The retirement of Alex Taylor

LFCFan Took you long enough to get there Cheers, glad you're enjoying it

It was a short trip to Zulte Waregem where Brugge were the visitors at the wonderfully named Regenboonstadion. Which was located by a very pretty lake that Alex was not tempted to swim in as it was 6C and raining heavily.



Alex made one change for the game against Zulte Waregem Santamaria came in for Andre Martins to give him some time off. He felt confident heading into the game off the back of two wins in a row and Alex was hoping to make it three and have the team push further up the table.

The first twenty minutes of the game past by in an instant with very little happening. Waregem pushed forward into the Brugge half and Fejsa won the ball back with a great tackle. He passed the ball to Gedoz who pushed forward before passing inside to Vanaken. He played the ball inside to Santamaria who fizzed a ball out wide to Gedoz. He cut the ball back to Meunier who played the ball back to him. Gedoz played the ball to Vanaken on the edge of the box, e passed the ball inside to a wide open Ribeiro six yards out. He fired a first time finish in off the underside of the bar to get Brugge ahead.

The half ended with the only time either side came close was a thirty yard drive from Izquierdo that gave the keeper a small amount of worry but, ended up going well wide. Alex encouraged his team to keep going and add a couple of goals to give them some security heading into the end of the game.

After 64 minutes Brugge got a corner from an Izquierdo cross which was blocked. Vormer hit in the corner and it was headed out to the edge of the box. Izquierdo took a touch to get the ball into the box and then unleashed a powerful drive that left the goalkeeper grasping at air as the ball flew into the back of the net and Brugge earned a two goal lead from a stunning strike.

The game as winding down as Brugge got a throw in deep in the Zulte half. Meunier played a 1-2 with Vormer to get the ball out wide, he hit in a cross that the left back headed back across goal. Ribeiro couldn’t believe his luck and reacted quickly to flick the ball towards goal. The ball bounced off the near post and he won the race to tuck in the rebound and make it 3-0 to Brugge.



Alex was pleased with the three goal win although he was concerned with the lack of chances that his team created as the only was that they did have they scored which was a change for Brugge under Alex.



The win pushed Brugge up to third behind Liege and Lokeren. At the other end Westerlo had no points and OHL had struggled to rebound from finishing third last season and only had the point they had earned against Brugge.

Alex had been looking at his squad and decided that he had one central midfielder to many and it would help his wage bill and help to ensure fewer players were unhappy if he sold one of his central midfielders on.

After looking over reports, who had played and how they had done in training Alex decided to try and get rid of Claudemir. The Brazilian CM had hardly featured under Alex who wasn’t a massive fan of him and felt that he was just taking up space on the wage bill.

Alex called Roel and told him to tell as many teams as he could that Claudemir would be available for €500,000 euros and was transfer listed at Brugge as he wouldn’t get the playing time and not for disciplinary reasons.



Roel called back the next day to say that two bids had been made for Claudemir however, neither of the bids were near the total that Alex wanted for him. Cesena and Penafiel were the two sides that had made a bid for him and Alex guessed that Penafiel were stretching there budget to get to that while Cesena could pay more for him. With that in mind Alex ignored the bid from Penafiel as it stood.

He called the manager of Cesena to try and negotiate a better deal for Claudemir. “Hey, I’m calling in regards to your bid for Claudemir. We have had a number of bids for him” That was technically true they had two bids for him and two was a number. “None have quite met our asking price for him so I was offering you a chance to meet the asking price.”

Alex waited for quite a while as the Cesena manager thought it over. “What price did you want for him again?”

“500,000 euros is the price and the only bid that I will accept from you.” That was a blatant lie Alex would accept anything for him that was over the Penafiel bid.

The line again went quite as the manager thought over it. “Well alright they I guess €500,000 is what you want for him then it is what I have to pay I guess. We will make the formal offer soon. We will not pay a penny more for him though.”

Alex was delighted with the news and even more pleased when the formal offer came through for him.



The bid from Penafiel was rejected as Claudemir was more than happy to go to Cesena. A few days later all of the negotiations were done and Claudemir was happy to move so the deal was done. 500k was a very good deal for a player he didn’t want and the deal would also free up some money on the wage bill.

Alex was excited to be playing the table toppers, Lierse of all sides were the team at the top. Brugge would be able to take the first points off them if they avoided defeat in the game. Alex ensured that his team was ready and prepared to face the team that had won every game of the season so far.



