allowed to speak substantively and publicly according to UEFA rules. “We just want answers to our questions and if the KNVB does not give them, we will switch to another.”
Eenhoorn realizes that AZ has provoked resistance. “Actually that is a good sign: we are apparently loosening something. Both in a positive and negative sense, because most people apparently think that AZ should be satisfied with a second place. They are mistaken. We are past the stage that we have to accept everything. “
– .
