Dutchman Nick's head in a 'Twisk' over Derry City media frenzy

​Dutch football has its own history of fiery personalities, out-spoken players and intense media storms but Twisk admits it was a 'strange' experience to drive up to training at Brandywell and be met by camera crews and journalists at the gate.

Of course they were there to catch a glimpse of James McClean whose future at the club was reportedly in doubt but for Twisk, it showed how big the Brandywell club is.

"To be honest I didn't see too much about it because a lot of the news was on social media and I don't follow it to be honest," said the former AZ Alkmaar midfielder who was driven to training on Tuesday morning by his girlfriend.

He doesn't see what all the furore around McClean is about as the Ireland centurion is a very different personality in the dressing room than what's portrayed on social media.

"With James, he's just a nice guy to us. He's just the normal James we know. Obviously I don't know him that long but I've heard from the guys that he was always like this throughout his whole career.

"I don't think there's any problem with the guys and I don't know what his problem with the club is or what that deal is to be honest.

"It was strange [to see the phalanx of cameras at training] but it was nice because you can see how big Derry City is and know what a fanbase they have so it was nice to experience that and a day like Tuesday.

"There were a lot of kids and it was enjoyable to be there. So it was a nice day."

The open training session that day attracted over 1,000 people to the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium as part of the Féile 2026, including his 18 month-old son Noah who loved the attention.

"He enjoyed it. He was running around, playing with other kids so he enjoyed it too. We players really enjoyed it because there were so many kids, all smiling and that's what you want to do - give the kids a good day. I think we did so it was good."

With the media spotlight potentially dimming on Brandywell for now, it's down to the real business of winning football matches for Twisk and his teammates who travel to UCD at the Belfield Bowl for the FAI Cup third round tie.

For a lad from the Netherlands, he only has second-hand knowledge about how big a competition it is for the Brandywell club but he's desperate to go all the way - an achievement he reckons would turn around what has been a 'sh*t six months'.

"It's a massive game for us because to win the cup is a way to get European football for next year so we want to push forwards and not look backwards.

"It was a sh*t six months. Now we want to look forward and compete at the highest level because we think we have a great squad and hope we can win the league next year and definitely we think we're capable of winning the cup this year.

"Mark [Connolly] experienced a cup final and played in it and said it was the best thing ever. There were 20,000 people from Derry I think who travelled to Dublin.

"He said if you manage to get to the cup final and give the people from Derry that again, you'll be a hero in their eyes. We really want to achieve that and will take it very seriously on Friday.

"We won't underestimate them [UCD] because they're playing a league below us. We will do the same against UCD as we did against Sligo.”

Twisk was thrown straight into the mix against CSKA Sofia as a second half sub in Bulgaria in the Uefa Europa League. He loved that experience and is desperate to get back to playing on the continent again with Derry next year again.

Domestically, Twisk admits he was surprised at the standard of the League of Ireland, particularly when he played in the 1-1 draw with St Pat’s in Inchicore recently.

"To be honest it was better than I expected. The game against St Pat's was unbelievable. The speed of the game was so high. I wasn't used to that in the Netherlands where we play a lot but here it's way more physical. That’s what I like about football, when it's played fast and it's a good level.

"The European games were hard as well against good opponents and it was nice to play at that level too.”

Twisk is adept with both feet and he’s slotted in seamlessly to the squad. It was Mark Connolly who brought him to the club but he admits the change in manager has been disruptive.

"The squad is unbelieveable. The players are so good. It's a little bit disappointing that the manager has to be sacked to get things going again.

"Tiernan is a nice person and doesn't deserve it but it's better for the club to move forward and make a fresh start. You saw the game against Sligo, it was a really good type of football.

"I want to play most of the time from the back to the front. I'm used to playing through the lines.

"At first we played a lot of long balls and I struggled to get used to it but against Sligo we just wanted to play every time. Sometimes that's not going to work out if the opponents are pressing high but then we have options behind their back four so we have a lot of opportunities.”

Three wins in the cup and Twisk will play at the Aviva this year – a dream scenario for the Dutchman.

“I think it's a dream to play in the Aviva stadium. It's our main objective and we will do everything we can to reach the final.”