The retirement of Alex Taylor

Think you're going to come back even bigger and even better next season mate!

Plenty of positives to take from the last few months, next season will be a big one for your side!

Mgriffin Hope so Alex wants titles.

Justice Yep done well just have to find womone who can score in the summer to help

It was just under an hour’s drive to get to Lokren and Alex was hopeful for a win that would go a long way to ensuring Champions League football. Lokeren were last in the Champions group but, had made it and were a decent side.



Alex named the same side as the last game and told them to go out and get the three points.

After 13 minutes of not a lot Butelle hit a goal kick long Vossen inexplicably headed it 20 yards towards Brugge’s goal and to the Lokeren striker. After Lokeren got control of the ball and pressed forwards, Cools won the ball back with a crunching tackle. The ballwas given away soon after and Lokeren got the ball wide then ran inside. Harbaoui received a pass and floated the ball out wide to Melnjak in acres of space. He took a touch and cut inside. From a tight angle he hit a vicious shot. Butelle parried it away but, the rebound fell right to Miric and he passed the ball in to put Brugge behind.

Nothing happened for the rest of the half and Alex told his team to create something at half time. At least make sure the keeper has to stay awake for the second half.

Brugge created some half chances but, nothing major despite Alex throwing on another striker and the latest attack failed with a misplaced pass to give Lokeren a throw in after 73 minutes. Alex watched on in horror as Lokeren first passed their way through his midfield then his defence and Jaja teed the ball up for Abdurahimi 18 yards out. He took a touch then rifled a shot into the bottom corner away from Butelle. 2-0 down with 17 minutes left Alex wasn’t holding out hope.

As the clock ticked down Alex’s pessimism looked to be spot on. With four minutes left Brugge got a free kick 40 yards out centrally. Gedoz stood over it and from 40 yards out lined up a shot, before passing the ball to Cools who was wide open just outside of the box. He took a touch before firing in a beautiful cross. Izequierdo nipped in ahead of his man to poke the ball in from close range and pull a goal back. He tried to generate some excitement in the Brugge fans as he ran the ball back to the halfway line in the hopes of a late equaliser.



It wasn’t to be and Alex’s side were defeated. He wasn’t pleased and let his team know. Ralf Ragnick had been at a second Brugge game apparently to look at De Bock but, Alex had no interest in selling.

They had lost ground in the race for second and OHL were only a point behind. Alex went to take a screenshot of the table on his phone but, was distracted by Pizza. Then when he went back onto his phone he saw the table but, ignored it for videos of a dog diving into snow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-rlSrSyKbI

and one of a cat pushing another cat down some stairs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3GJycgu-cs


Time well spent he thought.

Hahaha, focus Alex!

Ahhhh man not the best of results

Lippo What can I say animal videos are fun

mgriffin Yeah need to improve with two game left to do so

Alex watched as Tottenham took advantage of an early red card and penalty to sneak a win over Leverkusen and win the Europa League final. As Alex watched everyone associated with Tottenham celebrate a European title and Alex wondered if he would be able to do that with Brugge. He could lead them to dominate Belgium that would be possible, but anything big in Europe would be a massive challenge and take him a lot of time.

He was pleased to see that Brugge had been named the Europa League overachievers by Uefa but, he also felt that it backed up his point his side had comfortably been beaten by a side that was in itself comfortably beaten by Leverkusen.



He and his family where happy in Belgium though and Alex wasn’t planning to move any time soon but, he wondered what he would do if a big job offer came his way. The same thing as in his playing career he guessed he would take a pay rise and better team. Although it wouldn’t be any time soon as he hadn’t had long to impress. It would take a big team to convince him to leave and Alex thought about them as he had a swig of beer. As he watched the Tottenham players celebrated and finished is beer before heading for bed. After messing around on his phone for a bit Alex went to sleep.

He regretted staying up so late when he had to get up at 6 in the morning to eat before getting his kids up. After getting them up and ready, the hardest part was finding a shoe for Ellie that had wound up under the sofa, Alex didn’t know how in such a small amount of time his kids had been able to spread everything around the house. Fighting off some sleep Alex drove his kids to school and then headed to the training ground. The club accountant greeted him with news that the club had made 1.55 million euros, Alex was less thrilled than the accountant but, hoped he got a chance to spend it.



Alex was encouraged by training Vossen and Pereira both looked lethal although Engels headed in a hat trick to outscore them both. Alex didn’t know why he wasn’t a striker he had a real knack for goal but, there was no way Alex was moving him.

Alex hoped that his striker’s were as lethal against KRC Genk as side he had failed to beat in the two games they had played so far, a record he was hoping to change.

