VyKing

Hey bud, First of all welcome to the forum, I’m your friendly neighbourhood Yorkshire tea rep of this place. Also a Yorkshireman. I too remember the good old days of times gone, what I have noticed despite the loss of a lot of places usually due to inactivity of said forums and growth of such things like discord etc, is that a lot of the old guard still linger in a lot of places, here for example we have a few from the old scene. Great to have you here though 😌 would love to see new ideas etc. Enjoy the site and grab yourself a nice cup of Yorkshire! VyKing.

Pass The Save.fm Who's next up to carry on @Tempelman's story? @Derek@Johno@Tempelman And anyone else wanting to take this historic club to the next level.

Vitesse Arnhem 2024-25: Mission Accomplished – 12th Place, 51 PointsKeuken Kampioen Divisie – Final Standings (May 8, 2025) Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts 8 Jong AZ 38 16 11 11 79 61 59 9 ADO Den Haag 38 15 11 12 51 49 56 10 MVV Maastricht [PL] 38 15 10 13 49 44 55 11 VVV-Venlo 38 15 7 16 45 48 52 12 Vitesse Arnhem 38 17 12 9 70 56 51 13 Jong Ajax 38 11 14 13 58 61 47 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 17 FC Den Bosch 38 9 9 20 41 65 36 Points earned on the pitch: 63. Sanctions: -12. From -12 to 12th. No one saw it coming. Everyone saw it end right. The Final Eight: A Rollercoaster to RespectabilityMD Date Opponent Result Venue Key Moment 31 Mar 20 SC Cambuur 2-2 Draw Home Van der Werff's 89' equaliser (FK) 32 Mar 27 TOP Oss 1-0 Win Home Bonnah's 25-yard curler 33 Apr 3 Willem II 2-3 Loss Away Conceded 2 in 3 mins (late collapse) 34 Apr 10 RKC Waalwijk 3-3 Draw Home 3 goals in 12 mins (madness) 35 Apr 17 Roda JC 2-1 Win Away Zaal's 92' header from Bonnah cross 36 Apr 24 VVV-Venlo 1-0 Win Home Manhoef's solo run & finish 37 May 1 De Graafschap 3-5 Loss Away Derby heartbreak (3 red cards) 38 May 8 FC Emmen 2-0 Win Home Clean sheet seals safety Run: 3W-2D-3L | +5 GD From 37 points (MD30) to 51. Play-off dreams faded after the De Graafschap carnage, but survival? Secured with style. The Defining Moments of the Run-InRoda JC 1-2 Vitesse (MD35 – The Away Day That Felt Like Promotion) Play-off chasers at home, 1-0 up until the 92nd. Solomon Bonnah swings in a corner straight from the Bendtner set-piece bible. Timo Zaal rises like a salmon, buries it. 4,500 away fans turn Kerkrade yellow-and-black. Bendtner on the bench: fists pumping, pink shades flying. "That's my centre-back!" VVV-Venlo 1-0 Vitesse (MD36 – The Quiet Killer) Tense, gritty, perfect. Million Manhoef picks up a loose ball in midfield, nutmegs two, slots it home. Gelredome exhales. Luuk in post-match: "Sometimes you don't need fireworks. You just need three points." De Graafschap 5-3 Vitesse (MD37 – The Derby That Broke Hearts) The one that haunts. 2-1 up at half-time in Doetinchem, then three reds (two harsh, one stupid) and a collapse. 15,000 Superboeren fans mock the bus home. Luuk to the players post-match: "That hurt because we were better. Use it." (They did.) Vitesse 2-0 FC Emmen (MD38 – Perfect Send-Off) Final whistle. Safety confirmed. Bonnah & Van der Werff link-up for 1-0; Zaal nods in the second. 16,284 in the stands – highest of the season. Fireworks, scarves, "Sweet Caroline" for 20 minutes straight. Luuk walks onto the pitch alone, points to the badge, and the roof lifts. Season in Numbers: The HeroesPlayer Apps G A Standout Stat Solomon Bonnah 37 5 4 PoM 3, Avg Rat 7.19 David van der Werff 26(2) 12 4 PoM 4, Avg Rat 7.16 Timo Zaal 38 5 4 91% pass acc., Elias Huth 27(6) 11 2 xG 12.7 Bendtner Impact: 28 of 70 goals from open play. His "psychopaths" finished top-10 for goals despite the chaos. Tempelman's End-of-Season Reflection (Gelredome Presser, May 8)"Twelve months ago, we had nine players and a minus-twelve noose. Today? Twelfth place. 51 points. A team that fights. A city that believes. We didn't make play-offs. But we made Vitesse Vitesse again. Solomon Bonnah? Player of the Season. David van der Werff? Future star. Nicklas? The madman who made us finish. Next year? Eredivisie. That's not hope. That's the plan." Post-match, the squad laps the pitch. Bendtner leads a conga line – pink shades on, Danish flags waving. Fans throw scarves. In the tunnel, Temp hugs his dad: "The logo looks good up there now." Legacy: From Pixels to PrideAttendance: +28% (12,847 avg.) Club Shop: Scarves up 400%. New "Thuis" range sold out. FM 2026: Tempelman's logo pack includes a "De Vries Edition" with flames. The Kid in Presikhaaf: Downloaded the demo. Chose Vitesse first. Minus twelve became plus pride. Tempelman didn't just manage a team. He rebuilt a badge. See you in 2026-27. THUIS – TROTS – TEMPO.

