In this thread I will write about PSV, also known as ‘Boeruh’, ‘Roodwitten’ and ‘The red white army’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I9_gBGVn1A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fum2AtUua9U

The first postings will be about previous seasons.

In season 42, PSV was without a manager for some time. Also the team was in danger of relegation. Fortunately a new manager arrived, promosing the fans that their favourite team would be competing in Europe soon. Alas, the enthousiasm of the fans soon went down as the PSV starting to lose match after match. Players were sold that should not have been sold, new players arrived who didn’t make the first team, and the unavoidable happened: PSV relegated to the Eerste Divisie. An outrage, and managers have been fired for less, but the board decided to have patience and gave the manager a chance to build up the team. However, staying in the Eerste Divisie longer than one season was not acceptable.

Could things in season 43 go worse than what happened last season? Yes it could. After six places PSV was on the last place with 2 draws and four losses. The fans shouted for a new manager, and the board lost their patience too. “One more loss and your out!” Message understood, loud and clear: twenty matches later PSV was still on four losses, and in those twenty games they scored 76 goals! Suddenly even the championship seemed possible. At the end PSV was just three match points short for the championship, but with 126 goals for and 32 against the fans were happy again and eagerly awaiting the comeback in the Eredivisie.

Meanwhile, some promosing youngsters had joined the team, like Aldo Roma and Yvon Angot, and it was decided that the best trainers would be hired to develop them. A good decision, it would turn out later.

Season 44 started well: many teams were bidding to get the Spanish super talent Berto Lomeras, but he choice was to play for PSV. A choice he hasn’t regretted yet. The league didn’t start well though, as the team was struggling to stay in the middle of the table. But once the team started winning they didn’t stop and at the end for the first time in many years PSV qualified for the Europe League by getting the third place with 76 points. Europe here we come!

The usual bad start in season 45: only 22 points from the first 16 matches. Not that the team played badly, but for some reason the opponent’s keeper was always excelling against us. Fortunately the season is 38 games and at the end PSV made 76 points again (89-56) which was good for the second place this year.

Meanwhile the squad wasn’t ready for Europe yet: only one point was made in the six EL-matches. Can’t win the war with only very young players, so some still young but experienced players were bought for the younger stars to look up too. And some of them were developing very quickly…

In season 46 the traditional bad start was really bad: just seven points from the first eight matches. No need to worry though, 12 of the next 13 matches were won, and the goal, the third place, was within reach. AZ also wanted this spot and a race between the two teams started. A close race, and before the last round both teams had the same amount of points… but PSV lost the last match! Oh no! But a miracle happened: AZ also lost, and the team from Eindhoven took third place with 72 points (117-64 vs 85-49 by AZ).

In Europe things didn’t go very well: being paired with Valladolid for a place in a CL group, PSV lost without a chance against a team that got knocked out in the semi finals later. A lesson was learned: for now, Europe League is a better place to develop the players.

Analysis of the matches of this season showed that the keeper was the weak spot in the squad. Not that PSV has weak keepers, but for some reason the don’t perform as well as the keepers of our competion do. A decision was made: the experienced Gavin Armstrong was sold, Ben Stellmacher would be the new first keeper, while Peres and Pieter would defend the reserve team goal. PSV is happy to have to have these young players and expect them to be candidates for the national squad in the future.

Season 47: This time the start wasn’t as badly as in previous seasons, though 29 points from the first 15 matches was a little below the board expectations. But a series of wins later PSV was on the second place, and everything was allright. Or was it? No! The second place had to be avoided at all costs. By losing the last
four matches with 8-3, 3-0, 0-10 and 19-0 (!) PSV just managed to take the third place, with the same match points (76) as Fortuna Sittard, but the goal difference (92-80) was low enough to avoid the second place. Phew! Direct qualification for the Europe League groups had been managed!

Talking about the Europe League, things went well there. PSV easily took the first place (in what probably was the weakest group of the four), and the quarter finals against Grenoble also was no problem. Alas, in the semi-finals the later winners Dijon were too strong. But we’ll be back in season 48!

No bad start in season 49. On the contrary, in the first half of the season PSV scored 17 wins and 2 ties! One of the wins was a convincing 3-0 against the defending champion AGOVV, who also won almost all their matches. Unfortunately, in the second half of the season battling on three fronts turned out a bit too much for the squad and PSV started to drop points in the Eredivisie. Since AGOVV continued to win a lot, PSV only managed a second place, but 91 points (117-34) is still a good result. The cup final between both teams was also a convincing victory for AGOVV: 4-0.

In the Europe League, PSV was paired in a tough group with teams from England and France, at least on paper. It turned out to be a piece of cake though, and with 13 points from 6 matches PSV easily qualified for the quarterfinals. There again Manchester United was the opponent. PSV beat them twice in the group games, but this time the wins were shared and by scoring one goal more in the two matches the English team went through. So no luck this time, but in season 49 we hope to make our name in the champions league!