22nd March 2024
Europa League Knock Out Play Off Round 1st Leg
I said before that I felt Olympiakos were very beatable opposition for us and we will go out to Greece with a relatively commanding lead for the 2nd leg that should be enough to see us into the next round. Vincent Janssen seems to have hit a rich vein of form as he scores his 5th goal in his last 3 games.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 25
USG came into this one top of the league and on a 14 match unbeaten run, so to whack 6 goals past them is a very impressive result for us! And one that moves us above them and to the head of the table for the first time this season!
Europa League Knock Out Play Off Round 2nd Leg
Nice and easy. Comfortably through to the next round as expected.
We will now take on The Hammers in the last 16 of the competition. Club Brugge continue to fly the Belgian flag alongside us in the competition and the further we can both go, the better it will be for our coefficient points.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 26
We haven't lost a league game for 4 and a half months and the last team to beat us in the competition was Oostende! But they couldn't repeat that feat here, even with us having to play nearly an hour with 10 men!
Croky Cup
Semi Final 2nd Leg
We kept our heads and composure to get the job done in the 2nd leg against Charleroi and make it through to our first Croky Cup Final under my management, where OH Leuven await us in May.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 27
Another easy win in the league ensures we open up a 4 point lead at the top! Vincent Janssen really has picked up his form in the second half of the season!
Europa League
Round Of 16 First Leg
It was really disappointing to take nothing from this game considering we had majority of the ball for most of the match, creating more chances than West Ham in the process as well. However, we didn't take our chances and thanks to a late Ings goal, we now have it all to do in London if we are to progress.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 28
I rested most of my better players for this one, with the second leg of the Europa League just days away. It meant this game was a lot closer than people might have expected, but we still managed to grind out the win and take another 3 points.
Europa League
Round Of 16 Second Leg
What a turnaround!!! West Ham got the late goal in the first leg and it was our turn here as an 89th minute winner from Gomes saw us complete an unlikely comeback and knock the London club out of the competition.
In the quarter finals, we face a tough draw against Villarreal. They have to be one of the favourites to win this thing out of the teams that are left.
Jupiler Pro League
League Table
Things are shaping up pretty well now as we lead the pack by 4 points with 2 games of the regular season left before the league splits into the Championship Group where we will play the top 6 another two times. On top of that, we have a domestic cup final to look forward to and a quarter final in Europe! It could become a very memorable season!
It was 1st vs 2nd here and even though we suffered the sending off of Gaston Avila right on half time, we still went on to win this one with relative ease and I think Charleroi will be ****** that they couldn't offer more!
The best wonderkids in the world are announced and we have three current players in the top 50, although it's two really as Rico Henry isn't ours.
Unfortunately though, this year's youth intake was nothing to shout home about and there are no real prospects for the first team here.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 30
The final match of the regular season (before we split into the Championship Group) ends in a resounding victory over Cercle Brugge.
Before the league breaks into the Championship Group, this is how it finished up with us on top by 9 points.
Which means we carry a 5 point lead into the final stage of the competition (with everyone's points getting halved). It might be a tough ask for Club Brugge to win it, but I'd say any of the top 5 are in with a realistic shout with another 10 games to be played.
Europa League
Quarter Final 1st Leg
It was back to European action first though and an away trip to Spain! When Villarreal went 2-0 up inside the opening quarter of an hour, I feared we might be on the wrong end of a good hiding! However, my lads rallied well and a determined performance saw us claw our way back into the game and earn a draw which gives us a chance of going through! We were dominated at times, so will definitely need to play better at home to overcome our Spanish opponents, but we have a shot at least!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 31
This certainly wasn't the most convincing of performances but we got the job done and kick off the championship group stage with an away win!
Europa League
Quarter Final 2nd Leg
Fantastic showing from my lads again as we knock out a team that is definitely better than us on paper to make the last 4! On chances and possession, it was a closely contested football match, but we were a bit more clinical on the day and that made the difference!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 32
Our schedule is getting busier with us fighting for trophies on several fronts and with that comes more squad rotation, which ultimately cost us here. However, I can't be too disappointed as this is the first time we have lost in the league since 21st October...that's over 6 months ago!!!
