Riemer van der Velde

He realized to get rid of the debts before appointing Foppe de Haan as the club's manager, who was at the time coaching amateur side FC Steenwijk.

After Heerenveen relegated the following season and were not able to promote again immediately Korbach was fired and De Haan got his former job as a manager back.

Heerenveen then reached the final of the KNVB Cup (losing 6-2 to Ajax) and promoted back to the Eredivisie.

The club qualified for several European tournaments, inclusive the UEFA Champions League.

De Haan resigned in 2004 to become manager of the Netherlands national under-21 football team and was replaced by Gertjan Verbeek.