Vitesse Arnhem – 30 Games In: The Halfway HouseKeuken Kampioen Divisie – Matchday 30 (April 5, 2025) Current Standings: Pos Team Pld Pts 8 Willem II 30 47 9 Jong AZ 30 46 10 Jong Ajax 30 43 11 VVV-Venlo 29 43 12 Ado Den Haag 29 41 13 Vitesse 30 37 ... ... ... ... 17 FC Den Bosch 30 21 *(Points earned on the pitch: 49. Sanctions: -12. Safety secured. Play-offs? 10 points away, but the maths still works.) Temp stands in the Papendal canteen on a drizzly Monday, marker pen in hand, circling the "37" on the whiteboard like it's a personal dare. "Thirty games," he tells the backroom staff over koffie. "We started at minus twelve. Now we're eleventh on merit. Thirteenth with the baggage. That's not a story. That's a fucking statement." The Grind: What 30 Games Look LikeW: 13 | D: 10 | L: 17 Goals: 54-42 (finally positive) Away record: 7W-7D-2L (the real miracle) Attendances: 15,030 avg. (Theo Bos Stand sold out 14/15 home games) No more minus points panic. No more "survival" whispers. The Gelredome faithful now chant for promotion. But 10 points off 8th with 8 games left? It's a sprint. Temp's mantra in every presser: "We're not chasing shadows. We're chasing the badge." The Focal Points: Three Wins That Defined the SurgeVitesse 1-0 Almere City A Elias Huth 5th minute goal was all it took. Bendtner in post-match: "That's how you make a statement on a Saturday" Jong FC Utrecht 1-2 Vitesse Ice-cold execution. Schwarz's 60-yard radar pass for 1-0; his overlapping run for 2-0. "Little Ronnie" Temp: "SChwarz is our little magician" Vitesse 5-2 Helmond Sport The comeback etched in Gelderland folklore. 2-0 down → 3-2 up in 18 minutes. Bonnah and Van der Werff running the show. TikTok clip: 3.2M views. Bendtner to the ref: "That's my left-back, ref!" The Heroes Holding It TogetherPlayer Apps G A Key Stat Solomon Bonnah (LB) 29 4 4 1.4 xG 3 PoM David van der Werff (AM) 18 4 3 xG 5, xA 4.5, Pass % 93% Timo Zaal (CDM) 30 5 3 91% pass accuracy Elias Huth (ST) 19(6) 8 1 xG 7.5 Bendtner Effect: 18 of 48 goals from open play. "My little psychopaths," he calls them. Sessions now feature "Bendtner Drills": 1v1s where losers do press-ups while he narrates their Arsenal misses. The Road Ahead: 24 Points Up for GrabsDate Opponent Venue Notes MD31 (Mar 20th) SC Cambuur Home Must-win (we drew 1-1 in October) MD32 (Mar 27th) TOP Oss Home Play-off chasers MD33 (Apr 3rd) Willem II Away Must-win MD34 (Apr 10th) RKC Waalwijk Home Chance to beat a promotion chaser MD35 (Apr 17th) Roda JC Away Play-off chaser MD36 (Apr 24th) VVV-Venlo Home MD37 (May 1st) De Graafschap Away Warm-up for finale MD38 (May 8th) FC Emmen Away Potential Play-off spot Maximum haul: 37+24=61 pts. Enough for top-8 in most scenarios. Realistic: 5 wins = 52 pts. Play-off contention. Minimum: 3 wins = 46 pts. Safe mid-table, head held high. Temp's Locker Room Memo (Pinned to Every Door) On April 5th, after a 3-0 win over FC Dordrecht, the squad bus back to Arnhem blasted "Sweet Caroline." Bendtner stood up, pink sunglasses on, and yelled: "Eight games to make the world remember Vitesse again!" Solomon Bonnah, quiet as ever, just nodded at Van der Werff: "We got this." In Presikhaaf, that kid with Football Manager 2026 is already editing the Vitesse badge with flames around it. Temp's pixels are about to become playoffs. Or at least, that's the plan.

