Ron Jans jumps into the breach for the players of FC Twente. Part of the selection of the Enschede club decided to celebrate carnival, shortly after the 2-0 defeat against Go Ahead Eagles. It angered fans.
For Jans it was not an option to impose a carnival ban. “Everyone leads in their own way,” the trainer responds to ESPN’s camera. “They really didn’t ask me for permission. They were free on Sunday evening and Monday. Then I’m not one to check that.” He himself would have made a different choice, he says. “I didn’t even feel like watching football in the evening. It made me so sick…”
“But I’m not going to check what my players are doing 24 hours a day,” Jans emphasizes again. “I think they are human too. If they have this in advance, then they have to decide that for themselves. I want us to learn from that game and just be there. Monday was already planned as a day off, in the work-rest ratio towards PSV.”
Jans does acknowledge that the defeat in Deventer was a hard blow for FC Twente. “You can lose once, but not the way we did. But then I’m not going to throw the bat in the coop or play the wicked witch. I’m trying my own way. If people don’t like that, then they’re out of luck.”
Jans thinks it might be good for the players of Twente ‘to do something different’. “I was not aware of it, but you can do something else now and then. That is also celebrating carnival. That is in the blood of a lot of people. I will not take that away from them. It is their own responsibility.”
Ron Jans about the criticism of his carnival-celebrating selection:
“Some people have that in their blood, I’m not going to take that away.” 🎉 pic.twitter.com/ZernLF4mly
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) February 21, 2023