Alex was hopeful ahead of the game against KRC Genk and when he should have been looking over the team sheet he was instead looking at a video of a tiny hamster eating a tiny burrito.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOCtdw9FG-s

He had named the same team that lost to Lokeren but couldn’t be bothered to look at the KRC line up as now they were having a thanksgiving dinner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iieQDN7l_Yw

Alex pulled himself away from his phone and gave a team talk that was his best yet. “If you lose you might have to go to Liverpool for a Europa League game.” His team looked shocked at the possibility.

Brugge had been dominated from kickoff and Genk were passing the ball around with ease while Brugge could hardly keep the ball. After 7 minutes Izquierdo won the ball just inside the Brugge half and ran forwards 30 yards before passing wide to De Bock on the overlap, he hit a first time cross on the bounce and Vossen arrived at the back post and fired in to out Brugge ahead. Finally some nice finishing from a striker Alex thought. They had hardly had the ball as well it was a sucker punch for Genk.

A rare foray forward after 26 minutes saw Gedoz bundled over and Brugge get a free kick. Gedoz himself up and whipped in a cross from deep. It went to the back post and Izquierdo rose highest and headed the ball across goal. Vossen read the ball well and reacted quickly to stick his header in the back of the net leaving the keeper stranded. A brace when Alex had needed some goals to try and get second.

Alex side went into halftime having been dominated but, ahead by two. Alex warned his team, “Stay focused you don’t want to have to go to Liverpool.” The thought of such a thing seemed to sharpen his players minds.

Two minutes after half time Cools had a throw in inches from being a corner. Genk won the ball back and hit it up to Tshimanga, he ran forward a decent way before dropping the ball back to midfield. It was worked outside then back inside before Malinovskiy hit a ball out wide to Uronen he whipped in a cross that skimmed the top of Engels head and was powered in by Tshimanga from close range.

With the threat of maybe having to go to Liverpool hanging over their heads Alex’s side were looking for a killer blow. De Bock had a throw in on the halfway line after 53 minutes after some head tennis Genk won the ball but, a poor pass was hit right to Izquierdo. The ball was passed around the midfield and go back to Izquierdo. He tried to play the ball wide to Gedoz but, it was headed away. Only to Vormer though and he played the ball to Gedoz his cross was blocked and the ball fell to Cools. From 30 yards out he tried to whip in a cross but, failed. The ball was flying towards goal and the Genk keeper was just able to push the away before it crossed the line. There Brugge players were quickest to react and Vossen won the race to fire in the loose ball and restore the two goal lead and bag himself a het trick in the process.

Two minutes later a Brugge counter was stopped cynically by a trip to give Brugge a free kick in there half. He passed to Gedoz who beat a man then returned the ball to Cools in lots of space. He cut the ball back to Simons and he fired the ball to the other wing where De Bock was in acres of space. He crossed in and it as headed away to Cools. He sprinted into the box and hit a cross in. It hit off a defender and the keeper dived to save the ball and Izquierdo ruthlessly fired the rebound in over the keeper to give Brugge there three goal lead back.



That goal killed the game off and gave Alex’s side an easy win to give them a decent shot at getting Champions League football next year.



OHL drew with Anderlecht which meant a point would see Alex’s side finish second. The problem was they were playing Champions AA Gent away. At least Anderlecht wouldn’t be in the CL next year though as they could only finish third.

Massive win mate, lets hope Alex can steer clear of tiny hamsters long enough to get the required point against the champions!

Great win mate, success is coming! Up Clube Brugge!

Lippo Thanks, the tiny hamster's are so cute though while his players not so much. Hopefully a top two finish

mgriffin2012 Thanks, hopefully that's what happens

After training Alex was in his office trying to make some plans for the upcoming transfer window. A knock interrupted his plans it was defender Benoit Poulain. “Alright Benoit, what can I do for you?” He asked.

“I want to leave the club to get first team football” He started “I’ve not been able to get it here and don’t think I am good enough to get into the first team here so I don’t want to force you to change your lineup.” He continued.

Alex thought it over. “Okay, fair enough I will look to move you on as soon as I can. Thanks for being so mature about it and not threatening to upset the squad to leave. Hopefully we can have something sorted out for you soon.”

Alex got onto Roel as soon as he could “Poulain wants a move and I am more than happy to allow it so can you try and arrange a move for him.”

“What price range are you looking at for him? Our scouts reckon that he is worth around €250,000, should we look for around that area?”