Nicklas Bendtner's Coaching Journey: From "Lord" to the TouchlineNicklas Bendtner, the Danish striker once as famous for his on-pitch bravado and off-pitch memes as for his goals, hung up his boots in 2021 at age 33. But football's pull proved too strong. "Football is a big part of my life and I cannot leave it," he said at the time. What followed was a deliberate, if unconventional, pivot into coaching—one fueled by redemption, elite mentorship, and a hunger to pass on lessons from a career that saw him score 113 goals across Arsenal, Juventus, Wolfsburg, and beyond, but also stumble through scandals and self-doubt. The Spark: Badges and Reflection (2020–2021)Bendtner's coaching ambitions surfaced publicly in late 2020, amid his final playing stint at FC Copenhagen. In interviews, he spoke of enrolling in UEFA coaching courses, viewing them as a way to "have what it takes" for management. His autobiography, Both Sides (published that year), laid bare the pitfalls he'd navigated—gambling addiction, a 2013 drink-driving ban that sidelined him from Denmark duty, and clashes with managers like Arsène Wenger. "I've been unlucky, but I've been seeking bad luck," he reflected, hinting at the wisdom he now wanted to impart to young players. Retirement came quietly in June 2021 after a brief, nostalgic spell with Tårnby FF's "M+32 Old Boys" team—a fourth-tier Danish side for over-32s where he kept fit with old mates. "I’ll spend a lot of time understanding that it's really over now," he told Danish TV, but added he hoped coaching would "give me as much or maybe more than it did as a player." By then, he'd quietly begun his UEFA A Licence, drawing on contacts from his playing days: Wenger, his Arsenal mentor; Ståle Solbakken at Copenhagen; and even a nod to Jürgen Klopp. Building Blocks: Internships with the Elite (2022–2024)Bendtner's early coaching path was less about head roles and more about apprenticeship—shadowing the best to build credentials. In 2022, he completed practical stints as part of his UEFA progression: Arsenal (with Mikel Arteta): A homecoming to the club where he'd scored 43 goals in 153 games. Bendtner observed Arteta's sessions, absorbing the Spaniard's emphasis on possession and mentality. "I've been very lucky to have been coached by some of the greatest managers," he later said, name-dropping Arteta as a key phone-a-friend. Arsenal staff reportedly reacted with amused skepticism when he first mentioned his badges—"You????" one quipped in a 2025 documentary. Liverpool (with Jürgen Klopp): Another Premier League giant. Bendtner trained under Klopp's high-intensity Gegenpressing regime, gaining insight into man-management from a coach known for turning misfits into winners. "He talks to them at the highest level," noted Ranheim's Kåre Ingebrigtsen of Bendtner's network. FC Copenhagen: A return to his boyhood club, where he bridged theory and practice by mentoring academy forwards. His brief 2019–2020 playing spell here had already given him insider cred. These weren't token visits; they were mandated "practice" for his badges, blending humility with his trademark swagger. By 2023, he'd earned his UEFA A Licence, positioning him for senior roles. "I really want to take the coaching courses," he'd said a year earlier, and now he had the paper to prove it. First Steps: Youth and Assistant Gigs (2023–2025)With credentials in hand, Bendtner dipped into hands-on work. In 2023, he joined Rosenborg BK—where he'd scored 23 goals in 2017–2018—as a youth coach, focusing on strikers. It was a natural fit: the Norwegian club valued his experience with "hungry" talents, echoing Wenger's old praise. He drilled finishing drills and shared stories of his Arsenal loans (Birmingham, Sunderland) to teach resilience. By early 2024, he moved to Ranheim IL, a second-tier Norwegian side, as an assistant under Ingebrigtsen. Here, Bendtner handled forward coaching and set-piece analysis, his 6'4" frame still imposing as he demonstrated headers. "He has taken coaching training, and then he needs a bit of 'practice'," Ingebrigtsen explained. Ranheim's mid-table finish that season owed much to improved attacking output, with locals crediting Bendtner's "villain-to-mentor" vibe—drawing from his own redemption arc. Off the pitch, Bendtner stayed visible: podcasts, a 2025 documentary revisiting his Arsenal days, and social media posts blending humor (pink sunglasses selfies) with insight. Fans on X speculated wildly—"I’d love to see Nicklas Bendtner as a coach. Think he has the personality," one wrote in January 2025. Another joked about his potential to manage Arsenal, citing past wage excesses. The Big Leap: Vitesse Arnhem (2025–Present)Bendtner's breakthrough came in summer 2025, when Dutch second-division side Vitesse Arnhem—relegated and reeling from near-bankruptcy—tapped him as first-team coach under rookie manager Templeman. It was a bold hire: Bendtner, 36, arrived via Ryanair in a Louis Vuitton bag and pink shades, turning heads in Arnhem. (In this timeline, his Ranheim stint impressed Degryse, Vitesse's Belgian scout, who saw echoes of a "Danish Dani Alves" in the club's needs.) His role? Sharpening attackers in a squad blending youth (like David van der Werff) and grit. Bendtner's sessions mix Klopp intensity with Arteta finesse—possession games laced with "SHOOT, YOU COWARDS!" barked in four languages. He's credited with transforming Vitesse's front line: from minus-12 points (due to sanctions) to 17th on 16 by Christmas 2025, with clean sheets and away wins galore. Left-back Solomon Bonnah calls him "King Sol's drill sergeant," but Bendtner just grins: "I know what it's like to be written off at 28." Legacy in the MakingAt 37 (as of November 2025), Bendtner's journey is far from over. He's eyed for head roles—whispers of Rosenborg or even a Danish national youth post—but insists he's in no rush. "If I'm ever in doubt... I have a few numbers in my phonebook," he quipped. From meme to mentor, he's proof that football forgives the fallen. As one X user put it, "The transfer market is cooked over 80 mil for a Nicklas Bendtner"—but on the touchline, he's priceless.