Despite playing the league leaders Alex decided to make a number of changes to his team as he felt they should still be able to get the win over Lierse. Wellington Silva came in for his full debut, Cools came in for Meunier and Vossen replaced Ribeiro and Alex was contemplating selling him if he couldn’t come up with a good performance.

Brugge pressed forwards and after 15 minutes Lierse came forward for their first attack and Brugge won the ball and countered. The ball as played wide to Wellington Silva by Vanaken. Silva hurdled a tackle and sprinted forward. He was forced inside and had to pass the ball back to Fejsa. He played it on to Vanaken who played a looping pass out wide to the overlapping Cools. He took the ball down and whipped in a great cross. Vossen got ahead of his man and poked the ball goalwards. Bad luck saw the ball hit the arm of the keeper who knew nothing of the shot. The ball then hit off the post and Vossen got the ball at a tight angle. He hit a rebound but, it was never getting past the keper from that angle and the loose ball was cleared.

After 28 minutes Lierse had a throw in deep in the Brugge half. The ball was thrown into Imani and he turned and smashed a low cross towards the far post. The ball skipped past two defenders and a striker. Darnet was able to get on the end of the cross from 2 yards out. He pushed the ball on target and Butelle threw himself across the face of the goal. By some miracle the ball hit off of his outstretched arm and bounced away. De Bock fired the rebound into row Z to get rid of the danger.

The game reached half time and Alex put Ribeiro on for Frejsa and Izquierdo replaced Silva who looked poor on his debut. Alex told his team to create some chances and put them away as anything else was unacceptable.

After 52 minutes De Bock won a throw in just inside the Liege half. Engels switched the play and Cools played a 1-2 with Gedoz to get on the end of the overlapping pass. In space he whipped in a cross. Vossen redirected the ball on target and it looked to be going in until it hit off of the forearm of the keeper onto the bar and out for a corner. Alex couldn’t believe that his side wasn’t ahead yet.

After 67 minutes Butelle hit a goal kick long. Vossen flicked the ball on and Ribeiro played the ball wide to Gedoz. He hit in a low cross that was half cleared and fell to Izquierdo on the edge of the box. On the half volley Izquierdo blasted a shot and the keeper was rooted to the spot as the ball powered just inside the far post to get Brugge ahead.

Gedoz was on the run after 71 minutes and brought down to win a free kick he stood over. Gedoz played the ball short to Izquierdo who was wide open on the edge of the box. He whipped in a cross and Vossen poked the ball on target. This ime luckwas on his side and Brugge were two goals ahead. Alex put on Vormer to help them see the game out.

After 82 minutes Cools had a throw in inches from the corner flag in the Lierse half. He thrw the ball into Vossen who was taken down by Nwtambe to give Brugge a penalty. Gedoz calmly stood over the ball and sent the ball straight down the middle as the keeper dived off to the right. 3-0 and they were cruising to the win.



Just before the 90th minute Liege pressed forwards. Martins won the ball back and was fouled. Denswil hit the free kick wide to Gedoz he played the ball inside to Martins who put the ball up to Vossen. He gave the ball back to Martins who slid in Ribeiro, his first time shot was saved and Vossen got to the rebound. He played the ball back to Gedoz who whipped in a cross. Izquierdo poked the ball in at the back post. It made it 4-0 and it was an easier looking game by the scoreline than it actually was.



The result moved Brugge into third place and just a point off the top spot that Alex wanted his side to be at the end of the season.

Alex was looking over the scouting report for Zenit St. Petersburg when he heard a knock on his door, a sound he had come to dread. He responded with his usual “Come in.” He almost let out a sigh of relief as he saw it was his back up striker Castillo who wanted to talk to him. “What do you want?” Alex asked.



“I’m not playing enough I want you to assure me that I will be playing more in the future.” Alex couldn’t believe that he had a complaint about playing time from a player this early on in the season.

Alex tried his usual response of someone else is playing better. “Jelle Vossen has” he started before he realised that he had messed up. Vossen was in decent form but, he meant to say Thiago Ribeiro. It was to late to change it he decided to stick with what he said. “been in good form so far this season so you are behind him in my choice of strikers and your playing time will be reflective of that.



“Vossen hasn’t been playing that well. If you think what he has contributed is good then I want to play for a manger who can recognise talent.” Alex decided that it wasn’t possible to then talk about Ribeiro being in good form and tried to think of a response.



