Report into investment group deal slams FC Twente management

Photo: FC Twente
Photo: FC Twente

An independent report into the financial problems at FC Twente has recommended that most of the club’s board stand down.

In the report, researcher Ben Knüppe says there is an ‘unhealthy culture’ at the Enschede club and that it deliberately misinformed the Dutch football association about its relationship with investment group Doyen Sports.

Twente has already been banned from European football for three years by the KNVB and fined €45.250 because of the deal. Now Knüppe has said current director Gerald van den Belt and other directors should go because they no longer have the ‘credibility’ to do their jobs.

The agreement signed between FC Twente and investment company Doyen led to the resignation of chairman Aldo van der Laan in November. In 2014 Doyen agreed to put €5m into the club in return for a percentage of the transfer fee for seven players.

However, leaked documents show the deal gives Doyen considerable say over Twente’s transfer policy, which the club has always denied and which is banned by the football association KNVB.

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