Vitesse Arnhem – Kerstborrel 2025: From Minus Twelve to Sixteenth (Almost Respectable)19 down, 19 to play. Keuken Kampioen Divisie table on 12 December 2025: Vitesse Arnhem  16 points (−12 start → current total 28 earned on the pitch) FC Emmen    14 pts Helmond Sport   13 pts FC Den Bosch   12 pts The punishment is still there in the ledger, but it no longer feels like a death sentence. It feels like a mortgage we’re paying off faster than anyone thought possible. Temp gathers the squad in the Gelredome tunnel on a cold festive evening, the place smelling of mulled wine and frying kroketten from the supporters’ club upstairs. He doesn’t make speeches any more; he just shows them the league table on his phone and says, “Look. We’re not a meme any more. We’re a proper football team again.” The Three Away Days That Changed EverythingFC Den Bosch 0-4 Vitesse (Matchday 10 – October storm, plastic pitch, 2 300 away fans who’d driven through horizontal rain) Solomon Bonnah decided that night that left-back is apparently the most attacking position in modern football. Two assists, one screamer into the top corner from 22 metres, and a last-man tackle in the 89th that had Bendtner on the touchline applauding like he’d just seen prime Ashley Cole. The four goals were all different, all gorgeous. Van der Werff, Zaal (header), a Bonnah rocket, and a cheeky back-heel from millionaire-in-waiting Million Manhoef. Den Bosch’s PA played “Simply the Best” ironically after the fourth. Our fans sang it for the next forty-five minutes straight. TOP Oss 0-2 Vitesse (Matchday 16 – Friday night, minus three degrees, pitch like glass) Classic smash-and-grab. Bonnah again: 60-metre diagonal that David van der Werff took on the chest and volleyed in for 1-0, then a 93rd-minute break where Solomon simply refused to stop running and slid the second in himself. Afterwards the TOP Oss chairman joked in the tunnel, “We didn’t lose to Vitesse tonight. We lost to Solomon Bonnah FC.” FC Emmen 2-3 Vitesse (Matchday 19 – the night the Gelredome believed in miracles again) Down 2-0 after 31 minutes. Roof ready to come off for all the wrong reasons. Then Bonnah picks the ball up on the left touchline, looks up once, and plays a pass with the outside of his boot that threads three defenders and finds Van der Werff for 2-1. Ten minutes later he wins a penalty (fair), converts the rebound after the keeper saves it (debatable), and in the 89th heads in the winner from a corner. Final whistle: 4 000 away fans in the tiny stand singing his name like he’s a returning king. Solomon – quiet, polite, 21 years old from Rotterdam – just points to the Vitesse crest and walks off. The clip has 1.8 million views on TikTok and counting. Solomon Bonnah – The Unexpected HeartbeatSigned on a free from FC Utrecht’s second team in the summer because Marc Degryse rang Temp and said, “Trust me on this one, he’s Dani Alves with a Dutch passport.” Nineteen starts, two goals, four assists already. Defends like he’s angry at the ball. Attacks like the byline owes him money. Bendtner has stopped calling him Solomon. Now it’s just “King Sol” – delivered every single time with theatrical sarcasm that somehow feels like the highest praise. The Bigger Picture at Christmas28 points earned on the pitch would put us 9th. Only five defeats in nineteen. Three clean sheets (Zaal and the evergreen Ranon reading each other’s minds). David van der Werff joint top of the assist charts. And the Gelredome attendances creeping back above 14 000. Temp ends the session early. He lines the players up on the centre circle, snow starting to fall inside the open roof, and says only this: “Minus twelve in August. Sixteen points halfway through the season. That’s twenty-eight reasons to believe we’re doing something right. We're hunting top half. Not survival. Because this badge deserves more than just staying alive.” Solomon Bonnah is the last to leave the pitch. He stands under the crest he now carries every week, looks up at the dark Arnhem sky, and quietly says “Bedankt” to nobody in particular. Somewhere in Presikhaaf a kid is opening Football Manager 2026 on his new laptop. He scrolls to the Keuken Kampioen Divisie, finds Vitesse, and smiles at the logo he’s seen a thousand times before. This time, though, the story behind it is finally catching up to the picture.

