ADO The Hague coach Alan Pardew is convinced that the club would still have played safe if the Eredivisie could have been completed. The Englishman realizes that the residents of The Hague should not complain about the decision of the KNVB not to apply relegation and promotion this season.
“I think that if you make it this way, you shouldn’t blow too high off the tower. We’ve been lucky and count our blessings. At the same time, I think it’s a right decision,” said Pardew on Saturday with Football International.
The KNVB decided on Friday after a chaotic meeting that ADO and RKC Waalwijk will be retained for the Eredivisie and that SC Cambuur and De Graafschap must also settle for the Kitchen Champion Division after the summer. That choice met with many clubs, because the majority in a vote was in favor of promotion and relegation.
“There were eight games to play and as long as there is a chance of direct enforcement, you should not take that away from a club,” said Pardew. “I’m not saying that we had won everything, but before the game against Fortuna Sittard that was canceled, I tasted a lot of confidence. Or rather, determination. We really thought we could make it, but we will never know if that would have succeeded. “
‘Frustrations at Cambuur and De Graafschap are understandable’
Pardew, who was not involved in the conference call between the KNVB and the clubs, does understand the sentiment in the Netherlands. Cambuur and De Graafschap had a big lead over number three FC Volendam, which meant they could hardly miss a promotion to the Eredivisie.
“The frustrations at SC Cambuur and De Graafschap in particular are understandable and I feel sorry for those clubs. Of course there was a great chance that they would have been promoted. Now that this decision has been taken, it seems to me at least fair that the Dutch Football Association that somehow compensates for clubs. “
Pardew, who signed a six-month contract in January and talks with the club management about his future at ADO, has achieved the goal by enforcing it. In that case, he was initially entitled to a bonus of reportedly 100,000 euros, but he does not intend to claim that extra.
“Formally, maybe, but you didn’t think I would do that, in this time and under these circumstances? I have to check my contract, but if I get a bonus, I don’t even want it. Then I give “Back to the club, with the request to do something good with it. As far as I’m concerned, the money will go to health care in The Hague.”
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