Tempelman

Although this happened two weeks ago, still like to share... The first fire occurred two weeks ago, at a furniture store. There was an oil storage nearby, so firefighters had to ramble up everyone in the neighborhood to take control of the huge ball of fire, eventually the whole store was into ashes. A short video has appeared online, with someone running away while all hell broke loose very quickly, so it appears the fire was ignited by another person. Nobody has been apprehended. The next night (Thursday/Friday) another fire started, only this time it was right in the middle of Arnhem, downtown. I read the news early in the morning before cycling to work, and as I cycle to downtown, it is eerily quiet, I did not notice anything... I expected chaos. I thought they put the fire out already, no big deal... There is a bridge connecting the north to the south, and as I went up there, I looked to my right, and I saw a huge cloud of smoke coming up from downtown. Like, holy fucking shit. The fire took a whole 24 hours to control, and took a whole block of historical buildings to the ground. That got me... These buildings survived WW2, but now are put to ashes. Later that day I cycled by, obviously stopped by police. Today I saw the devestation the fire has caused. It is a miracle firefighters had all of the residents out all in time, and that there are no casualties. But, seeing it today, that shit broke me. Two days after the fire, police have apprehended three men, through video footage. One of them is a known drug addict, and the others are associated with him. The council is trying to preserve what they can, as much of the facades are still up, but most roofs are burned to the ground.

Regarding the community I don't see a lot of negativity, except that they aimed at transparancy, but stayed silent for so (too) long. Me personally expected this would happen, but they should have cancelled in October. I don't care much, I want a playable and fun game and I don't mind the longer wait. Because in the end, it's a game, not the end of the world. I believe the backlash would be a lot bigger if they delivered a half-assed unfinished game, which people paid good money for. My two cents

The 5 new owners are as followed (translation from Vitesse website)... - Dane Murphy: an American former professional footballer who played for New York Cosmos,VfL Osnabrück and DC United. Owns a company named DMW Vista (but when I Google the company, I can't find much information, except the Dutch news articles announcing the new owners). He also was CEO at Barnsley FC and Nottingham Forest. - Flint Reilly: a real professional with experience in the NBA, Liverpool FC and an (unnamed) sportsagency. The American namely has a background in commerce and sponsoring. - Timo Braash: is Managing Director at Global Investment Partners. Braasch is a German entrepreneur who specializes in complex problem solving and strategic growth investments. He has been actively involved in real estate, German SMEs and Sports & Entertainment, both as an investor and advisor. - Leon Mueller: is a former footballer who now works as an entrepreneur in Berlin. The German successfully led the family business in the automotive sector, which grew into one of Berlin's largest mobility providers. He co-hosts a football podcast and has close ties within the football world. - Bryan Mornaghi: is an experienced lawyer and investor. The Italian has experience with various acquisitions, handling complex legal matters and negotiating and signing large capital contracts with Dutch companies in the offshore wind sector. Future plans The initial period will be used to get to know the club better. Attention will be paid to Vitesse's history, club culture and its role in the region and society. The shareholders will also hold various discussions with Vitesse's most important stakeholders. One thing is already clear; the shareholders are young, ambitious, realistic and determined to get Vitesse back where it belongs. That takes time. Vitesse deserves to be a self-sufficient club that not only focuses on short-term success, but also on the continuous development of our academy, players and organisation. No media activities for the time being The shareholders have chosen not to do any media activities for the time being. The focus is initially on creating peace and above all the internal organisation. So, two Americans, two Germans and one Italian dude.

He also had interest in Vitesse, so I think it has hurt his pride. But he is a very ruthless businessman, who always plays through the media

Next week we will know, they will introduce themselves then. According to Reijntjes they do have football know-how. Obviously there are a lot of rumors going around at the moment, because of the rules that the KNVB has in place, as said all have minority stakes and as such Vitesse does not have to go to the whole licensing process like previously. Personally I am very skeptical, like everyone is because of the construction of the deal, it is like bending/stretching the rules, plus that this was very sudden, but let's wait and see. This season is a lost cause anyway. There are rumors Parry himself set it all up and he actually is the owner. No official response from the KNVB as of yet, and I am very curious what they think. Van der Kuit (stadium owner) does not trust it either and said that from 2030, Vitesse will lose Gelredome as home ground. The soap still continues...