I have got a bit of a striker issue for the last few weeks of the season in the fact that all responsibility is going to fall on the shoulders of Ricardo Gomes, as both Vincent Janssen and Michel-Ange Balikwisha have both picked up injuries! Not ideal at all!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group Matchday 33
If we hadn't won this game, I'd have been seriously ******! We had over 30 shots at goal whilst Brugge only managed to muster up 4 chances in the whole game, but for a long time it didn't look like it was going to happen for us. In the end, we got the job done though with a couple of second half goals...big 3 points!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 34
It was 1st vs 2nd here as we faced off against our nearest pursuers! And an incredibly impressive win!!
Jupiler Pro League
Championship Group
That win over Genk saw Charleroi go ahead of them in the table, but it also meant we opened up a 7 point lead at the top of the table with just 6 games to go! Could we heading for back to back league titles?!
Europa League
Semi Final 1st Leg
In a frantic opening few minutes of the game, we took an early lead with a dream start as Ricardo Gomes was put through on goal and rounded the keeper before slotting into an open net. However, the formidable Milinkovic-Savic soon had Lazio in front just 7 minutes later and I wondered how we might respond to that. The answer was brilliantly and 11 minutes into the second half, a trademark powerful finish from Yanis Rahmani had us on level terms and we earn a draw in Italy that gives us every chance of making the final with the second leg on home turf!
However, it's going to be a manic busy finish to the season, as we have 8 games to play in the space of just 21 days!! And that all begins with the Croky Cup Final in just 3 days time!
We go into our first Croky Cup Final under my management as slight favourites to lift the trophy! But previous games against OH Leuven suggest this could go either way!
Croky Cup Final - Lineups
Croky Cup Final
After an uninspiring first half from both sides, the second period was much better with both teams opening up a little as they pushed men forward looking for the win. It was a typically nervey affair and a closely fought game with the match stats looking very even on paper. As the game went on, it looked increasingly likely that the match might be settled by either a moment of magic or a set piece. In the end it was the latter, as Malick Thiaw rose at the back post on 71 minutes to head home from a corner to seal the Croky Cup for us in my second season in charge!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 35
This game came just 2 days after the cup final and we had the 2nd leg of our Europa Cup tie with Lazio just 2 games after this one, so I had no choice but to play a completely changed side in order to rest my best players. With 10 changes to the starting lineup and the fact we still managed to win shows just how good our strength in depth is this season! Impressive!
Anthony Valencia was our main creative threat against Anderlecht as he picked up the man of the match award. The 20 year old winger has gone a little under the radar this season as he doesn't stand out as one of the club's best players, but his 11 assists in 24 appearances in all competitions is a very decent return for the youngster.
Europa League Semi Final 2nd Leg
The key here was going to be keeping Milinkovic-Savic quiet, so in my opposition instructions, I told the midfield to press onto him and go in hard as well. It works as we limited his creativity for the 90 minutes and he has a bit of a shocker. On the other hand, we were solid and disciplined in our performance and a 5th minute strike from close range for record signing, Fabian Rieder, was enough to see us into the final!!
I was really hoping for an all Belgian final, but Brugge couldn't quite get over the line and it is Aston Villa that await us in the final game of the competition!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 36
Back in the league, it was another win on the way to retaining our title! We now only need 1 point from our final 4 games to seal the Jupiler Pro League trophy for a second successive season!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 37
We only needed a point against USG, but we got all 3 in convincing fashion. The score might have only been 2-0 but on the balance of play and the chances created, we could easily have had 4 or 5 here.
Champions again and this is the first time in the club's history that we have ever won back to back titles!
Facilities: To celebrate our title win, the board agree to invest some more money into the club's youth recruitment.
1st June 2024
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group Matchday 38
Over the last 3 games of the season, with the title already wrapped up, it would just be about managing the player fitness and sharpness in the squad, ready for the Europa League Final at the end of the campaign. A defeat here, but it doesn't mean all that much so not too bothered.
