For many supporters the question was whether or not Feyenoord could still be considered a top team. So-called funny people called it a “flop team”. That wasn’t nice, of course, but Feyenoord had only itself to blame. Feyenoord overcame this terrible period through the help of two special men. They had played an important role in the successes of Feyenoord as players. They played in the football feat of May the 6th 1970 in San Siro. For a great part, Feyenoord had owed this success to these two men: Wim Jansen and Wim van Hanegem, or Wimpie and Willem as the fans lovingly called them. They would serve the club in a different way. To ask Wim Jansen to take over in 1991 had been a golden move by the Feyenoord board of directors. At the time he was working as manager of SVV, but because of his long career at the stadium team, he was called Mister Feyenoord. He couldn’t refuse, so that’s why he came.

Jansen gave Feyenoord back their self-belief and wouldn’t venture in to any adventure. The team was to be built up from the back. Success followed soon. At the end of the season the first prize had been won. Feyenoord won the Cup final against BVV Den Bosch. The match was terrible, but in cup competition only the results count. Feyenoord won by one goal to nil, and so coach and players and supporters were ecstatic. The fans stormed onto the field, which prevented the team from making any sort of an honorary lap to show the cup. At the start of the next season Feyenoord won the Supercup by beating champions PSV. The cup was won again the following year. In a better final than the previous year, Roda JC was beaten 3-0.

Starting the 1992/1993 season, Willem van Hanegem joined the technical staff at Jansen’s request. They had been a solid couple in their playing days. Hopefully that would still be the case, because the fans demanded more of them still. They had suffered long enough.

At first it didn’t look like Feyenoord had a shot at the title, but towards the end their chances of taking the title grew by the match. On May the 22nd Feyenoord beat Willem II, while PSV, their main rivals, lost at Vitesse Arnhem in the same weekend. That caused the turnaround and the title race was heading for a spectacular finish. Where PSV looked to have the best chances all season, now it was Feyenoord who were in charge. Two matches separated Feyenoord from the national title: one in the far south, against MVV Maastricht, and one all the way up north against FC Groningen. The Rotterdammers were reborn.

Everybody wanted to watch the final sprint. The match against MVV was transmitted live on television. Almost three million people watched the penultimate leg of Feyenoord’s title race on television. The force from Zuid hadn’t lost any of it’s popularity in the country over the years. Feyenoord beat MVV Maastricht on May the 25th 1993 by two goals to nil. Now only the final and all-deciding match against Groningen, a week later, remained.

5.000 Feyenoord supporters travelled with their idols on May the 31st 1993. There was no room for any more in the Oosterpark. To soften the pain of not being there, Feyenoord came up with a both beautiful and unique solution. Giant TV-screens were put up in the Kuip. Via the television the 5.000 supporters in the Oosterpark would sing to the 33.000 in the Kuip:”And we’re all waving to the Kuip”. And they waved back in the Kuip: a magical bond was welded.

This way Feyenoord simply couldn’t lose. The final score was a reflection of the fans’ optimism: at the break Feyenoord was up 0-2, after the full 90 they won by 0-5. Feyenoord were the champions once again and that night there once again was also a party. The returning supporters from Groningen were thought of especially. A space on the Coolsingel had been reserved for them only, just near the city hall.

The year after that Feyenoord ended up second behind Ajax, but ahead of PSV. The cup, though, would once again come back to Rotterdam. On may the 12th 1994, Feyenoord beat NEC 2-1 in the final. It was the fourth successive prize-winning season. The supporters were very content. In Wim van Hanegem Feyenoord appeared to have recruited once again another top coach. The immensely popular trainer had built up some credit with the fans.

Sorce: o.a. Feyenoord Compleet, Waanders Uitgevers / Mr. J. Oudenaarden