Today I heard the news Vitesse has been taken over by 5 unknown foreign investors, all of these individuals have a less than 25% minority stake at the club, which means they already comply to KNVB rules, and as such the licensing committee probably (I am not sure) does not have to investigate the new owners. Parry's debt of 17M has already been paid off, and the club now suddenly has a positive balance of 4M equity. What all of this means, I am not totally sure, the club has claimed several times that they have been saved... To be continued, I am pretty skeptical

I enjoyed the save with Zenit, when Arshavin, Anyukov and Pogrebnyak played there, that was such a fun team to play with. Others that come to mind are my Bordeaux and Napoli spells. I have to admit that I obviously usually play with Vitesse only I have not played FM for a while now, but I would love to start a game with Ferencvaros sometime

Take a look at the league table and see where Ajax is at. At the moment they play either good, or really bad, lucky (and I am not joking) to be so far up the table as it is

Stopped years ago since Abramovic stepped down. So far I have no real news as of yet. There are a few interested parties including a Dutch one, who seem to be further into negotiations than other interested parties. This season is a loss though and luckily Vitesse cannot relegate any further

21 point deduction. But today is also a happy kind of day, because we finally won a game. All I can say at the moment. -12 points it is

If you guys are interested, this podcast of around 90 minutes long, is where Coley Parry himself tells his side of the story from the collapsed takeover, to today. I got to admit, that I did not trust this man at all, as well as his intentions with Vitesse. But, I now see a man who is well spoken, polite, calm and realistic, who seems to know what he is doing, or what he was doing. His side of the story definitely makes a lot of sense, and is very much believable. I am inclined to believe it. Anyway, very interesting podcast, if you want to know more about what happened at the club for the past years until this day, then I can definitely recommend it

Another update. Originally, one of the demands of the licensing committee of the KNVB is that Coley Parry can't have any influence of any sorts regarding Vitesse. This was a no go, and if Parry did have any future influence, the club would never get their pro license back. Fast forward to a week ago. Guus Franke has stepped down as future owner, and blames Parry for it. Former business partners of Franke already warned Vitesse several times that Franke is unreliable, a fraud, as a whole not trustworthy. Franke had a deal with Parry about the debt of 17M, but at the same time, Franke was also still under investigation of the KNVB. Both parties are fighting it out through the media, and blaming each other. The thing is, there seemed to be a 'sideletter', a document between Franke and Parry, which proves that Parry would still have influence on the sell of shares of Vitesse, which was a no go for the license committee. The board of Vitesse claim they did not know about this document, which is naive. If they knew, the club could lose their license for good. If they did not know, as said, naive. Meanwhile as well, the club had a six point deduction, and because of the debt, the accountant cannot sign off the bills for next year, which will likely result in another point deduction. Vitesse are bottom KKD at this moment. This fucking soap never seems to end.....

Either this, or they deliver a shitty game full of bugs, and lose even more of the fanbase. Do I need to remind you what happened when they split with Eidos, and the dog shit Championship Manager games that Eidos brought out after that? Yeah, it is a shame, off course. But, I am trying to see it from a positive perspective.

FM25 is delayed until March 2025. Thoughts? My thinking is better skip it, update FM24's database, make it one season later ingame, and focus on FM26 instead...

The debt occurred when the Russian investor Valeriy Oyf stepped out of the club, because of the war. He had already invested several millions (like over a 100M) into the club but 'didn't want it back'. American investor Coley Parry was in line to take over the club, and before that invested several millions into the club, with a high interest rate, should the takeover be rejected. The takeover was eventually (after 18 months) rejected by the KNVB because Parry could not prove where his money came from. Rules for take overs are very strict over here. Vitesse were even fined for misleading, and an 18 point deduction, effectively relegating the club to the Keuken Kampioen divisie. The invested millions by Parry were turned into debts, which, as said, have a high interest rate.