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 39
Anthony Gomes scored his 30th goal of the season in stoppage time to earn us a draw in Brugge. We were dominated for long periods of this match so we definitely nicked a point here.
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 40
We finish off the season with a win, which was nice!
The two goals we scored against Genk took our league tally to 100 for the season and that is a new record!
So it was time for the big one! The Europa League final is upon us and fans and pundits alike have been voting for their likeliest outcome and it seems people are struggling to split the two sides. It surprises me as I thought Villa would be the favourites.
Lineups
Europa League
Final
It wasn't the dream end to the season we were hoping for as we were beaten in the final. We can't say Villa didn't deserve it as they were on top for most of the game and we struggled to cope with them at times. It looked for a while like we might get a smash n grab win after Yanis Rahmani put us 1-0 up in the 20th minute and we held on right round to the final 14 minutes of the game. However, Marcus Thuram is a quality player and 2 goals in 4 minutes from him turned the game on it's head and the trophy goes back to England.
We were seen as the biggest overachievers of the season in the competition and I could never have dreamed we would make the final when we dropped out of the Champions League.
Another superb season of domestic football saw us complete the treble as we lift the Jupiler Pro League and Croky Cup trophies, along with the Supercup too! Boom!
In Europe, we did ourselves no shame at all in finishing 3rd in our group stage of the Champions League to Atletico and Dortmund. From there we dropped into the Europa League and surpassed all my expectations finishing runners up in the competition!
Overall Squad Stats
The Best 11
The New Arrivals
It's fair to say I was worried about having to replace Calvin Stengs at the end of last season, but Marian Shved has proven to be a more than adequate player to come in and get the goals and assists that Stengs left behind! He was so good that he actually got the league signing of the season!
Club Awards
League Awards
Whilst we are on the league awards, how in the actual **** did I not win the Manager of the Year this season after winning a domestic treble?!
The supporters have been spoilt with back to back titles and now expect it moving forward. I really wish they would drop this thing about playing direct football though as that isn't my style and never has been!
At least the board don't want to see that type of football and are in sync with my possession style of attacking play.
Commercials
Finances
Going into next season, the wage budget has been boosted by about £50k per week and there is £8 million to spend on new players.
The club's stature has risen significantly this season, moving up 80 places in the European club rankings! Antwerp are now a top 50 European side...last year we weren't even in the top 100!!
After our run in Europe that took us to the Europa League Final last year, I fully expect it to have put some of Europe's bigger clubs on high alert around some of our players and expect to receive numerous offers for key members of my squad this Summer. The first that came in was two offers in the region of £12.5 million for Alberto Moleiro, both of which were quickly rejected.
Only a couple of players were released at the end of their contracts this Summer, which should be significant in bringing the average age of the squad down as De Laet and Montoya are 35 and 33 years old respectively.
De Laet deserves a special mention after aking 139 league appearances for the club over the past 6 years and has been a big part of my back to back title winning squad.
Transfer News: My first two signings for the club this year are free transfers that were agreed on pre contract deals. The first is the versatile Italian defender, Lorenzo Venuti, who comes in from Fiorentina. He can play both right back and left back and will likely be an important squad rotation player for us.
Transfer News: The second freebie is Josh Brownhill who leaves Burnley to join us in Belgium. Valued at nearly £30 million, he is an excellent addition to our central midfield numbers for absolutely nothing! I think he'll play an important role for us!
Transfer News: It was already turning out to be a very frustrating window for us as we get to the 10th July and missed out on multiple players already with them opting to join other clubs around Europe. So I turned to the loan market to bolster our left back position and Prince Aning joins from Dortmund for the season ahead!
Despite our lack of movement in the transfer market so far, the bookies certainly aren't taking any risks with us this season and have us as favourites to win the title for the 3rd straight season! Five of our players also make up the media dream 11 this year as well!
Transfer News: Then there was an incoming transfer. 21 year old Irish centre back, Anselmo Garcia McNulty, joins the club from Wolfsburg for a fee of £3 million (with £1.2 mil paid up front). He is good enough to play as a squad rotation right away, but I'm hoping he develops into an important player for us over the next couple of years.