Alex decided to try and see if he really wanted to leave or if it was just anger. “If you want to go then I will no step in your way. I want players who want to be here not players who will have their heads turned when I put them on the bench for a game or two. If you want to leave just say it and I will get you out of here as soon as possible.”



“I had hoped you would agree to play me here but, if you don’t want to then I want to get a move somewhere else.”



Alex was a bit surprised he decided to go. “Okay then I will look into moving you on somewhere else as soon as I can.”

After he left Alex got on the phone to Roel to offer him out to clubs for €5 million. The next day Alex had a few offers in.



The Midjytland offer was far to low and Alex rejected it without bothering to negotiate.



He spent quite a while waiting to hear back from Roel about negotiantions with Pacos de Ferreira and he felt the offer was decent but, hoped that he could still get a bit more money for him. Upfront if possible and not have to cover any of his wages.



While he was mulling over the office he got a call from Roel to say that after he demanded €5 million from Cesena they agreed to pay the price. Alex was pleased and decided if he ever wanted to sell a player they were the team to offer the player to as they seemed unable to negotiate at all.

Shame the player is being a pain but well done on getting exactly what you felt you deserved from him! 5million is nothing to be sniffed at, can always help towards a replacement

Not a fan of them players who think they're sent from heaven to play football! Good fee for him though

So long Castillo!

BeanyUnited Is annoying but, at least I could sell him quickly and get some moeny as you say

Jack Yeah pleased I could get rid of him so quick, and love negotiating with Cesena

mgriff Exactly complain to me and you will get better pay and in have to live in Italy. No wait

It was a shorter trip to Saint Petersburg than Alex had though it would be but, still the longest trip that he had made as manager of Brugge. Once they were in Saint Petersburg it was quite the trip to the Zenit stadium which was located on an island. In some cold rain the team got warmed up and Alex watched on.



The Zenit teamsheet was filled with big names. Hulk, Witsel, Cheryshev, Cristico and Danny among other players. The team were in a more defensive formation so Alex hoped that would help in not conceding but, it would make his plan to hit Zenit on the counter quite a bit harder.

After 3 minutes Danny went in for a 50-50 with Engels near the half way line. Engels won the ball and Danny went down screaming in pain. Engels kicked the ball out and the physio’s ran onto the pitch. From where he was standing it look pretty clear that Danny had broken his leg. Afer some gas and a minute of treatment he was loaded onto a stretcher and taken off the pitch and onto an ambulance.



With the bad injury in everyones mind the game took quite a while to get going again as the players did all they could to avoid being tackled.

Just after the half hour Zenit won a free kick just outside the Brugge box. Hulk whipped in the free kick and Kokorin rose highest. His header was out of reach of Butelle and Alex sighed in relief as the ball thunked off the post, his relief didn’t last long as the ball hit Engels foot and moved towards goal. Butelle picked himself up and was able to dive on the loose ball before it crossed the line.

He punted the ball away but, Zenit won the ball back and the near goal seemed to boost their spirits. They passed the ball around the back confidently and moved the ball up the pitch. Petrov played the ball out wide to Cheryshev, he passed inside to Shatov who got the ball up to Kokorin. On the wide edge of the box he cut inside beat his man and fired off a wonderful curling effort that left Butelle stranded. The ball bounced off where the post and the bar meet and Denswil cleared the ball up to the halfway line.

Three minutes later Zenit had another free kick and this one was more central. Centre back Garay stood over and smacked a powerful free kick goalwards. It looked to be going in until Butelle got a hand to the ball and it hit the post and bounced away. It fell to Shatov but, due to the angle he elected to cross the ball. Kokorin rose highest and from 3 yards out had the goal at his mercy. He planted his header into the bar and Vormer won the race to the rebound and blasted it away. Alex couldn’t believe his luck Zenit had hit the woodwork 4 times and it was still even.

Brugge got to half time level somehow. Alex wasn’t sure how but was happy. He told his team to stay tight at the back and try to get any chances they could on the counter to grab a goal.

After 58 minutes Butelle hit a goal kick long and Brugge got the ball down and passed forwards. Martins passed to Vossen on the edge of the box, he turned and played a chipped pass to play in Gedoz. Gedoz touched the ball twice to get it under control and hit a half volley towards goal. Lodygin reacted quickly to punched the ball away and stop the best chance Brugge had and Alex guessed would have.

