The retirement of Alex Taylor

Legia had decided on a new formation for the away game and they seemed to be camping in the hopes of grabbing a point. While it was a strategy that had some success against his side Alex hoped the free space out wide could help them score as he named his best side.

After 15 minutes Cools took a throw in deep in the Brugge half, he threw the ball a long way up the line to Gedoz. Who ran up the line and then passed inside to Vanaken who played the ball across to Santamaria. He played the ball to Izquierdo on the other flank who cut inside and fired off a long range shot that didn’t worry the keeper to much.

After 20 minutes Brugge won the ball back deep in their half and started a counter attack. Engels played the ball up to Izquierdo who ran up and then passed to Fejsa inside, he played the ball wide to Gedoz. He easily beat his man and then whipped in a cross. Luciano ran onto it and headed it past the keeper in space. His celebrations were cut short by the offside flag. Alex gave the fourth official some abuse over the call and he was pretty sure that Luciano was onside and he was not happy with the decision.

Cools stood over a throw in deep in the Legia half after 31 minutes. He threw the ball to Luciano who played the ball back to Gedoz, he squared the ball across to Santamaria just inside the box. He rifled a low shot towards the bottom corner and Boer got down well to palm the ball away. Izquierdo reacted quickest to poke the loose ball in and get Brugge ahead.

De Bock intercepted a clearance to launch another attack. He passed up to Vanaken who played the ball back to Denswil and he played it back to De Bock. He ran forward and played the ball inside where all the central midfielders played the ball across to one another, Vanaken played the ball up to Luciano who took it in and turned to pass the ball to Izquierdo. He fired a low shot towards the far post. His powerful effort gave Boer no chance as he dived for the ball. Brugge were 2 up just before half time and Alex was happy with how everything was going.

Brugge got into the half two goals up and Alex told his side to concentrate and make sure they kept their focus in the second half as he didn’t want any points dropped stupidly.

Just after the hour Legia had a corner with Rosicky over it. He whipped in the ball to Gol who was open in the box. He chested the ball down but, it wouldn’t fully drop for him. Instead of shooting he pushed the ball to Klein at the far post and in the mass of bodies between him and the goal the ball was blocked and then fully cleared.

It was the only moment of note in a professional second half from Brugge which saw them get another three points from qualifying and do the double over Legia.



With the Roma win over Red Star Alex’s side were confirmed into the knockout round and Alex was more than happy with how the group had gone and they still had a good chance of winning the group.

Big game final game of the group coming up and nice to see the board meeting not going too badly!

BeanyUnited Actually have two games left in the group

And yeah board seem pleased but then Alex is very talented


Also the story just went past 10,000 views so I would like to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my first story here. Hopefully the first of many on here

Alex was relaxing at home before he had to deal with all three kids for the night as Rachael was going out to play tennis, her new hobby. With the rain pounding down Alex would be outnumbered 3 to 1 and have to keep all three entertained, he thought back to watching the show outnumbered and how accurate it was. With one kid it was easy enough you could have 2:1 ratio or 1:1 when you suddenly got three kids you had to go zonal and sometimes watch all three at once. It had been worst at 5 and 3 Alex felt and was slowly getting easier.

The plan to distract them with technology and TV for a while was ended when Ellie dramatically announced that she was bored with them and found two siblings willing to agree. “Great” thought Alex “the only kids who aren’t obsessed with technology.”

He was forced into playing Sorry and pulled off a come from behind win to claim the spoils in a competitive game interrupted regularly by accusations and fights, and Alex knew where they got the competitiveness from. The game was drawing to an end and becoming more fractious so when the kids were arguing over a move Alex slightly cheated so that he would win soon and therefore end the game before any serious injuries occurred.