One area I haven't needed to even look at so far this Summer is my striker role. Ricardo Gomes scored more than 30 goals in all competitions last year and is this season's favourite to finish top goalscorer in the league!
Meanwhile, Fabian Rieder is expected to be the best player in the division this season!
Toby Alderweireld has now retired from football and it remains to be seen how much we will or will not miss his influence in the dressing room. He has played 54 times in the league under my management, leading the club to two league titles as my captain!
Apart from an expected defeat against PSG, pre season has all gone pretty smoothly and I feel suitably prepared for our upcoming Supercup game against Anderlecht!
Transfer News: One final piece of business before I sign off on this update. I needed a second right back in the squad and with the Belgain league rulings stating that I have to name no less than 6 players in every match day squad that were developed in Belgium for 3 years before their 23rd birthday, there needs to be a strong presence of Belgian players in the team. So I turned to OH Leuven's Casper De Norre and he joins us for £1.8 million. He has been their first choice for the last couple of seasons, so it also significantly weakens a rival by us bringhing him here.
Just as we did last year, we kick off the season by winning the Supercup. An easy victory over Anderlecht who were only there by default anyway after we completed the league and cup double last season! A nice start!
The Supercup win has also seen me enter the top 10 in the Belgium manager's hall of fame.
After Toby Alderweireld's retirement, it was time to appoint a new club captain. The man I have opted for is the man who gradually took Alderweireld's place in the side last year. Bjorn Engels is one of our most experienced players now at 29 years old and I do love my captain being a centre back as well.
Transfer News: Laurit Krasniqi has been there as a backup for me over the last 2 seasons, but he isn't good enough for us anymore and the left back joins Famalicao in a deal worth £575k.
Facilities: Just a day before the new league campaign kicks off, the board agree to my request to improve the training facilities again. We are gradually building this club up!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 1
A rampant first half performance ensured an easy victory on the opening day of the new season. Cercle Brugge are the bookies pick for finish in 3rd place this year, so to beat them so comfortably is a statement of our intent to defend our title this year!
Transfer News: The only position I really felt we needed additional cover now was at centre back. I have spent £4 million to bring Scott McKenna here from Brighton as I think he is good enough to challenge for a starting place and I like the fact he can play with both feet, so can fit into either side of the centre back role for me.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 2
After a pretty dismal first half, the second period was much better with Ricardo Gomes coming off the bench to bag a brace and ensure we open our league account with back to back wins.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 3
Three wins from three, with a comfortable win over Genk. Four goals from four different goalscorers is always good!
The fact that we just thrashed Genk showed just how good a result it was, as they followed up that defeat with a ridiculous win over Anderlecht!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 4
This is one team we have struggled against in the past and again it proved to be the case here as we suffer our first defeat of the season!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 5
A really poor result considering we had already thrashed Anderlecht in the Supercup only a few weeks ago. We were in self destruct mode from the off and with 2 sending offs in the first half an hour, it was always going to make it near on impossible to get a result here!
Jupiler Pro League
League Table
After back to back defeats, we have 9 points from our opening 5 games. However, it's worth noting we only had 4 points at this stage last season and went on to win the title quite comfortable, so there's no need for panic.
Meanwhile, the fixtures for the Champions League are drawn and with these set of games ahead of us, we will do very well to qualify for the knockout stages!
After losing back to back games, it was imperative that we got the win here at all costs!
I have no idea what this award is, but I won it!
A bit of Wikipedia was in order to find out what I had just won!
Jupiler Pro League Matchday 7
It took us a while, but eventually we put the ball in the back of the net a couple of times to seal the points against newly promoted Kortrijk.
Facilities: Further improvements are taking place in the background of the football club and we have now upgraded our academy coaching to an excellent level.
