Jupp Janssen: Ex-volleyball international as Rhoda president, high-profile figures and angry fans left in catacombs

Ex-volleyball director and ex-international Jupp Jansen has been the chairman of the supervisory board of kitchen champion division club Rhoda JC since mid-2020. A lot of people left the country during that period. What has happened domestically around ‘King Jupe’ in recent years since his appointment? SoccerNews.nl He recently held many conversations about this internally.

On Monday, August 3, 2020, Jupp Janssen was appointed as the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Roda JC at the business club of the Parkstad Limburg Stadium. Hailing from the fashionable Beckerveld district of Heerlen, he had moved to America, where he worked for many years. The fifty-year-old, who lives just over the border from Maastricht in Belgium, suddenly burst onto the world of professional football, winning the KNVB Cup twice and once at the top of the Limburg club.

A glass was raised during Johnson’s presentation that summer day. Club icon René Trost, who played hundreds of matches for Roda and was head coach at Limburgers, was on the supervisory board alongside Jupp Johnson. On the proverbial day silk, As Commissioner of Football Affairs. Trost was presented on the same day as Janssen. However, it soon became clear that there was no question of close cooperation.

According to insiders, things did not get along between the two, to put it mildly, and Drost – who was furious with Jupp Janssen – decided to step down from the club’s top job within a year, according to inside sources. After his appointment. The official club lecture is that René Drost cannot combine his position as a member of the supervisory board for football affairs with the youth coach at Kerkgrad. A story some people wanted to believe.

The former defender resigned as commissioner after his record as a player and his natural image as ‘one of us’, popular with fans, angered supporters. In June 2021, eight supporters’ organizations rebelled against Job Johnson, who had been in office for a year. They sent a long letter to Jose Som. Former mayor of Kerkrade Roda is chairman of the JC Foundation, which manages the club’s shares. Job Johnson was accused by Rhoda fans of working alone.

Trust revoked

In addition, supporters feared that Janssen was trying at the time to remove technical director Jeffrey Van As. The fans demanded that the monitoring committee leader leave. “In light of the above – and in the interests of Rhoda JC – we ask that you or the Rhoda JC Trust immediately intervene and say goodbye to Mr Johnson who is no longer trusted in this area,” supporters said. At the time Jupe Johnson maintained a difficult relationship with his fellow supervisory directors and staff at Rhoda JC.

Proponents of Rhoda JC, whose urgent plea was not met, are well aware. Because shortly after, in the fall of 2021, financial expert Claudia Kueters decided to leave the supervisory board. Supervisory board member Robert-John Lamprichs and Richie Becks, the so-called compliance officer, also resigned at the time. Each time the name of club president Jupe Johnson came up, he was accused of playing a role because of the way he worked. In the first week of August 2021, Roda suddenly announced that the club would be saying goodbye to technical director Jeffrey van As with immediate effect.

Former professional Janssen and then general manager Martijn Wismans had to report one morning – at that time in the middle of the transfer window – and was immediately told to pack his bags. In a few minutes of conversation. The relationship between the then TD and chairman Janssen was poor, to say the least, however the club stated that the reason for the redundancy decision was cost savings. This is strongly contradicted by intuition to this day.

Board room

Von Aus himself repeatedly remarked to people he knew that he was “spoiled” by President Jupp Johnson. SoccerNews.nl Here’s the never-before-seen tidbit: On the day DD Van As received his gong, an angry group of players from the core members of the Kerkrate club stormed through the tunnel into the catacombs annex corridor of the Kerkrate Stadium. Club President Johnson. To get a story from him about his decision to put Van As on the street. Enraged supporters even came to the boardroom.

“Jup had left then. Fortunately, because the atmosphere was very tense,” says someone on the job site at the Limburg club, who experienced the fan action up close. “Janssen ducked out at the right time because he can act like an ostrich very well.” On the same day Van As was told to leave, RvC member technical affairs Trost, who left a few weeks earlier, appeared at the Parkstad Limburg stadium, people involved now reveal.

Departed Team Manager

The former pro was furious and went absolutely wild during a meeting with Roda staff, including club president Jupp Janssen. “You’re ruining the club”, he was thrown in the head as the bystanders said. According to Rhoda JC staff, it was one of the few times Janssen has revealed himself in the workplace since his appointment in 2020, having often hinted that he is in favor of ‘transparency’. “He is an ostrich-politician. Although he is officially an overseer, a decision is made from the top, and then he quickly withdraws his head.

Then there was press officer and team manager Mark Moss. A man who worked hard for 24/7 years at the Limburg professional club, but refused to publish because of all the frustrations after the forced departure of Jeffrey van As – and his displeasure with the events surrounding his dismissal. Press release on behalf of Rhoda JC. At that point the chaos ended in Rhoda. Mass also took his bags because of Jupp Janssen’s performance. He is said to have finished it. In the autumn of 2021, he – rich with great disappointment – finally closed the doors of the Parkstad Limburg stadium behind him.

lack of understanding

In short, within three years of Jupp Janssen being the first man at Roda JC, at least six people left or resigned from the Limburg professional club. “All those people are gone because of Jupe Johnson’s actions, but the man remains alone,” grumbles many inside Rhoda JC. “What important things has he done that is so obviously unassailable to his position? Ego is a theme after all.”

Club president Janssen has been one of the faces of Rhoda in recent years. He appeared once again in the crosshairs of the media: during the presentation of the current general director, Jordan Peters, in October 2021. Back in the Sponsor Room of the Kitchen Champion Division Club. Filming him as he arrives, before taking the microphone behind the lectern, seems like he doesn’t want to.

Limburger tried to avoid his face wherever possible. After that day in the winter of 2021, he disappeared under the radar again. A concerned supporter recently sent him – anonymously for fear of getting into trouble – an e-mail owned by this website in which he expressed his displeasure with the situation at Rhoda and asked questions about it. Jupe Johnson’s reply hasn’t been received yet, so that sounds like it. Until now, during home games, he can occasionally be seen in the boardroom between the Rhoda JC sponsor boxes.

‘King Zoop’

“Then he’s weighed down with some of the people around him. He doesn’t promote his club, at least not in a way that anyone can see. According to many insiders, he doesn’t have much of the ‘transparency’ he once opted for. On Instagram, a fan joked through an account named Janssen. King Joe. The Rhoda leader is depicted in a projected photograph with a crown on his head.

Meanwhile, Jupe Johnson’s club is in a sporting trough and fans are crying out for innovation and clarity. Requests asking questions about the chairman of the supervisory board’s criticism and plans for the future of the KKD club went unanswered. The CEO could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.