“Football is the essence, and here it should be the priority”

Before Dennis T. Cloesey became Feyenoord’s new general manager at the start of last year, the born Bosomer had worked for years in Mexico and the United States. After being active in football on the other side of the pond for nearly twenty years, he returned to the Netherlands. There quickly notice differences in organizational cultures.

“The biggest difference is that the organizations in those countries are more hierarchical,” he explains. Feyenoord Magazine. “At LA Galaxy we had one owner, Anschutz Entertainment Group. At the beginning of the year, the CEO came over to explain expectations and budgets, and then I got my blessing to start. In the Netherlands, the Boulder model is more common. You have to seek support and involve people in making decisions. That in itself is a good thing, but I think the decision should be made at other times.”

At Feyenoord, Te Kloese had to deal with a complex organizational structure with all kinds of entities. The general manager spent a lot of energy trying to find his way around that. “Slowly but surely it worked out well. First of all you have to get to know people personally, I’ve spent a lot of time on that. For me it’s very important that the interest of the club is served. I try to communicate as much as possible, to be transparent and to provide clarity when It is necessary and possible.

Te Chloesy has previously stated in the media that the club’s interests must come first. According to him, this means in particular that the focus should be on football. “I think it’s important to realize why we’re here. Feyenoord is a football club, and the priority is football. So the football team should receive as much support as possible. It’s a bit of a watershed, but if the first team is doing well And people feel involved with the players and staff, the rest of the club can join in. It’s the first step to get the flywheel moving, which has ramifications for, say, the commercial department, ticket sales, the social branch. But the core is football, it has to be the priority. For everyone. Therefore, I consider it one of my main missions to support football.

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