The retirement of Alex Taylor

Decent point if not great! Keep it up

It is tight at the top, but look how far Anderlecht are behind!

Beany Yeah decent point but still annoying to have allowed Standard to close the gap on us

Justice Yeah, quite tight. Anderlecht have been poor so far. Long may it last

It was a bitterly cold December day but, Alex was happy as Andre Martins had finally started training with the first team after his calf injury 2.5 months ago. He had injected a lot of quality into the midfield after joining and while Santamaria and Vanaken made a good combination Alex preferred Vanaken and Martins. Alex kept a close eye on Martins as the team trained and was happy that he looked fit.



When he got back into his office Alex felt much warmer and had a quick look through the news. The decision by Anderlecht to sack Menzo led the news and Alex realised that his side was the last that he faced. His team had been underperforming since he took over so Alex wasn’t overly surprised Menzo had lost his job but, felt for him and sent a sympathetic text to him as well.

It was Christmas day and Alex was up early to watch his kids open up all the gifts that Santa/Rachael had bought them. The kids where thrilled and there was wrapping paper everywhere. Alex was pleased with the small number of gifts he got in comparison. The joy of present was just starting and Alex was fighting to open all the packaging and figure out how to operate everything when a phone call gave him a good excuse to abandon his efforts.

He was surprised when he saw that the caller was captain Timmy Simons and left the room to take the call. There was the obligatory seasonal greetings and Timmy got to the point of the call. “I’ve made my mind up, I want to retire at the end of the season. I want to spend some more time with my family.”



Alex wasn’t overly shocked he had guessed it would be this season or the next and wasn’t going to stand in the way of him retiring. “Alright, I guessed this day as coming. Your choice so hopefully we can win something to end your time as a player and of you do change your mind I will have you back and if not I would also take you on my staff if you want.”

“Thanks boss. I’m definitely not going to play again but, I may take you up on the coaching offer, not sure on it though will consider it more nearer the time.” The conversation wound down from that point and Alex got back to trying to make lots of small fiddly things work.

A couple hours later and it was Christmas lunch. It was going fine until Alex’s phone started to vibrate incredibly in his pocket. After almost a minute of it happening constantly Alex left the room to see what all the fuss was about.



He was surprised at the headline of the app update he saw. Roy Hodgson had decided to retire as the manager of England and the FA had acted quickly to appoint Roberto Martinez as the manager of the England national team.

He wasn’t quite sure why it had caused all of the stir on his phone and looked at the text many of which were across the lines of. “You coming home soon?”



Alex couldn’t understand that and had a look online about Martinez’s move until he realised the reason. His work in Belgium hadn’t been ignored and he was the favourite to take over the vacant job at Everton that had been created.

No sooner had Alex worked this out than he had a call from, he guessed, a journalist. He accepted it and this conversation started with no small talk. “Mark Ross here, how do you react to being made the favourite for the job at Everton?”



Alex took a second to compose himself and think up an answer. It took him a while as he thought over the pro’s and con’s of any answer but, the one to choose from came easily to him.

“I’m more than happy at Club Brugge and for the more than foreseeable future I see myself staying at Club Brugge. So I would not be a good person to bet on getting the Everton job.”

“Thanks, bye” Was all he heard as Alex headed back for more food.

Ohhhhhh turning down Everton already! Bold move that but good to see

JEEZ, that was so well written, big plays turning out Merseyside, keep it up bud

Beany Well that is only what I told the press, although really want a trophy before leaving Belgium

Atoobie Thanks man appreciate it.

It was a rather long trip, for Belgian football, on boxing day as Brugge headed to take on last place Westerlo. Alex expected a win and wanted to win the last game before the winter break to keep some good momentum going.



Westerlo unsurprisingly went for a defensive formation to try and hold on for a point. With the break coming Alex resisted the chance to make some changes and De Bock would start in his final game for Club Brugge before his move to Augsburg.

