For this save I am heading over to The Netherlands, to manage Willem II a team that is something of a fallen giant in Dutch football. I will be in the city of Tilburg in the Noord-Brabant province in the south of the country as you can see on the map below.

King William II (1792-1849) was incredibly fond of the city, he publicly stated it was where he felt happiest. As a consequence of his love for the place, Tilburg thrived under his reign as money was always made available for new infrastructure, farms and jobs. He even commissioned a new palace to be built which he would use as his country residence. 

The local football club was established on 12 August 1896 as Tilburgia, however, two years later the club was renamed after the King who had shared such a passion for the city and its people. From that day forward, the club became known as Willem II.

Willem II are a well-known Dutch football club who have enjoyed some success on the domestic stage many years ago. The club has won the Eredivisie three times in its history, 1915-16, 1951-52 and 1954-55. 

The first of those titles saw the team go unbeaten throughout the league season, finishing with a goal difference of 50. The Tricolores have won two domestic cups in their time (1944 and ’63), the latter was the same year they made their European competition debut, losing to Manchester United in the first round of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup.

The club play their home games at the 14,700-capacity Koning Willem II Stadion (King William II Stadium). Willem II has been something of a football factory in terms of talented young players who have either come through the youth system or were brought in to earn their stripes and gain some key experience in first-team football. 

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk spent time in the Willem II youth system before moving on to Groningen. Sami Hyypia, another former Liverpool man, is a firm fan favourite at the club as he made over 100 appearances in Willem colours and captained the side to Champions League qualification. 

Swedish starlet Alexander Isak enjoyed a career-defining loan spell with the club in 2018-19 as he found his goalscoring touch and fired in 13 goals from 16 appearances. Other well-known players who have stepped out in the Tricolores include perpetual Man Utd target Frenkie de Jong, Jaap Stam, Marc Overmars and Earnie Stewart.

Willem II didn’t enjoy the 2021/22 campaign as they were relegated from the Eredivisie and remained there the following season. Therefore, they begin the 2023/24 season in the Eerste Division. 

That is where we find them at the beginning of this FM24 save. In the long term I would like to go on to make Willem II the dominant force within Dutch football, Ajax have had their fun! 

We will need to become the ‘best of the rest’ beforehand but it’s nice to be able to dream. Before any of this can happen, of course, we need to get promoted back to the Eredivisie, that is the aim for the opening season. 

I would like to focus on signing and developing as many Dutch players as possible. I don’t want to label this as a ‘homegrown only’ save because I feel that could lead me to lose interest, so let’s just say, there will be more of a priority on signing Dutch players and developing talent via the youth system but we won’t limit ourselves.

The plan for this save:

• Focus on signing Dutch players when possible
• Overthrow Ajax as the dominant force in The Netherlands
• Have three homegrown newgens capped at international level
• Win a European trophy
• Successfully implement chosen tactical style

THE SQUAD:

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Current manager Peter Maes mostly sends the team out in a 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation which is something I had thought worth considering when looking at the current crop of players. 

I have decided upon my tactical approach for this save but to give it a detailed explanation I will be creating a separate post – I don’t want this one to drag on too long.

Thank you for reading, I hope you have enjoyed this introduction, I’m looking forward to getting started with this save.