He had hoped that the games were over until twister was pulled out. That was less competitive but, still seemed likely to cause an injury as his kids reached precariously around each other to ensure they didn’t lose not realizing what would happen if there was a fall. Alex thought back to what he had done to relax before he had kids, practice for having kids came to mind as did lazing about the house doing not a lot. Alex was pulled out of the wonderful thought of doing nothing with a commotion over whether there had been a touch of the mat by Jake. Alex hadn’t been paying attention despite being the referee, something he felt they did when his players went down in the box, but felt the position Jake was in was impossible to get into without touching the ground touching the ground so claimed he saw some contact.

His decision only served to increase the debate as in something that caused him to gave flashbacks to games he was called blind. After a few more turns Lauren was able to claim the win, despite all her claims of skill Alex knew it was just as she was taller and could reach all the circles far easier than the twins.

Alex called a snack break in the hope that something non competitive might happen after it ended. He was in luck as the TV was back in fashion.

The next day at training Alex on in bemused annoyance as Jelle Vossen and Mustafa Saymak were racing forward around the cone and back and both of them went down clutching their knees. Both of them ended up with twisted knee’s that would rule them out for 3 weeks to Alex’s annoyance.




The next day in the pre match presser Alex had a first as he actually laughed at something another manager said. The Kortjik manager said that Butelle was the weak link, Aex felt he was in contention for player of the year for Brugge and keeper of the year and just laughed before adding “You can quote that laugh. I would also like to thank him for motivating Butelle to add to his league high total of clean sheets this season.”

First of all, congrats on the 10,000 views very richly deserved!

Secondly unlucky on the twp injuries just not going for Vossen at the moment!

Also I think your opposition manager needs help, be kind on him

Beany Thanks man.

Yeah that was annoying, just can't seem to get him firing at the moment for one reason or another.

He does seem to, or will he be right

It was a short drive to the Guldensporenstadion, even by Belgian standards, and the team arrived perfectly on time to get warmed up and ready to play.



Kortjik were playing the 4-2-3-1 formation that matched up very well for Alex’s formation defensively. Alex named his full strength side despite the midweek game as he wanted to bounce back from the loss to Standard Liege.

Inside 5 minutes De Bock held the ball for a throw in deep in the Kortrijk half. His throw in was headed back to him by a KV player, he played the ball inside to Vanaken who spun past his man and lay the ball off to Fejsa who hit it wide to Cools. He whipped a low first time cross over the face of the goal and Izquierdo got a touch on the ball to put it on target. The keeper made a great save to push the ball away but, it hit off a defender’s legs and slipped past him to go in and give Brugge a lucky lead.

After 18 minutes Gedoz stood over a free kick out wide. He hit in a flat ball and Izquierdo escaped his marker jumped up and flicked the ball in past the keeper to double Brugge’s lead.

After 33 minutes Brugge had a corner. Gedoz hit a looping cross deep to the far post. A KV player got up highest but, heaed the ball back across goal to the near post. The ball was heading right for Santamaria and he pulled hit neck back and hit a powerful header goalward. The keeper dived across his goal and did well to palm the ball out for another corner. This time Gedoz hit this one into the ear post and Denswil’s header went just wide of the post. Alex was pleased that no matter who they played against they looked a threat from set pieces.

After 48 minutes Keet hit a goal kick long and Vanaken used hit 6’4 to win the ball in midfield. The ball went to Gedoz who cut inside and hit the ball wide to Izquierdo. He cut inside and the ball made its way back to Gedoz via Santamaria and Vanaken. Gedoz passed the ball out wide to Cools on the overlap who hit in a first time cross. Thiago Ribiero shoved out his leg and the ball hit off of his thigh, the odd bounce took the keeper by surprise and he was helpless as the ball went in from close range.

The third goal killed off the game and Alex was pleased with a simple professional win.



Brugge had a one point lead over Oostende and a game in hand, against 9th place OHL. At the other end RMP fell down to last place after their form fell off a cliff.