Alex had no idea what to sell him for so Alex was more than happy to agree with what Roel stated as the price range for him. Alex got back to work and was quickly called again by Roel. “Racing de Lens are more than happy to meet our price for Poulain and will pay the asking price, so should I accept the offer?”

“Yeah” Alex was shocked at the speed everything had been done. “Accept it and I’ll call to let him know that he can get his agent to negotiate a deal with Lens.” Alex called Benoit who was thrilled that he was able to get a move out of Brugge already.

The next day after training Roel called Alex. “Benoit has reached a deal with Lens so all we have to do is confirm the deal and then he will move to Lens when the transfer window opens there.”

Alex called Benoit into the conference room and they all signed the paperwork and it was faxed over to Lens where they did the same and the transfer was official and Poulain would be a Lens player in around a months time.

Alex was pleased with the deal good money for a want-a-way defender where he could replace him with a better defender for a cheaper fee and hopefully less on wages.

It was a very short trip to Ghent to play Gent who like Brugge misspelled the name of the city they represented.



Alex looked at the odd formation that Gent were playing with and regretted that no one spoke English naturally for him to share the humour of a player named Kums and also someone called Foket next to him. Mbark Boussoufa was again the danger man that Brugge had to watch for.

Brugge were ready to be party spoilers as Gent would lift the league title at the end of the game. They got the game underway passing the ball back. Denswil got the ball wide to De Bock and he passed up to Izquierdo who sprinted inside towards goal. He chipped a pass to Gedoz who was just outside the box and hit it first time. The keeper was on his sx yard box and rooted to the spot as Gedoz’s incredible effort flew high away from goal before curing and dipping to end up flying just inside the far post to put Brugge ahead after just 19 seconds. Alex couldn’t believe the shot and thought it was the best he had seen live.

Just after ten minutes Gent got the ball down after some head tennis and pushed forwards. Deaux was dictating play from thirty yards out. He passed to Kums who played the ball up to Depoitre, he slipped in Boussoufa and he fired a first time finish over the dive of Butelle to level the scores after 11 minutes.

Two minutes later Gent had a throw in just inside the Brugge half and used it as a chance to press forwards. Kums hit a great ball across the width of the pitch to Wikhiem who took the ball down and fired in a cross Diedhou managed to evade his man and had a simple tap in to fire Gent ahead. “Focus pick it up!” Alex yelled from the sideline.

Just after the fifteen minute mark Izquiedo went on a nice run but, a good tackle ended it at the cost of a throw in. De Bock took it and played a 1-2 with Santamaria. He again passed to Santamaria who pass inside to Vanaken, he chipped a ball wide to De Bock who had made a great run and had the ball in acres of space. With all the time in the world he picked out the run of Vossen who leapt up and flicked the ball into the top corner to level the scores again. Alex punched the air as his side had the point they needed as it stood.

Two minutes later Philippe grabbed Alex’s attention, “OHL have taken the lead so we have to get at least a point out of this game.” Alex nodded and continued to watch as Gent dominated the ball and probed at the Brugge defence. After 23 minute Depoitre started running at the Brugge centre back’s. He then flicked the ball wide to Wikhiem who fired In a cross that Kums volleyed. Engels made the brave block and the ball bounced around in a scrum of players, until it bounced perfectly for Kums to fire past Butelle and put Gent ahead.

After all of the early scoring the game slowed up and nothing major happened until half time. Alex told his team they needed a point as it stood and to be responsible at the back and press forwards quickly when they won the ball.

In the second half Alex watched on in horror as Gent easily weaved around his defence and fired in four more goals to make it an absolute hammering and give them a great start to their title celebrations.



“WHAT THE F**K WAS THAT?” Alex asked his team. “What was that, you all go on holiday early? Your lucky the fans weren’t baying for your blood, how must they have felt sitting there watching you lot not give a s**t as Gent waltz past you. Here that noise the fans celebrating, that better be our fans next season cheering for you lifting the title, you owe them that after this abject, awful performance.”

“Fortunately the KRC Genk players didn’t go on holiday and fought to get a draw with OHL so we will be in the Champions League qualifying rounds. I hope you give more of a damn in them than you did in this game. UNACCEPTABLE!” With that Alex turned and left the players in the dressing room to sort it out amongst themselves. He was sure Timmy was ripping them to shreds and regretted taking him off early in the half.



What an awful way to end the season Alex thought. Still at least we finished second, he sat and stewed as he waited for the players to get on the bus so they could head back to Brugge.

Oh dear! What a horrendous way to finish the year! Oh well, still hung for second place, at least there's that.

Also, Foket? Kums? Te he he