Champions League - Group Phase Matchday 1
This was the classic smash n grab win as Ajax were on top for the entire game. They had 27 shots at our goal without finding the net and we punished them for their inability to score, by scoring two of our five chances. Not pretty, but we will take it!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 8
Our schedule was about to get busy with three league games in six days and we kicked that off with a fantastic win to the team that is likely to be the biggest challengers to our title.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 9
Plenty of rotation was required for this one, but it didn't disrupt our flow and we beat Westerlo pretty comfortably. We sat on a 1-0 for a long time, but then 2 goals in 2 minutes with 15 remaining put the game to bed.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 10
Our busy week was rounded off with 3 wins from 3 as we thrash newly promoted Lommel.
Champions League - Group Phase
Matchday 2
This was always going to be one of our easier games on paper and was therefore a must win, so I'm pleased to have come through the game on the right end of the result. Wolfsburg, meanwhile, have lost their opening two and are bottom of the group phase.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 11
Charleroi have been a bit of a bogey team for us at times over the last couple of seasons and it looked like they could be again for a long time here, as they held us at bay for over an hour. But the last 20 minutes, we simply flipped a switch, turned on the style and romp to a big win in the end.
Jupiler Pro League
League Table
Eleven games into the campaign and we sit at the top of the table. It took us a lot longer than this to get to the head of table last season and we went on to win the competition, so hopefully we can kick on from here and open up a decent lead.
One of the key players for us again this season is proving to be the ultra creative Marian Shved. He already has 12 assists in 11 games in all competitions! I always feared we would struggle to replace Calvin Stengs after that first season, but Shved has proven to be an incredible capture for us and I'm quickly falling in love with our very own little Ukranian.
Five goals, five different goalscorers, easy win, great day out for the fans!
One thing that is important as we continue to try to grow the stature of Antwerp FC is to build our worldwide reputation and that can be done by adding new affiliate clubs from around the world. We have now started that process with our new affiliation with Australian side, Western United.
Champions League - Group Phase
Matchday 3
Our first defeat in the competition this season comes at the hands of PSV. It's a disappointing one as I feel these are the sort of games we have to be winning if we want to progress to the knockout rounds.
We do still sit 7th after 3 games, but with games against Liverpool and AC Milan coming up, things are about to get real tough!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 13
Back in the league it was business as usual though as we get the job done away at USG with a professional performance to bounce back from the PSV defeat.
And that makes it 8 straight wins in the league, with only a single goal conceded on that run as well!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 14
I certainly didn't expect our winning run to come to an end against the side at the bottom of the league...and it didn't.
We have 6 stadium sellouts this season and our average attendance is about 98-99% of out capacity. I am therefore pleased that the board have agreed to my request to expand the stadium and we will soon have room to accomodate an extra 2800 fans.
Champions League - Group Phase
Matchday 4
Manuel Ugarte's sending off just before half time for Liverpool presented us with a real opportunity and we took full advantage of it! It didn't look like we would when Diaz put them ahead with only 13 minutes to go, but three late goals secured us a massive 3 points on the way to qualification!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 15
Our winning streak came to an end away at Standard Liege. It shouldn't have done based on the fact we had 18 chances to their 8, but some complacency in front of goal cost us here. We now must bounce back from our first defeat in a while.
My profile in the world of football is clearly on the rise as I have clubs like Juventus now sniffing around me for the their vacant manager's job. For now though, I am happy at Antwerp and with the progress the club is making and reject the opportunity to sit down in front of the Italian club's board. Who knows where the future might take us though.
Injury: Viktor Fischer has made a decent enough start to the season and has 5 assists and 3 goals in all comps so far. However, he will now miss the next 2-3 months through injury :-(
Champions League - Group Phase Matchday 5
I think most would have expected us to get battered at the San Siro, but that wasn't the case and we held our own against a club with a much bigger stature than us! Good effort from the lads and a decent performance that would have been good enough to beat lesser teams in the competition.
We're still 10th in the league phase and well in with a chance to finish in that top 24 and at least go through to the knock out playoff to make the last 16. I reckon if we can pick up one more win from our last three matches, it will be enough to see us through.
Jupiler Pro League Matchday 16
We seem to be having a slight dip in form of late and a draw here is considered not good enough, especially after finding ourselves 2-0 in front so early on!