10 games update. Ten games in. Minus twelve points at kick-off, now minus one. Seven points still separate Vitesse from 19th, but only one from zero. Temp alone in the empty Gelredome on a Monday night in October, the floodlights off, just the glow of the big screen replaying the table. He allows himself one quiet laugh that echoes around the stadium like a child testing if anyone’s home. ### The First Ten: A Private Diary Game 1 – Vitesse 3-2 Jong AZ (Opening night, 9 847 in the stands) The first roar when the teams walked out almost knocked him backwards. He had designed that badge a thousand times on a 15-inch monitor; now 20 000 yellow-and-black scarves carried it like a battle standard. We were 2-0 up in 37 minutes – Timo Zaal curling one in from twenty-five, pure PlayStation. Then we nearly threw it away in the last ten. When the board went to 3-2 in the 93rd he looked at Bendtner on the bench. Nick just shrugged, Danish for “Welcome to management, mate.” Three points. Still minus nine. But the Gelredome shook for twenty minutes after the whistle. He walked straight past the press and hugged his dad in the Theo Bos Stand. Game 2 – Almere City 2-2 Vitesse (the night the deficit finally moved) Twenty-eight minutes. We’re 1-0 up, eleven men behind the ball, season slipping away again. Timo Zaal steps out with the ball like he’s Cafu reincarnated, finds Hoogewerf on the half-turn, one touch, threaded ball, substitute taps in. Minus nine becomes minus eight for the first time since May. On the coach home the players start singing “Sweet Caroline” – badly, out of tune, but loud. Bendtner films it on his phone and sends it to Arsène Wenger with the caption “This is why I’m here.” Game 8 – Helmond Sport 1-2 Vitesse (the night it felt real) Bottom of the table, away, plastic pitch, 1 800 home fans giving it the big one. We score in the 75th and 94th minute – both goals straight off the training ground. Huth heads the winner from a corner routine Bendtner had been drilling for three weeks. After the game the Helmond fans ironically chant “Lord Bendtner, Lord Bendtner”. Nick takes a bow on the pitch like it’s the Emirates in 2011. Table after the game: Vitesse −2 points. For the first time all season, the club shop sells out of scarves. The other seven games were typical Eerste Divisie chaos: 1-1s that felt like defeats. But the line keeps going the right way. ### Tonight’s Table (after Matchday 10) 19. FC Emmen  6 pts 20. Vitesse    −1 pt Eleven points earned on the pitch. Eleven points taken away before a ball was kicked. Almost square. Temp finally stands up from the empty stand, walks down the stairs and onto the pitch. The grass is still wet from the afternoon rain. He takes his phone out, opens the Football Manager Graphics forum – still active after all these years – and posts for the first time since 2022. Tempelman Tonight, 23:41 Title: Logo update complete We’re not back yet. But you can see the picture now. He attaches a screenshot of the league table and the Vitesse badge he made when he was seventeen – the same one glowing above him on the Gelredome roof right now. Then he turns the screen off, looks up at the dark stands and whispers the line he’s said to the players every day since July: “Minus one today. Zero tomorrow. Plus something the day after that.” Somewhere in the distance a late tram rumbles past on the Batavierenweg. Arnhem is awake. And for the first time in a long time, it believes again.