After 25 minutes Gedoz launched a free kick into the Westerlo box that was promptly headed away. The ball was played up to Daniel and he held the ball up before trying to hit a long pass that smashed off the shin guard of Engels and Luciano was aware enough to run onto the ball and get played in on goal. He hit his shot low to the near post and the ball hit the side netting just wide of the post. Alex kicked the turf at the missed chance and tried to encourage his team to make some more chances.

38 minutes in and Cools hit Gedoz with a throw in just in the Brugge half. He took a touch to turn and then chipped a pass over the Westerlo back line to play in Luciano. Because of where the pass ran and a covering defender Luciano was forced into a tight angle and tried to fire a high shot over the keeper who reacted quickly to tip the ball away for a corner.

Alex told his team to keep creating chances at half time and the goal would come for them and made a couple of attacking changes.

After 55 minutes De Bock passed to Vanaken 35 yards out from goal and as he turned he was tripped by a Westerlo player who was already on a booking. Alex was up calling for the red card and sat back down as the referee pulled out his yellow then red card to reduce Westerlo to ten men. They responded by going more defensive.

Despite the extra man Brugge could only manage a half chance for Luciano from the tightest of angles that was easily saved. Alex was annoyed they had failed to beat the team in last especially as they had been playing with ten men for most of the second half. It was definitely two points dropped for them.



A second draw in as many games left Brugge with only a one point lead over Standard at the top of the table as they went into the break, but they were at least still top.



Westerlo were still last after picking up their first point in five games.



Alex saw a text after the game that the board was happy with reports of what he had said after being linked with the Everton job. Alex felt he deserved the credit after having spent most of the bus ride to Westerlo telling Graham he didn’t want to swap jobs, yet.



While scoring did seem to be a bit of a struggle for most of the team Alex was concerned with how badly Vossen had done, despite being the best paid player in the league he had been awful under Alex and had rarely hit the target in practice and even less often in matches. Alex resolved to tell Roel to try and get rid of Vossen if it was possible.

Why is it everytime I check this story something is wrong with Vossen haha! Keep it up dude

Vossen was once a fantastic prospect.... It is a shame he seems to be having problems scoring these days!

Beany Because he is awful? Thanks man

Justice He had a half decent start to the first season then totally faded and has stayed that way annoyingly. Especially as he is by a decent way my best paid player

Alex gave the squad a few days off around New Years so that they could relax and get away from the pressure that he felt was beginning to get to his squad a bit which Alex hoped the break would stop.

It was new years eve early in the morning and Alex was in bright, well cloudy, and early as today was the first day that you could approach players who now had only six months left of their contracts. Alex and Roel had picked a target in advance to go after from day one.



Alex sat in and did a bit of negotiating as he and Roel tried to and succeeded in reaching an agreement to sign Nampalys Mendy from Nice on a free transfer. Whether he would actually sign for them or not still had to wait and Alex was hopeful that they could see off some interest from other teams like Leicester and Nice were still trying to re-sign him.



The next day Alex was a bit annoyed at RBL targeting another player of his, this team Jose Izquierdo and Alex had no plans to let him go as he was top scorer and vital to the plans for the rest of the season.



A bid soon followed the reported interest of him, Alex had to congratulate the press for being right for once. Alex simply sent “9” back and wondered how long it would take the German club to realise the meaning behind it.





Early on the next day Alex said goodbyes and wished good luck with varying degrees of sincerity as three of his players headed off to other clubs. De Bock would be missed the most while he wouldn’t really notice the departure of the other two as they had rarely played but, made the club a decent profit.



A bid for Denswil was launched by Ajax when the Dutch window opened and failing to think of a pun to amuse himself, linking Stam and spam being the closest he got, simply rejected the bid in a more normal way, and then added a couple paragraphs on how under no circumstances would he sell to try and put off a second bid.