Alex also saved some words for his opposite number. “I laughed at him for criticizing Butelle before the game but, he was right. He was our worst player by far, I mean the main job of a keeper is to block shots on target and he didn’t do that at all.”

Not a very long drive for that win, bet the lads will have been back in time for tea

Atoobie The game ended at 4:15 so more than enough time. Tough game for the away fans as well

With goals from open play still not as common as Alex would like he decided to embrace the fact that the team were good at set pieces and try to plan a couple of one off set piece routines they could use to get themselves a chance. He would only agree to use one in a game if they had it down pat as they scored frequently from set pieces with a simple lump the ball in the box approach.

After a bit of working on attacking and defending normal set pieces, where both sides excelled with Engels again showing the advantage of being 6’4 when going for a header. Alex planned to use something similar to there advantage. Hans Vanaken was also 6’4 so would be logically expected to bomb into the box and try to head the ball in so Alex decided to use him to run away from goal and strike the ball.

The only issue was that due to his height he may have a centre back marking him so Alex used Dion Cools to run across Vanaken and block off the defender covering him to give Vanaken some space. After having explained what he wanted them to do and showed them using the coaches as dummies Alex sat back to see how the players would do.

It started well as Vanaken ran away from goal in time with the pass only to run into Dion Cools and fall down. Alex guessed that he would be in for a long day. Alex had always hated doing the drills as a player, although he knew they paid dividends on the pitch, and was learning the only thing worse was watching it as a manager. After a number of attempts they had pulled it off a couple times in a row with the shot getting away but, being rushed and not troubling Butelle.

In response Alex had Vanaken start his run earlier and then Cools cut across earlier. With the changed timing Vanaken found space and blasted the shot into the top corner. When the next two went the same way Alex was happy enough to move onto something else for a while.

He decided to work on basic set pieces and had his backups defending against the first time as Gedoz lobbed balls into the box from both wings. To make it interesting Alex had Gedoz take 30 corner and the attack had to score 5 to be the winners. They started well only allowing one Denswil goal out of the first ten, Engels responded by nodding two corners in a row in to tilt the balance back into the favour of the attackers. Luciano poked in a loose ball after corner number 21 to set up a tense finish.

With two corners left Engels ran over to Gedoz and whispered something to him. Alex wondered what was going on as they waited for Engels to take up his usual position at the back post. Vanaken suddenly made a move and Alex realised what was happening, Cools stepped inside to cut of Vormer and Vanaken had acres of space and instead of shooting he passed to an even more open Luciano who blasted the ball in via a huge deflection off of Denswil who claimed the goal.

With the attackers having one the last two corners turned into a bit of a joke. Engels “pantsed” Mechele marking him to get himself free and race in to head another goal in. Mechele while trying to pull up his shorts attempted to follow and fell after a step to the amusement of the rest of the team.

Vanaken tried the same move on Butelle and got a slap from his glove in return as Schonheim, being German and therefore not a fan of fun rose highest to head the ball away. From where Alex was the ball was falling perfectly for him to hit a volley. He took one slight step forward to the right and swung his right peg. He imagined the ball flying into the top corner after he hit it perfectly. Instead from 25 yards out the ball sliced off the edge of his foot through some legs and Butelle had enough time to pull up his shorts then walk over and stop the ball before it went in.

Alex laughed off the miss and sent all the players back to get changed for lunch and then head back home.

Despite having already qualified Alex named a strong team as the money that you got for winning a game in the Europa League would be a nice bonus to the club finances. Meunier and Cools continued to swap at right back. Red Star were playing a 4-2-3-1 with defensive midfielders and despite also having nothing to play for were playing a strong side.

After 10 minutes a long throw from Cools caused chaos and the ball fell to Engels 30 yards out. He played the ball up to Izquierdo who, with a defender on his back, played the ball back to Denswil. He then spun around and received the return ball, he took another touch that closed down his angle and his shot was powerful but, easy enough to push behind for a corner.

