Robert Eenhoorn spoke to FC Groningen about Gudde’s succession, RKC director Van Mosselveld ‘top candidate’

General manager Robert Eenhoorn, who is leaving AZ at the end of the season, has had a conversation with FC Groningen, which is looking for a successor to Wouter Gudde. It is not clear whether the former top baseball player is one of the last three remaining candidates, but it is known Dagblad van het Noorden to report that RKC Waalwijk director Frank van Mosselveld is currently the ‘top candidate’ for the job in the Euroborg.

Gudde was appointed by FC Groningen in 2019 as successor to the iconic Hans Nijland. Under the former professional’s reign, the club took a number of steps to create a more stable financial foundation, but sporting disaster struck hard in the 2022/23 season. Groningen, which won the KNVB Cup in 2015 and participated in the play-offs for European football almost every season after that, was relegated directly to the second level after a disastrous year as number eighteen in the Eredivisie. Gudde stayed on, but announced in November that he would step down at the end of the season. At that moment, the intended quick return to the highest level with a thirteenth place in the Kitchen Champion Division seemed far away, but trainer Dick Lukkien has now recovered from the leak and the Pride of the North third. The gap with second place Roda JC, which entitles them to direct promotion at the end of the season, is only a single point.

In the search for a successor to Gudde, the Supervisory Board of FC Groningen has held discussions with a ‘long list of dozens of candidates’, including Eenhoorn, according to the newspaper mentioned above. He in turn announced in February that he would be leaving AZ after ten seasons. In addition, former FC Groningen player Johan de Kock and Michiel van Veen, mayor of the municipality of Gemert-Bakel (‘and a big FC Groningen fan’) would also have been on the longlist. “Shorter or longer interviews took place with all candidates. Some dropped out of their own accord, others were found not to be suitable,” it writes. DvhN.

Top candidate
Supervisory Board chairman Jakob Klompien informed the newspaper in a response that serious discussions have been held with three candidates. “We still have to start the second round of discussions,” Klompien also reports. The medium writes that current RKC Waalwijk director Frank van Mosselveld is considered a ‘top candidate’. The 40-year-old former defender is said to have even been spotted in the city: “The born Brabander reportedly wanted to sample the atmosphere of the city and asked whether he and his family could feel at home in the North after a lifetime of long in Brabant.” FC Groningen would hope to be able to appoint a successor to Gudde before April 1.