Tempelmans' First Pre-Season as Vitesse Manager: “Project Thuis”When Tempelman was officially unveiled in late May 2025, the Gelredome press room was half-empty and the mood was funeral. Vitesse had just survived liquidation by days, were forcibly relegated to the Keuken Kampioen Divisie, and had exactly nine senior players under contract. Luuk walked in with a USB stick and a quiet sentence that became legendary overnight: “Ik heb achttien jaar logos voor deze club gemaakt. Nu ga ik er eindelijk een écht gezicht aan geven.” He locked himself and his new staff in Papendal for six weeks. No leaks, no interviews, just work. The Backroom RevolutionFirst he tore up the old structure. Out went the expensive analysts who had never lived within 200 km of Arnhem. In came people who bled yellow-and-black (or at least understood what it meant). Nicklas Bendtner – First-Team Coach Yes, that Nicklas Bendtner. Lord Bendtner arrived in Arnhem on a Ryanair flight wearing pink sunglasses and carrying one Louis Vuitton hold-all. Half the Dutch press thought it was a prank. Temp had tracked him down via a mutual contact at FC Copenhagen. Bendtner had quietly completed his UEFA A licence in Denmark and spent two seasons mentoring Rosenborg’s youngsters. “I know what it’s like to be written off at 28,” he told Temp over koffie in Presikhaaf. “These boys need someone who’s been the villain and come back.” Bendtner’s job: turn raw Gelderland talent into cold-blooded finishers. Training sessions suddenly featured him barking in four languages and finishing volleys in a full Vitesse tracksuit like it was 2010 again. Marc Degryse – Chief Scout (Belgium & Hidden Gems) The Belgian legend needed almost no convincing. Degryse, who still lives fifteen minutes from the border in Antwerpen, had watched Vitesse collapse from afar and hated it. His brief is simple: find the best under-23 talents in Belgium and the Netherlands who still believe in romance over money. Within ten days he had already driven to Groningen three times. The Two Marquee Signings (on Eerste Divisie wages)David van der Werff – 20-year-old attacking midfielder – €450k from FC Groningen The crown jewel. Temp had watched Van der Werff since he was 16, partly because the boy’s face looked uncannily like the default regen portrait Temp used in his old logo packs. A silky left-footed number 10 who presses like Peak Frenkie but with the arrogance of prime Wesley Sneijder. Groningen were skint and couldn’t say no. David arrived wearing a Vitesse scarf he’d bought himself in 2018 “because the logo looked the coolest in FM”. Temp nearly cried. Timo Zaal – 20-year-old centre-back – free transfer (ex-Feyenoord) Six-foot-four, quick, elegant on the ball, and furious at being released by Feyenoord after one senior minute. Temp rang him personally at 8 a.m. the day he became available: “Timo, in Rotterdam you were a youth player. In Arnhem you walk straight into the first XI and the armband one day.” Zaal signed before breakfast. Pre-Season: The MethodTemp built the entire plan around three words painted on the Papendal gym wall: THUIS – TROTS – TEMPO Morning sessions: pure possession and positional play (very De Zerbi-inspired, but with Bendtner screaming “SHOOT, YOU COWARDS!” every time the ball reached the final third). Afternoon sessions: 11v11 on half-pitch with strict rules – lose the ball in your own third and the whole team runs. Van der Werff and Zaal immediately became the axis; David dropping deep to pick up the ball off Timo like they’d played together for five years. Evening video: Temp, Bendtner and the analysts showing clips of Vitesse ’97–’98 (the last great team) mixed with modern Brighton and Bologna. The message: “We are not here to survive the Eerste Divisie. We are here to embarrass it.” Friendly results were irrelevant (they lost 3-2 to Offenbach and drew 2-2 with FC Volendam), but something clicked. Bendtner started calling the young squad “my little psychopaths”. Degryse kept turning up with 19-year-old Belgian wingers who looked like world-beaters. On the final day of pre-season camp, Temp gathered the squad under the old oak tree at Papendal and said: “Volgend jaar mei staan we weer in de Eredivisie. Maar dat is niet het doel. Het doel is dat als een kind in Presikhaaf, Schuytgraaf of Elderveld Football Manager opstart in 2030, hij nog steeds míjn logo kiest. Omdat wij er weer iets van hebben gemaakt om trots op te zijn.” Then he pressed play on the stereo. The first notes of “Sweet Caroline” in the Arnhem version boomed out – the one they sing in the Gelredome when it’s raining and we’re 2-0 down but still believe. David van der Werff looked at Timo Zaal. Zaal looked at Bendtner. Bendtner, grinning like a madman, threw his pink sunglasses into the grass and roared: “Right, lads. Let’s go home.” The bus back to Arnhem had never felt shorter.