15 minutes in Kahriman hit a goal kick long and after Brugge won the first ball Red Star got it back. Simovic hit the ball across to Katai who played it up to Plavsic in the Brugge half. He then played a 1-2 with Katai before chipping a ball over the Brugge back line to play in Hugo. He took a touch and then hit a low shot that lacked power and Butelle easily saved.

After 25 minutes Gedoz stood over a free kick out wide. It was a decent way out and he jus lobbed a ball into the box. Jovanovic got up highest to head the ball away. His header went out wide and Gedoz ran onto it and with lots of time measured out his cross before hitting it in. Vanaken had timed his run to the back post to perfection and side-footed the ball in from close range. Brugge had the lead and Alex was pleased as it wasn’t quite from a set piece.

Meunier took a throw in deep in the Brugge half after 26 minutes. He hit the ball up to Vanaken in close to the halfway line. He passed up to Santamaria who passed to Gedoz out wide. Facing three defenders he played the ball back to Engels who hit it up to Vanaken. He played it square to Santamaria who played a ball to the corner flag for Gedoz to run onto. He got to the ball just in time and hit a cross in. The ball was only about a yard away from the goal but, due to all the players around him the keeper couldn’t come out to claim the ball. It hit off a defender to tee up Vanaken perfectly. His powerful effort from a tight angle smashed into the roof of the net to double his and Brugge’s tally in a couple of minutes. Alex was impressed with the finish given the angle was very much against him.

Brugge got another set piece after 35 minutes Gedoz was over the ball just wide of the bottom of the centre circle in the Red Star half. He launched the ball into the box and Engels escaped his man and at the back post he just threw himself at the ball. It hit off of his ankle and the weird angle the ball went at as a result deceived the keeper and gave Engels his second goal in two games against Red Star. It was also his third of the season as he looked to score more than Vossen this season.

Butelle made one decent save from a drive from long range to see out the half. With a three goal lead Alex made a couple of changes but, told his team to remain professional.

With the three goal lead the game never really started again after the break and Brugge ran out comfortable winners despite having less of the ball and less shots.



Roma beat Legia to keep Brugge in second place heading into the final game at the Stadio Olimpico in a week.

Huge final game, but pressure is off with qualification already confirmed! I personally think you can do it mate

Beany Yeah a big game for the team. As I'm pretty sure winning the group makes no difference will be interesting to see how we do vs big teams for the knockout games. I'm not quite as confident as you as we have to win the game to top the group

Alex was looking over where he should spend the remainder of his transfer money. He was tempted to sign a central midfielder where they maybe could use one more player to ensure they had adequate depth. He was also considering a winger as counting Meunier he had four wingers and Ebert seemed to be in a permanent state of injury. He wanted to decide soon so that whoever he signed could be at the club on the first day possible.

A knock interrupted his work and he shouted the knocker in. He was somewhat surprised to see that it was Dion Cools who he felt was playing quite a bit and he was also pretty sure had no teams interested in him. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” Alex asked.



“I know I have been playing quite a bit but, I want to get a small run of games so that I can show what I can do when I am consistently in the team.” Alex considered it, while Cools had played quite a lot he had been chopping and changing at right back and a run in the team would help to let Alex know what Cools could do and if he could let him start permanently. In the end Alex didn’t want to be pinned down to having to start him so decided to try and convince Cools he didn’t have to.

“You’ve been playing a lot and along with you I have to consider Meunier, he is a talented player who might be annoyed if I left him out of the team for a spell of games with his talent. I will maybe give you a few more games but, overall I want to continue to rotate at right back as you are both talented players in good form. But, if his form drops then I would have no hesitation in putting you in for a while. Okay?”



Cools waited an age before responding. “Okay, Meunier is a good player I guess I can’t expect to put him on the bench having only just moved into the first team squad.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh2T8KP9u8g

Side note this is what Meunier can do with his “weaker” foot. He has also moved to PSG IRL.

