AZ Alkmaar and Ajax thrash around in the snow during their Dutch league match. Photograph: Olaf Kraak/EPA
Rather than tackling pertinent problems such as video-replays for referees on offside goals, football’s executives think it best to distract us by solving non-issues on the periphery of the sport instead. National B-squads for example. Once a fixture of [...]

Marco van Basten’s managerial style is having mixed results at Ajax. Photograph: Michael Kooren/Reuters
Give a Dutchman a choice and he will say no. It’s in his inherent nature to question and resist. The refusal in the Netherlands’ first ever referendum, when the European Constitution was voted down in 2005, surprised few and confirmed why we [...]

Ibrahim Afellay starred for PSV at the weekend. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images
While England watched Chelsea take on Manchester City in a match-up between natural gas and crude oil (natural gas won 3-1 on this occasion), Holland saw a far more amusing bout between AZ manager Louis van Gaal and his own mouth.
Having just witnessed [...]

Steve McClaren. Photograph: Martin Ricketts / PA
Speculation linking Steve McClaren with the manager’s job at Dutch club FC Twente has heightened after his agent admitted it is “an option” for the former England coach.
McClaren, out of work since he left the England job in November following the failure to qualify for Euro 2008, was in [...]