After 65 minutes De Bock took a throw in in the Zenit half. A poor pass gave the ball to Zenit and they pushed forwards. Kokorin ran forwards and played the ball wide to Cheryshev he took a touch and tried to feed Hulk with a cross to the far post. He mishit the ball and it floated towards goal and just under the cross bar to put Zenit ahead. Alex would complain about the fluke goal however, as they hit the woodwork three times.

Brugge won a free kick just in the Zenit half soon after the goal. Denswil played the ball forwards and Martins and Vanaken exchanged passes until Vanaken slipped in Gedoz. From a tight angle he hit a shot across goal and Lodygin tipped the ball wide fro a corner. It was hit in and caused a scramble in the box at the end Lodygin dived on the ball to kill the chance.

After that Zenit comfortably saw out the 1-0 win. It was a decent result for them and Alex knew that they had a chance of winning the tie at home.

A loss but see positive on it, only 1-0 is pretty good, just slide a 1-0 win at home and then win on pen i believe man, you can do it!

The league has started alright, great result against Lierse. Unlucky to lose against Zennit but 1-0 away in a 2 legged tie isn't a bad result I'm sure you can get a win back home and take you through to the champions league proper! Good luck

OlleM13 Yeah not a bad loss overall. Hopefully what you say happens.

LFCFan Yeah pleased with the result over Lierse, loss is a bit annoying but as you say we have the second leg to recover

Alex was having a look through some reports for a new striker with Castillo all but signed for Cesena. He wanted a poacher like he was in his playing days. To ensure he could spend a bit in January he was looking for a cheap replacement so was having unhappy and listed players.

Having looked at tons of reports he finally decided on the player that he wanted. It was another Brazilian. Luciano of Corinthians was the player he wanted. A good finisher with a nose for goal and unhappy at Corinthians where he played.

Alex noticed that Hoffenheim were interested which would drive up the price so decided to move for them fast and called Roel to get on with it. They decided in accordance with what the scout said about him being unhappy to go for a low ball bid for him.



When Alex left at night Roel was still negotiating a deal with Corinthians. He was confident they could agree to a deal and Alex had learned to trust his instincts over time. At least on transfers in terms of what he wore Alex generally guessed the opposite was fashionable.



The next day as Alex rolled into work early he saw an email Roel had sent to him at 4 A.M. He had been up until then but, Alex thought he had got a good deal when he looked over it. He was happy with it and hoped that they could agree to terms with the player, as he had stated he wanted to leave Corinthians Alex felt it wouldn’t be too hard and they could get a favourable deal.

As he put his thermos of tea on his desk Alex heard his computer make a “woosh” that indicated a new piece of mail. It was again from Roel and entitled Luciano contract. Instead of calling it a day at 4 Roel had obviously kept going and negotiated personal terms. Alex was pleased as it meant they could get everything rubberstamped sooner although he was concerned with the lack of sleep his director of football must have got.



After making sure the deal he had negotiated was a good one Alex decided to go and make sure Roel could get home safely. He stopped off to pour Roel some coffee on the way and as he didn’t know how he liked it simply took a handful of sugar and creamer so that he could do what he wanted to with it. He knocked on Roel’s door and went in. “Pulling all nighters is for university students not men in middle age.” Alex jokingly lectured as he handed the coffee over to the grateful Roel.

After adding all of the sugar that Alex had brought he gulped down most off the coffee before yelling “HOT! HOT! HOT!” and putting the mug down to cool. Brushing it off instantly he got back to business. “You like the deal for Luciano?”

“Yeah a good price for him and not bad wages as well. You earned yourself the day off to go and get some sleep.”

Roel nodded in agreement before looking concerned for a second. “Thanks, but can I ask another favour.”

“Sure” Alex said warily hoping it wasn’t anything to bad.

“I biked into work yesterday and without sleep there is no way I can get back without falling off can you give me a quick lift home. I think you are the only person in right now with a car here.”

Alex agreed to drive his director of football home. He didn’t get the Belgain obsession of not driving as he got into his Porsche 911 which was incredibly unpractical but fun to drive. Alex dropped Roel of at his apartment in the heart of Bruges and then navigated all of the cycle lanes to get back to the training centre finding his role of manager/chauffeur amusing.

Tell you what, Roel is living legend! Great bargain wages wise for Luciano as well mate