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Zeefuik retires at 27 due to depression


rubyruby

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Just now, i8hibsh said:

He was very good for us. He certainly had the potential to be even better.

 

I liked him.

He certainly knew where the goals were. 

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No Hearts striker I've seen - even Robbo - was so desperate to score goals. 

 

Great shame that he had such a short career and hopefully he will get better.

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Such a shame and a great player.
 

Never understood why we didn’t try and sign him up permanently. Instead we ended up with Gavin Reilly that summer.

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He got a bit of a ribbing on here about his weight 'who ate all the pies' etc but apart from the usual minority who slag of anyone who is not themself I like to think it was good natured football banter. 

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It was only Livingston but collects a bouncing ball 30 yards out, gets it under control, lines the defender up and just melts it past the keeper. Natural.

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Still fondly remember my prophetic scoop, leading up to Jan window, when there was a lot of speculation and moaning (well, it is a Kickback) and, before any of us knew anything about Zeefuik, I quoted that well known Robbo epithet, "It's never over until the fat striker scores."

 

An extraordinary goal scorer for us and would have loved to see him in the Premiership. 

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Bazzas right boot

Our Shankland for a bit. 

Hopefully he gets help and enjoys a new career. 

A young lad, so plenty time to get his head sorted and be happy. 

 

 

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54 minutes ago, Chaps said:

Such a shame and a great player.
 

Never understood why we didn’t try and sign him up permanently. Instead we ended up with Gavin Reilly that summer.

 

I thought he was probably out of our price range at that point.

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Could be wrong, but I read that as an intention to get back out there and maybe get playing again. He's 30 now, so this occurred a while back. Sounds like he's dealing with it and getting back to fitness, so who knows, maybe he'll get back into playing football again. Good luck to the big guy if so.

 

I think the reason he enjoyed it so much here was he was out of the limelight a bit, and hit the ground running so got all the support he needed from the fans. I recall him being a very exciting prospect at PSV so the fact that he didn't live up to that billing must've got him a lot of stick in Holland. Shame for the lad. 

 

Loved him here. A proper no nonsense striker. Don't care if he wasn't a picture of sheer athleticism, he knew how to stick the ball in the back of the net.

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2 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

I thought he was probably out of our price range at that point.

Looking back I think that's definitely the case. Groningen signed him straight from PSV so he probably commanded a good wage there, and after us, he went to Turkey where he probably earned good money too. Maybe we could've offered him enough to persuade him, but I think there was a reluctance on our part to go all in on him when there was so much uncertainty. 

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Was absolutely brilliant for us. And for a big guy, he was really quick on his feet and had a turn of speed. Knew where the net was. Hoped we would have tried to sugn him permanently after his loan ended. I wish the big man all the best trying to get his life back on track.

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A terrible thing, how sad. he was amazing for us, never has a short-term player given me such hope that we would score. Everything he hit went in the net seemingly. I wish him nothing but health and sheer happiness for his future.

 

Clubs could use folk like this to send a message, I hope if he finds himself in a better place and wants it - that a club he has been at would consider a use for his knowledge, how can it not benefit younger players.

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I rememeber a few “banterous” jibes from Preston, gordon et al on the radio and he rammed it down there throats every single time, excellent player for us, all the best to him. 

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The sort of player Levein would have signed as a project in the days we could afford projects. I just wish we could reach out to him, try and help him, give him 6 months to get his head and body in order. Can you imagine how good he would be with 4 stones off, 100% fit and a head that works properly. 27 ? Time yet for the guy but it seems he’s chucked the towel in . Such a waste of a very talented player.

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2 hours ago, redjambo said:

 

Enjoyed watching that! I'd forgotten how good some of these goals were. Would have loved to have seen him for at least one full season in maroon. Think he would have scored lots of goals.

 

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Glamorgan Jambo

The header he perfectly placed in the bottom corner for the first of his goals in the game v Sevco is a thing of absolute beauty. Absolutely perfectly placed.

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I really liked Zeefuik shame he retired at the age of 27. I remember going to Amsterdam a few years ago and my hotel was at the Amsterdam Arena. I was in a Uber heading back from the city centre and the driver was asking who I supported his knowledge of Hearts and Scottish football was incredible he told me The big man was from Bijlmermeer In Amsterdam which is close to the Arena he also  knew of him growing up and was a Private Hire Uber driver now. That was just over 3 years ago now.  

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1 hour ago, JimmyCant said:

The sort of player Levein would have signed as a project in the days we could afford projects. I just wish we could reach out to him, try and help him, give him 6 months to get his head and body in order. Can you imagine how good he would be with 4 stones off, 100% fit and a head that works properly. 27 ? Time yet for the guy but it seems he’s chucked the towel in . Such a waste of a very talented player.