Jupiler Pro League League Table
It's us and Gent that have opened up a small lead at the top of the division now as we pass the half way stage of the normal competition (before the split into the Championship Group). Club Brugge will be disappointed to be 10 points off the pace, whilst Anderlecht are struggling in the bottom half.
Transfer News: We kick off this update with a new signing. The window is not open yet, but Arthur is able to join as he was a free agent. And what a great player for us to pick up on a freebie as well. I'm not exactly in dire need of anymore central midfielders, but the opportunity to bring him in just couldn't be passed up!
Croky Cup
Sixth Round
Arthur went straight into the starting lineup to make his debut in our first venture into this year's Croky Cup, and within 8 minutes he had his first assist for the club as he put Anthony Valencia through on goal to score his 2nd goal of the season. It wasn't the greatest team performance overall though and we only just snuck through to the next round, relying on two Scott McKenna headed efforts from a corners late on.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 17
1st vs 2nd so this was a massive win for us in the title race!
Champions League - Group Phase
Matchday 6
With our last two games in the group phase being against Napoli and Real Madrid, I felt we had to win this game to stand a chance of qualifying for the next round, so I'm really chuffed with this one!
Jupiler Pro League Matchday 18
Another big win over a club who are a potential threat to our title defence.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 19
Leuven have previously been a thorn in my side at times, but not today. A superb display of attacking first half football had this game over and put to bed before the break!
Croky Cup
Seventh Round
This was the tie that all the other teams in the competition wanted. 1st vs 2nd from the top tier. In a tightly contested fixture, it is us who progress to the next round as we claim a big scalp in our quest to retain the Belgian Cup.
As the calendar year comes to a close, it is awards season again and in 2024, we have picked up another three. Young Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Year and Manager of the Year.
During my time at the club, Christopher Scott has never really ever been a first team regular, but he fills in at left wing and centre mid for me throughout the campaigns and always comes in a does a job for us. This season he has earned a bit more playing time and with 6 goal contributions in 11 games is starting to become an important player for us.
Transfer News: The January transfer window is now open and I have two players leaving the club on the first day of the new year. I didn't want to get rid of either player voluntarily, but neither of them wanted to remain at the club and with both their contracts expiring at the end of the season, I couldn't allow them to leave on free transfers so decided to cash in now. Sam Vines joins Rennes for a fee of £6.3 million, whilst Michel-Ange Balikwisha moves to England to join Everton in a deal worth £10 million.
Although I raised £16 million, only £6 million of it has been added to the transfer budget which is quite disappointing considering we now have over £30 million in the bank.
However, after speaking to the board, they did agree to bump the transfer budget up a little bit.
Transfer News: The first player I went and bought was Nigerian inside forward, Henry Onyekuru, from Olympiakos for just £2.3 million, which seems like an absolute steal at this point. His pace can wreak havoc in the Belgian league and he's a decent dribbler and finisher too...he will do just nicely for my left inside forward role!
Transfer News: More importantly though, Sam Vines needed replacing at left back. I was keen to do that with a Belgian player to help with the club's fulfilment rules in the league (we have to have 6 Belgian players or players at least trained in Belgium for 3 years before their 23rd birthday in the matchday squad). The man I have brought in is 25 year old, Daam Foulon. I tried to sign him in the Summer but he opted for Cadiz instead, but had failed to break into their team so I went in and activated his £4.3 million release clause to bring him back to Belgium.
We've been on our Winter break for the last couple of weeks, so a little friendly was in order to increase match sharpness before the competitive stuff starts up again. I think, based on this result, we are ready to go!
A good performance and a solid victory which sees us into the semi final of the Croky Cup. Fabian Rieder was unreal in central midfield today, controlling the game throughout, and deserved his goal at the end.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 20
What a result! It's not that we completely dominated them on the stats either...we were just incredibly clinical in front of goal, scoring 6 of our 9 shots!!
Champions League - Group Phase
Matchday 7
Well I wasn't expecting that! We had to ride a lot of Napoli pressure at times, but we defended superbly and up the other end managed to nick a couple of goals to take the win! This is another one of them massive European wins for us!!
