Only at their third season in the Eredivisie, Emmen went through one of the craziest campaigns one could possibly ever imagine. In fact, at the end of week 22 they were sitting all alone at the foot of the table, having collected just 6 draws and no wins whatsoever.
It was mid-February and, despite such despairing results, coach Lukkien, the architect of their arrival to the top flight of the Dutch football, sported an incomprehensible optimism as he kept repeating that they would not be relegated.
Some of the many players that had joined Emmen during the winter transfer campaign became protagonists. Among them, Verrips made it between the posts, while Bernadou and Vlak brought muscles and nous in the middle of the park. Frei, who had also participated to the previous survival, and Azdic injected highly-needed creativity in the attack.
Right out of the blue, Emmen turned into a completely different team. They started winning games with ease and giving hard times to all sorts of opponents. Between weeks 23 and 30 they won 5 games and drew 3, in particular stealing points from their trips to 7th-placed Groningen and 5th-placed Feyenoord. Thus, they dragged themselves out of the bottom 2 and made it to the play-off spot.
Back-to-back 0-4 defeats to Ajax and Groningen did not jeopardise their march but, despite winning the last 2 and matching RKC Waalwijk in the table, they failed to achieve direct survival due to a poorer goal difference and had to face the play-offs against NAC Breda which resulted in their relegation after a dramatic penalty shootout.
Despite a limited budget and the most embarrassing of starts to the season, Emmen proved that they can still belong in the Eredivisie and that one should never give up no matter how desperate the situation is.
If they want to immediately return to the Eredivisie, they will have to find a proper replacement for De Leeuw, set to quit for Groningen, whose 13 goals were decisive for their remarkable run.
