Retirement hadn’t gone how Alex thought it would. Standing in the rain in Stockholm he was starting intently down the pitch with hope. The stadium was quiet as everyone watched as Jetro Willems stroked the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. Alex sank down for a second before getting up to shake the hand of his opposing manager and then went to try and pick his team up from a penalty shoot out loss in the Europa League final.
They had hardly been in the game suntil a lucky late equaliser to get them to penalties, it actually made the defeat harder to take than it would have been had they not scored. Brugge stayed out on the pitch for a few minutes before they were able to take their runner up medals and then head back to the locker room.
Alex knew that the team would be feeling very low after the loss and tried to pick them back up a bit. “If you offered us runner up in this before the season started we would have taken it I think I’m right in saying, we should all be proud of how this season has gone. It took the champions of Italy penalties to beat us. AC Milan, Liverpool, Lyon, and Roma all went out to us, they are all huge teams and they all failed to beat us. We made the final against all the odds and we may have lost it but, you should all be proud of what you achieved in the game and in the games to get here.”
The team were still down as they boarded a flight back to Brussels. Alex got a text calling him to meeting of the board almost as soon as he could get to the training ground and could guess what it was about.
Due to bad traffic Alex was late which wasn’t a great impression to make. Bart Verhaeghe, the President of Club Brugge stood up after Alex sat down and starting reading from a sheet. “The board feels that the direction you have taken the team is not where we want it to be and as a result of this for the future of the club we feel it is in it’s best interests to terminate your employment effective immediately. The remaining year of you contract will be paid to you on a monthly basis unless you find employment managing another team.”
Alex was stunned, he had guessed it might be coming as the board seemed to be moving against him for some reason but, he was surprised at how simply it was done. With his piece seemingly said Bart led the rest of the board out the room leaving Alex alone.
After a couple of minutes he figured he may as well pack his stuff up. He had very little in his office that was his and was quickly through with that. As the players had already left for their summer break Alex just texted them tell them of the news and wish them well.
Alex had planned for a staff meeting to plan for the pre-season so went to that to tell his backroom staff the news and thank them for all the help they had given him over the course of the job.
With that Alex walked to his car and felt his phone buzz. An update from a football app showed that news of his to quote the press release “No longer being manager of Club Brugge” had been confirmed to the media.
Alex drove for home, he had expected this to happen and as a result had interviewed for a number of jobs so that he would have something to fall back on. He heard his phone ring and was unsurprised by the caller, Graeme his agent.
“Two offers for you, just pick and I will negotiate and get everything signed.”
“Give me some time to think Graeme I’ve only just lost my job. I have to talk thing over at home as well.” Alex said, he had two good offers and it was hard to decide between them.
Graeme cut off his thoughts “Call me within three days so that everything can be done before I head off to St Vincent for a nice rest.”
Alex was about to respond but, his agent had hung up on him. “Neuker” Alex muttered under is breath as he turned off the motorway.
They had hardly been in the game suntil a lucky late equaliser to get them to penalties, it actually made the defeat harder to take than it would have been had they not scored. Brugge stayed out on the pitch for a few minutes before they were able to take their runner up medals and then head back to the locker room.
Alex knew that the team would be feeling very low after the loss and tried to pick them back up a bit. “If you offered us runner up in this before the season started we would have taken it I think I’m right in saying, we should all be proud of how this season has gone. It took the champions of Italy penalties to beat us. AC Milan, Liverpool, Lyon, and Roma all went out to us, they are all huge teams and they all failed to beat us. We made the final against all the odds and we may have lost it but, you should all be proud of what you achieved in the game and in the games to get here.”
The team were still down as they boarded a flight back to Brussels. Alex got a text calling him to meeting of the board almost as soon as he could get to the training ground and could guess what it was about.
Due to bad traffic Alex was late which wasn’t a great impression to make. Bart Verhaeghe, the President of Club Brugge stood up after Alex sat down and starting reading from a sheet. “The board feels that the direction you have taken the team is not where we want it to be and as a result of this for the future of the club we feel it is in it’s best interests to terminate your employment effective immediately. The remaining year of you contract will be paid to you on a monthly basis unless you find employment managing another team.”
Alex was stunned, he had guessed it might be coming as the board seemed to be moving against him for some reason but, he was surprised at how simply it was done. With his piece seemingly said Bart led the rest of the board out the room leaving Alex alone.
After a couple of minutes he figured he may as well pack his stuff up. He had very little in his office that was his and was quickly through with that. As the players had already left for their summer break Alex just texted them tell them of the news and wish them well.
Alex had planned for a staff meeting to plan for the pre-season so went to that to tell his backroom staff the news and thank them for all the help they had given him over the course of the job.
With that Alex walked to his car and felt his phone buzz. An update from a football app showed that news of his to quote the press release “No longer being manager of Club Brugge” had been confirmed to the media.
Alex drove for home, he had expected this to happen and as a result had interviewed for a number of jobs so that he would have something to fall back on. He heard his phone ring and was unsurprised by the caller, Graeme his agent.
“Two offers for you, just pick and I will negotiate and get everything signed.”
“Give me some time to think Graeme I’ve only just lost my job. I have to talk thing over at home as well.” Alex said, he had two good offers and it was hard to decide between them.
Graeme cut off his thoughts “Call me within three days so that everything can be done before I head off to St Vincent for a nice rest.”
Alex was about to respond but, his agent had hung up on him. “Neuker” Alex muttered under is breath as he turned off the motorway.
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