FORTUNA SITTARD (Offermans Joosten Stadion)

EERSTE DIVISIE, FORTUNA SITTARD 5-0 SC TELSTAR, ATTENDANCE: 2,112

The final day of my journey across Holland was not only a trip to the Limburg region (south) of the country, but also a chance for a little bit of nostalgia for this Evertonian.

There were plenty of Eerste Divisie (Dutch second tier) games to choose from tonight, all within a couple of hours of base camp in Utrecht - Oss, Emmen, Eindhoven - but it was the name of Fortuna Sittard that leapt off the fixture page in big bold letters.

Programme covers from both legs
of Everton v Sittard in 1985

It was purely because, as a young blue, my first experience of European football was Everton's 1984/85 Cup Winners' Cup campaign. This introduced to me names such as, err, University College Dublin, Inter Bratislava, Bayern Munich, Rapid Vienna and, of course, Fortuna Sittard.

This name immediately evokes memories of Andy Gray's hat-trick at Goodison Park in a 3-0 win to effectively seal a Quarter Final tie, before Everton travelled to Sittard to clinch a 2-0 win to set up a semi-final clash against Bayern Munich, the rest, as they say, is history.*

The club was formed in 1968 after a merger of Fortuna 54 and RKSV Sittardia and the club were regular fixtures in the Eredivisie until relegation in 2002. Financial irregularities had also been discovered and the club has been struggling ever since. They sold off the new ground, which had only been opened in 1999, which had replaced the old De Baandert stadium (where the Everton game was played) to help clear debts and there was also talk of a merger with Roda JC.

Fortuna is still under the guardianship of KNVB (Dutch FA) as they are classed as a category 1 club regards their finances not yet being in order. The club needs to submit a plan of action, so they are back in category 2 or 3 within three years. If they fail to do so the ultimate sanction is to have their licence revoked (it was revoked in 2009 but Fortuna had this decision reversed on a technicality).

As part of the plan maybe, the ground has once again been sold to clear debts. Perhaps this explained the work that was going on around the ground, as it was like a building site when I arrived. It looked like offices were being built behind the North side stand.

Back to matters on the field, and it was a comfortable win for Fortuna, thanks in no small part to a superb five-minute hat-trick from Abdelaziz Khalouta (19, 23, 24). The visitors from Velsen had no reply and when Jeffrey Vlug (36) made it 4-0 before the break you sensed a cricket score coming on. 

Telstar managed to only concede one further goal in the second half, Ramon Voorn (67) scoring, but it would be a painful journey home for the 7 hardy souls who travelled south, just wished they could have had a goal to cheer!

The travelling SC Telstar fans - more
stewards than supporters -
but *doffs cap* what a great effort!!

*Everton beat Bayern Munich 3-1 over two legs before beating Rapid Vienna 3-1 in the final in Rotterdam.