Having reached a quiet survival in the previous campaign, Venlo confirmed coach De Koning at the helm and it seemed like a good idea as they began the season with an explosive 5-3 away win over Emmen.
Compared to the previous campaign, De Koning opted for more open football, which improved their scoring rates, also thanks to the Eredivisie's top scorer Giakoumakis. But it had its downside in terms of goals conceded. The notorious 0-13 home defeat to Ajax in week 6 is a testament to that.
Despite the occasional slip, Venlo never seemed to be risking relegation, while enjoying an outstanding KNVB Cup ride up to the semi-finals, where they lost to Vitesse in March.
During the winter transfer campaign, Venlo tightened the back 4 with Guwara and De Graca and the team went through a 5-game positive run (W4 D1) thus reaching a comfortable 13th place.
It was just an illusion, though. By week 20, at the end of January, they started piling up one heavy defeat after another and that eventually cost De Koning his job.
Fellow citizen Jos Lukuhay, a debutant in Dutch football, was thus hired but things got worse, despite the adoption of a back 5. They actually stopped scoring between weeks 28 and 31.
Having dropped to the bottom 2 by week 30, they needed to win at least 2 of the last 3 to avoid direct relegation. They managed to set an end to the unprecedented 12-game losing run at home against RKC Waalwijk, drawing 3-3, but in week 33 a dull performance against Ajax cost them a 1-3 defeat and relegation became official. They lost their final match at home 0-4 to FC Emmen.
Venlo went through a shocking and unexpected relegation and will certainly lose most of their stars over the summer, such as Giakoumakis, capable of 26 goals in his first Eredivisie campaign, Machach (5 assists) and Van Crooij (3 goals and 8 assists). An immediate return to the top flight seems unlikely at the moment.