FM26 Pass The Save. Just 1 rule, one season played your way, at the end of the season pass it on to the next person. The beginning This year is a nod to one of our own. We begin in Arnhem a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of the rivers Nederrijn and Sint-Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem is home to the Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Netherlands Open Air Museum, Airborne Museum 'Hartenstein', Royal Burgers' Zoo, NOC*NSF Templeman and National Sports Centre Papendal. The north corner of the municipality is part of the Hoge Veluwe National Park. It is approximately 55 square kilometres (21 sq mi) in area, consisting of heathlands, sand dunes, and woodlands. The Club Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem, commonly known as Vitesse (Dutch pronunciation: [viˈtɛsə]) or internationally as Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch football club based in Arnhem, Gelderland. Founded on 14 May 1892, it is one of the oldest professional clubs in the Netherlands. Vitesse last competed in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Vitesse lost its professional football license in July 2025, but regained it in an appeal in September. The club experienced its most sustained success in the 1990s, with a highest-ever finish of third place in the 1997–98 Eredivisie season. Vitesse have qualified for European competitions and won their first major trophy in 2017, lifting the KNVB Cup after a 2–0 victory over AZ Alkmaar. They were also cup finalists in 1912, 1927, 1990 and 2021. Since 1998, Vitesse have played their home matches at the GelreDome, a 21,000-seat stadium featuring a retractable roof and pitch. Former players including Phillip Cocu, Roy Makaay, Nemanja Matić, Wilfried Bony, Martin Ødegaard and Mason Mount. Recent history In 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, owner Valeri Oyf decided to sell the club. A deal was reached between Oyf and Coley Parry, an American investor.[24][42] After a lengthy investigation, the KNVB eventually rejected the sale, despite Parry having already invested millions into the club.[24][43][44] Parry then demanded the money back from Vitesse. Guus Franke, a Dutch businessman, negotiated with Parry regarding the debts and a potential takeover of Vitesse. That deal eventually collapsed.[45][46] A deal was finally reached in 2025, with a group of 5 investors all taking a minority share and Parry fully withdrawing from the club.[47][48][49] Towards the end of the 2023–24 Eredivisie season, Vitesse was relegated after an eighteen‑point deduction imposed by the KNVB for failing to comply with licensing requirements amid ongoing financial issues related to the club's sale.[50][51][52][53] During the 2024–25 Eerste Divisie season, Vitesse received a further 39‑point deduction, of which 12 were for the 2025-26 season due to appeal rules, which contributed to their bottom‑place finish.[54][55] In the aftermath, the KNVB initiated proceedings in June 2025 to revoke the club's professional license, citing unresolved financial irregularities related to investor Coley Parry, and on 11 June revoked the license, with Vitesse appealing the decision.[56][57][58] Another response came in the form of a proposed takeover led by Dutch regional investors under "Plan Sterkhouders", chaired by Michel Shaay, aimed at restoring the club's financial stability.[59][60][61][62][63] Vitesse signed a cooperation agreement with CROP accountants on 4 June.[64] On 21 June the regional investors and foreign owners reached an agreement subject to KNVB approval, which—if ratified—would have marked Vitesse's return to Dutch ownership for the first time since 2010.[65][66][67][68] On the same day, Rüdiger Rehm was appointed as the club's new manager.[69] The club submitted a temporary budget proposal for the deadline of 16 June and had until 3 July to supplement it.[70][71] On 9 July, the club was deducted 12 points for the upcoming season due to a failed appeal.[55][72] Timo Braasch, interim director and one of the 5 owners of the club, stepped down on 27 July as director in an apparent attempt to appease the KNVB ahead of the appeal ruling.[73][74] On 31 July 2025 the club officially lost its appeal and was no longer a professional club, with the Royal Dutch Football Association claiming that the "Plan Sterkhouders" agreement came too late.[24][58][75] The club went to court to try to get its license back.[76][77] An emergency hearing took place on 7 August in Utrecht, a day before the new season started, with the decision being made public on 8 August.[78][79][80][81] The club's efforts were supported by supporters and the community of Arnhem, including a special bus transport from Arnhem to the courthouse in Utrecht.[82][83][84] On the day of the trial, the court accepted requests from supporters and social organizations to add themselves to the lawsuit.[85] The emergency hearing began on 7 August 2025 at 13:30 in the court of Middle-Netherlands in Utrecht. Club icons, such as Karel Aalbers, John van den Brom, Nicky Hofs, Theo Janssen, Jan Snellenburg, and Edward Sturing and people involved with the current organization of the club, such as Timo Braasch, Michel Shaay, and the current squad appeared at the court to attend the hearing. According to Vitesse's, Shaay's, and the supporters' lawyers, the KNVB was too harsh with their penalty and did not have ground for the decision, since Vitesse informed the KNVB of everything. They also argued the penalty was out of proportion, citing the 2016 FC Twente case. The KNVB lawyers' pushed back, arguing that it had the right to punish Vitesse in this way, cited examples of Vitesse not informing the KNVB, and said that the FC Twente case was not applicable.[78][86][87][88][89][90][91] The next day, the court announced that Vitesse had lost the emergency hearing.[92][93][94] Michel Shaay, who is still eyeing to become owner of Vitesse, said there are plans to continue as an amateur club using the team's youth divisions.[95] Before the end of the month, Vitesse announced that its first team would not take part in any competition in the 2025-26 season, but that it would continue playing in the youth divisions.