Alex was pleased with how the talk had gone and chatted with Cools for a few minutes before planning on how to beat the other Brit managing in the league, Chris O’Loughlin who was Northern Irish although grew up in South Africa.

It was a long drive to Sint-Trudense to take on STVV for Brugge to the imaginatively named Stadion KSTVV. Alex passed the time by winning some money at Texas Hold’em off some of his players and then returning it all with a bit of interest as the game dragged on, if they had been playing Oostende Alex would have been up a few Euros.




The other British manager in the league did nothing to help perceptions as he lined STVV up in a 4-4-2 and with direct passing as Alex knew from watching the scouting report. Also in a rarity STVV contained a player who had played for Real Madrid, Julian Faubert did twice. Alex named his usual side except with Vormer in at defensive midfielder as Alex felt he could pick better passes to unlock the defence.

After 21 minutes Vormer received a throw in from Cools in the STVV half. He played the ball up to Vanaken who slipped the ball through to Cools, he whipped in a low cross that Erchiot cleared away. As far as Vormer 30 yards out, he hit a long ball to Cools who was only just able to reach the ball before it went out for a goal kick. His high cross was punched away by the keeper to the edge of the box to Vormer again who knocked it wide to Cools. His cross was again headed away to Vanaken who played it wide to Izquierdo. He embarrassed Faubert nutmegging him in the box and then slipped past the centre back. Izquierdo then slipped a low shot just past the keeper to get Brugge ahead with a good goal.

40 minutes in and STVV had a throw in deep in the Brugge half. Boli received it and passed to Rashica at the edge of the box. He hit in a cross and Engels slyly shoved the striker to the ground and the ball went to Fatai at the far post. He cut the ball back to Schils and Engels ran out and blocked the shot. It rolled to Boli six yards out who hit his shot towards the bottom corner. Butelle somehow dived across to push the ball away.

At half time Alex told his players to add to the lead if they could as STVV looked dangerous. He liked that team talk as it inspired the defence to keep a clean sheet to prove him wrong and the attackers to score.

Izquierdo went on a run after 50 minutes. He got well into the STVV half before passing to Vanaken. He exchanged passed with Vormer before passing to Santamaria. He played in Gedoz between the LB and CB, Gedoz took a touch and hi shot was tipped and was millimetres wide of the post to go out for a corner.

After 70 minutes Gekens got the ball wide to Tchenkoua. He cut inside and passed to Mahlangu 30 yards out from goal. He got past Santamaria thanks to a lucky bounce of his leg and passed to Proschwitz on the edge of the box. He turned and played a poor pass to try and play in Boli. Denswil missed the chance to intercept the ball and it ran onto Boli. His first shot was saved but, he fired the rebound past a helpless Butelle to get STVV level. Alex responded by going 4-4-2 to try and grab a winner.

A few minutes later STVV were stroking the ball around the edge of the Brugge box for far to long to Alex. Engels finally stepped in and intercepted the ball and passing to Santamaria who played the ball to Vanaken.He hit a long pass up to Luciano in the STVV half. He held the ball up then played in Thiago Ribeiro with a great pass. A covering defender closed down the angle for Ribeiro. He took another touch to further close the angle and his shot was right at the keeper’s chest and an easy save.

With one minute left Butelle hit a goal kick long. Fatai headed it down to Proschwitz further up the pitch. He passed up to Mahlangu who made a run from CM, and passed with his first touch to Boli who had a clear path to goal if he had the speed. He raced through the gap to go one on one with Butelle to win the game. He shot high to the near post and Butelle reacted quickly to tip the ball over the bar and for a corner which was cleared.

The game ended in a disappointing one all draw for Alex’s side and they had the long, by Belgian standards, bus ride home to to reflect on some poor defending and missed chances.



Brugge maintained their spot at the top and added a point to their lead as Oostende lost. Standard won to go up to second place.