 

Unfortunately, he's 30 now, so this is news from a couple of years ago.  Maybe a bit too long out of the game to really get back into it like he used to.

 

All the "lolz Zeefuik fat" remarks at the time of him playing for us were so wide of the mark, it's actually embarrassing - he would even get it tight in the media, which is just no way to behave (when has that ever stopped them?).  The guy was lethal, and for someone who is a bit bulkier than average, he couldn't half still shift when he needed to.  You don't score a 3 minute hat-trick in competitive games if you're not half decent.  A  good range of goals, and a nice solid unit up front who you know isn't going to be bullied off the ball.  Beautiful. 

 

I wish he'd stayed for longer, and possibly staying settled at one club rather than moving around so much might have helped his state of mind, but it's impossible with Mental Health to know what's really going on.

 

If it wasn't for COVID, I would have 100% loved him to be invited to come back and train with us,  possibly get some games for the reserves whilst he worked his way back up if he was up for it.  A Cult Hero's welcome at Tynecastle would do wonders for him, and I'm sure plenty of us would have been happy to see him come back!

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Bazzas right boot
2 hours ago, The Natural Order said:

Far better than anything we have up front now. All the best big man!

 

 

Far better than Naismith and Boyce? 

 

Fair play tho- for managing to get a dig in at the team on this thread tho, well played. 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Chaps said:

Such a shame and a great player.
 

Never understood why we didn’t try and sign him up permanently. Instead we ended up with Gavin Reilly that summer.

 

Yes, it was a strange move that but Levein has done that in the past with Ricardo Fuller as well. I know he wasn't the manager at the time of Zeefuik but he still had to clear any deals in his DoF position. Zeefuik could've been a top player but he was never given the chance for some reason. Bit of hard work on the training pitch and he could've made a name for himself. I remember when we signed Gavin Reilly and wondered what the point of it was. He was never going to be any better than Keetings was at the time. Levein preferred "projects" and most of it never worked. Getting the ball in the net IS football at the end of the day.

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Not signing then? Someone in Hamilton will be gutted.  Its a shame we never got to see Zeefuik in the top flight will a full pre season behind him.  I think he got offered good money to go to Turkey.  That double he got against Rangers was outstanding. 

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20 minutes ago, jambonian said:

 

Yes, it was a strange move that but Levein has done that in the past with Ricardo Fuller as well. I know he wasn't the manager at the time of Zeefuik but he still had to clear any deals in his DoF position. Zeefuik could've been a top player but he was never given the chance for some reason. Bit of hard work on the training pitch and he could've made a name for himself. I remember when we signed Gavin Reilly and wondered what the point of it was. He was never going to be any better than Keetings was at the time. Levein preferred "projects" and most of it never worked. Getting the ball in the net IS football at the end of the day.

Levein did try to keep Fuller but way out of our range unfortunately. 

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Just now, davemclaren said:

Levein did try to keep Fuller but way out of our range unfortunately. 

 

Can you remember what the deal was? It's gone from my mind in the mist of time! Something tells me it was around £400k to get him permanently although i might be thinking of another player. 80s and 90s i'm fine with, anything after 2000s though..(a bit like the music charts!) are harder to remember. 

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6 hours ago, King prawn said:

Probably the most natural finisher we’ve had at the club in recent years. 

Was thinking about natural finishers yesterday. Struggle to think of any we have had in the last 35 years outside Robbo , Velicka and Zeefuik. 

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Diadora Van Basten

That’s some highlight reel the last goal was my favourite really took the wind out of the Rangers fans and if I remember right we were awarded the title afterwards.

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37 minutes ago, sadj said:

Was thinking about natural finishers yesterday. Struggle to think of any we have had in the last 35 years outside Robbo , Velicka and Zeefuik. 

Agree but don’t forget Skacel. 

 

Zeefuik certainly knew how to score goals for Hearts and for that we should be forever grateful.

 

 

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stuartmitchell
6 hours ago, JimmyCant said:

The sort of player Levein would have signed as a project in the days we could afford projects. I just wish we could reach out to him, try and help him, give him 6 months to get his head and body in order. Can you imagine how good he would be with 4 stones off, 100% fit and a head that works properly. 27 ? Time yet for the guy but it seems he’s chucked the towel in . Such a waste of a very talented player.

Was thinking the same @JimmyCant. What an amazing gesture that would be from the club to help him out. 

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SomethingAboutObua
9 hours ago, Chaps said:

Such a shame and a great player.
 

Never understood why we didn’t try and sign him up permanently. Instead we ended up with Gavin Reilly that summer.

I think we did and he was interested, but Groeningen wanted a couple of hundred thousand for him because he still had a while left on his contract.

 

Definitely a big what if for Hearts and him personally had he been allowed to move to us though. 

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