[96] At the end of August, protesting supporters of the club threw smoke bombs during two matches in the Eerste Divisie to protest the KNVB's decision.[97][98] On 3 September 2025, Vitesse provisionally regained their licence as they won an appeal.[99] According to the court of Arnhem-Leeuwarden, the decision to revoke Vitesse's licence came under a large amount of time crunch, due to which the procedures were not followed carefully enough, and the court working on the proceedings on the merits has a chance of ruling as such. Per this decision, Vitesse were to be let back into the league immediately.[99][100] Since this decision was a turbo-urgent appeal, the club does not fully get their licence back, as that decision will be decided by the proceedings on the merits at a later date.[99] After the result of the appeal was made public, a lot of amateur and out-of-contract players reported to Vitesse to try and further their careers.[101] The club began the 2025-26 Eerste Divisie season on -12 points, a result of appeal rules.[55] The Manager His name is Tempelman, born in 1985 in the Arnhem suburb of Presikhaaf, the kind of place where the Gelredome’s floodlights are visible from half the streets on a match night. Like every kid in the neighbourhood, Temp lived for Vitesse. Yellow-and-black scarves, season tickets in the Theo Bos Stand, the works. But he was never the best player; he was small, slight, and coaches always said he “thought too much” on the pitch. So at 15 he hung up his boots and did what a lot of smart but frustrated football kids did in the mid-2000s: he turned to Football Manager. Temp devoured the game. Not just playing it, studying it. He noticed the default club logos were ugly pixelated messes, especially for the Dutch lower leagues. At 19, armed with a cracked copy of Photoshop and too many energy drinks, he started making his own. Clean crests, proper shields, little details that made amateur clubs look like they belonged in the Eredivisie. He posted them on the official Sports Interactive forums under the username “Tempelman”. Within weeks people were begging for more. By 2007 his logo packs were everywhere. The famous “FM Netherlands” pack, the “Eredivisie Metallic Logos”, the massive “Worldwide Megapack”; Temps work was in all of them, credited in the readme files as “Tempelman – Vitesse Arnhem”. Miles Jacobson himself sent him a private message once: “Your logos are the reason half our players even know these clubs exist. Thank you.” Temp printed that message and stuck it above his desk. He studied graphic design at the Artez art academy in Arnhem, paid the rent by freelancing logos for real clubs (VV DUNO, CSV Apeldoorn, even a short stint doing badges for an Indonesian second division side). But the dream never left: he wanted to coach. Not just manage on a screen, manage for real. So at 26 he started collecting his UEFA badges while still releasing logo updates every year. People on the forums joked that one day he’d end up in the Gelredome technical area wearing the same yellow-and-black tie he designed for the Vitesse logo in FM 2012. Life got in the way for a while. Ten pin bowling, a steady job at a design agency in Nijmegen, the usual. The logo updates slowed down. Then in 2023 everything collapsed at Vitesse: relegation threats, financial chaos, the club almost went bankrupt. The supporters were desperate for someone, anyone, who actually understood what the badge meant. Temp, now 38, had just finished his UEFA Pro Licence. He still had contacts from the logo days; one of them worked in the Vitesse media department. On a mad whim he sent an e-mail titled “A supporter with a plan”. He attached a 40-page document: new branding ideas (subtle, respectful updates to the logo he himself had immortalised in FM), a playing philosophy built around Gelderland talent, and a promise that he would work for free until the club was stable. The board thought it was a joke at first. Then they saw the document. Then they saw the forums: thousands of posts from all over the world saying “If anyone loves Vitesse more than Tempelman, I’ve never met them.” They invited him for an interview. He walked in wearing the same yellow-and-black tie from FM 2012. Three weeks later, on the opening day of the 2024-25 Keuken Kampioen Divisie season, Temp stood on the touchline at the Gelredome as head coach of Vitesse Arnhem. The scarf around his neck was the one his dad bought him for his tenth birthday. When the camera panned to him before kick-off, the graphic on screen read: TEMPELMAN AGE 39 NATIONALITY NED PREFERRED FORMATION 4-2-3-1 ATTACK And in the bottom corner, where it usually says “Previous Clubs”, it just read: Creator of the official Football Manager Vitesse Arnhem logo 2006–2022 The away fans unfurled a banner that said: “FROM PIXELS TO THE PITCH – WELKOM THUIS, TEMP” He still releases the odd logo update in the close season. But now he does it from the manager’s office overlooking the same pitch he watched as a boy. And every time Vitesse score at home, the big screen shows the crest he designed when he was 19, glowing under the floodlights he could see from his childhood bedroom window. Some dreams take the long way round. Tempelman just took the scenic route in yellow and black.

That second one brings a tear to the eye, it's beautiful

Absolutely love these, how I hadn't seen them before I have no idea. Is the original Owl an alternative for Sheff Wed in these?

Not sure if this is the right place to request this. Possible to get an Alternate SWFC logo in this style based on the old style owl.

Looking forward to Badlands myself, Need to go and watch the new Tron too

So...... How's everyone finding it so far? Bugs aside of course. Myself I've started with Sheff Wed just to get the feel for it but I'm enjoying it, something new to get our teeth into. It did take a while to get used to the portal and all the info that is there for us.

Mate that is devastating such a beautiful lodge too. Alot of history lost and people not respecting it is a sign of society these days 😞