"I Turned Down Big Dutch Club For Tranmere"
By Quayle
May 8 2005
Now that giant goalkeeper, John Achterberg has signed the dotted line and is playing for another two season for sure, he tells of how he had interest from another huge club, back in his home native of Holland, but not even that could tempt him away.
In the light of Big Dutch goalkeeper, John Achterberg, it has appeared that John turned down a Premieship club in his home country, Holland, to stay with his beloved Tranmere.
John Achterberg, who is 33 years old, signed on to stay for another two season at Prenton Park, this week. And this snap up has seemed even more joyful now that the commitment of, the fans favourtie, John Achterberg is huge and invaluable to the club.
Speaking to the Daily Post John said : "I am very pleased and so are my family because we all like it here and wanted to stay.
"I had interest from a Dutch Premiership club and they made me an offer. I went to Tranmere to see if they wanted to keep me because although the offer from Holland was a bit better, we preferred to stay here.
"Now I hope we will be staying a bit longer than this contract and I hope I will be playing in the Championship over the next two seasons."
And now his contract is secured, Achterberg has his sights firmly locked into gaining the last available promotion spot, through the play-offs. And this is confirmed when John just illustrates how much playing at Cardiff means for a player and their career.
"This season has had its highs and lows. There have been a few games when I did not do as well as I wanted. But from a team point of view we have not done badly in reaching the play-offs. They are a lottery. You just need to make sure you win three games.
"For me playing in the final would make up for not playing at Wembley five years ago."
Talk about John on the Total Tranmere Message Board