Denswil called up annoyed and Alex decided to try and hammer out as specific an agreement as possible and finally agreed with Denswil that he would accept a bid from Ajax, and only Ajax, if it met what the club felt to be his value. That wasn’t agreed on so Alex decided to set it at €15 million in another attempt to scare off a second bid that might cause a bigger fight.



The following day Alex wrapped up his first end of contract signing as Mendy agreed to join. Roel sounded out Nice to see if there was any chance of getting him early and was met with a stubborn refusal which meant Mendy would join in the summer.

In the case of Emerson months, and in the case of Centurion just under a month after signing them Alex was finally able to see them himself as they arrived with the rest of the team for practice.



Centurion was as quick as anyone on the team and covered the ground in an instant. He could also deliver well from a good position and Alex felt he would prove to be a cut above the Belgian League and was very pleased with the signing.



Emerson was what you expected from a Brazilian full back quick and attacking however, a couple of season on loan in Italy, at Palermo and Roma, meant that he was also very accomplished on the defensive side of the game. Alex felt that he had got a very good replacement for De Bock, although they played the position in very different ways with De Bock playing deeper. With Brugge boasting the best defence in the league by a decent margin Alex was happy to use a more attacking wing back to help them try and improve in the goal scoring.

All of Roel’s work in trying to sell Vossen was coming up uselessly as the best he could get was a loan that wouldn’t cover any of his wages. Alex turned it down as for the little money it would give them they would be unable to get in a third choice striker so Alex felt that a striker in poor form was better than nothing.

Alex heard through the gossip that Vossen had somehow got wind that Alex was trying to sell him. However, the gossip at the club had also helped him as Alex had used his contacts to learn that Vossen was planning some showdown talks with him so Alex was able to prepare himself more for the talks and how he would make them go.

He was unsurprised when Vossen came into his office half an hour after training. “I’ve heard that you are trying to sell me and I want to know if it is true and why.”



Alex stayed calm as he responded. “I am trying to sell you and it is because you are the best paid player in this team and the league and seem unable to score against any team in the league so that makes you pretty useless for me as a striker. You have been on scoring droughts for most of he time that I have been here so I see no point of playing you and given your wages if you aren’t starting I want to sell you.”

Alex was surprised at the reply from Vossen. “I’m ready know and of you start me in matches instead of brining me on then I will be able to score.”

Alex doubted this as he had given Vossen starts for a decent part of his first season with the club and he had rarely come up with goals. He also didn’t want to bench Luciano who had looked very sharp in front of goal and was a consistent scorer. With goals not flowing for Club Brugge Alex was even more reluctant to get rid of Luciano.

Even if he did have to bench Luciano he would pick fellow Brazilian Ribeiro to replace him up front as he had shown far more in training and matches than Luciano, including some very impressive overhead kicks. Vossen was very much the third choice striker and even so Alex would strongly consider putting Izquierdo up front as he was a decent make shift striker and was the teams top scorer so had an eye for goal.



Alex decided to say none of that and instead lie to Vossen to ensure that he didn’t cause any trouble and since it looked likely that he would stay at the club that would be important. However, he said nothing about stopping trying to sell Vossen and intended to continue trying to offload the striker if he could find a buyer who was willing to take him on.



A couple of days later with the opening of the Serbian transfer window Alex said a fond farewell to Dider Zokora as he headed of to Vojvodina in Serbia. He had been a model professional at the club and had even popped up with a goal which was very unusual for him, having scored 5 in his very lengthy professional career. Alex was pleased to allow him to leave for first team football since he didn’t have long left in his career.



Alex’s plans suffered a blow the next day as Gedoz jumped up for a header and fell awkwardly and managed to fracture his draw which meant that he would be out for around a month. Alex was relieved he had spent his money on Centurion as without him he would have likely had to put Meunier on the wing and out of position, which would then leave him exposed at right back with Cools the only option.

Mendy is a fantastic signings, in my opinion.... He'll certainly reinvigorate your midfield!

Justice Yeah with Zokora leaving and Simons retiring need another DM and Mendy should be more than good enough