Incredibly, that win not only guarantees us a place in the playoff round, but also gives us a shout of finishing in the top 8 and getting safe passage straight through to the last 16 of the competition! That is something I never expected!! Our final game is against Real Madrid who will leapfrog us if they beat us though, so we will be relying on some other teams to falter in that situation - with the way we have played in this competition though, we can't completely rule out getting a result against the Spanish giants, although I recognise how tough it will be to get anything at the Bernabeu.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 21
A much tighter game than I would have liked, but we got the win and that's the most important thing.
Facilities: Further upgrades to the youth recruitment system at the club now means we are at an excellent level!
Champions League - Group Phase
Matchday 8
It was always going to be a tough ask to get anything from this game and we were soundly beaten, only managing 3 shots in the entire game and finishing it with an xG of 0.06!!
That defeat saw us drop all the way down to 13th in the table. However, if you'd have offered me a place in the knockout playoff at the start of this campaign, I'd have bitten your hand off for it! We've done ourselves proud in the competition so far this year, winning 5 of our 8 matches! The English clubs dominated the top 8 positions with 4 of them going straight through to the last 16 and it's fair to say Aston Villa are becoming a very good side after winning the Europa League final against us last season. The biggest casualties from the competition at this stage are probably Napoli and RB Leipzig.
Transfer News: On deadline day, I still had £4.5 million left to spend and the main transfer I made was as much a commercial one than any other. Signing the number 1 Japanese goalkeeper has to improve our marketing in Asia for sure and Kosuke Nakamura is certainly good enough to challenge for a first team spit between the sticks as well. I met his minimum release clause of £3.2 million to sign him from Portimonense.
Transfer News: With a new goalkeeper coming in, it meant that one had to be moved on. However, I certainly didn't expect to get £6.5 million for him!! That's a result as Jean Butez leaves for Sassuolo.
Transfer News: It's all about the goalkeepers this window as I may have signed the club's future number 1 keeper as well. Lucas is only 18 years old and looks like a decent prospect. I've paid £1.3 million to sign him from Fluminense.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 22
After scoring two headed efforts from set pieces, centre back Bjorn Engels was handed the ball for the penalty early in the second half to complete a rare defender's hat trick! Anthony Valencia then added a 4th with a powerful effort from a tight angle to round off a comfortable win.
Jupiler Pro League
League Table
We sit top of the division and 7 points clear of our nearest rivals, Gent, who look like the only team to be throwing down any sort of challenge so far this season! Once again, Anderlecht are a bitter disappointment, even with Vincent Kompany now back in charge at the club!
Croky Cup
Semi Final 1st Leg
It was a repeat of last year's final, but played over two legs at this stage of the competition this season. Thanks to a couple of late goals, we take a good advantage into the second leg at home too...is another cup final lurking for us?!
Meanwhile, in the Champions League, we will face Shakhtar in the Playoff Knockout Round and we have to feel that this is a very winnable tie for us!
Oh, and for anyone wondering why PSG are also 'blue' on this screen, it's becasue they are our parent club, although we haven't had a single player on loan from them in 3 years as none of their players want to come here, not even their youngsters.
Club Brugge are still officially rated as the number 1 side in Belgium, but if results like this keep happening, they won't be for too much longer. An excellent result for us!
There is no denying we struggled in my early days as a manager, but over the past few games we have definitely turned the tables on them.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 24
Despite us going down to 10 men as early as the 4th minute, Westerlo couldn't capitilize on it and never posed a threat here as we still went on to win the game with relative ease.
Champions League
Knockout Playoff 1st Leg
A tight game out in Ukraine ends in a 0-0 draw, but I feel confident we can get the job done at home.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 25
Plenty of rotation for this one, but it didn't disrupt our momentum as we cruise to victory once again against a side that are overachieving this season (sitting 9th).
Champions League
Knockout Playoff 2nd Leg
We absolutely battered the Shakhtar goal for 90 minutes, having 28 shots! We only managed to score twice and late on I was hoping that all those missed chances weren't going to come back to haunt us. Luckily they didn't and we are through to the last 16 of the Champions League!!!
When you get to this stage, any draw is going to be difficult, but we will be really up against it against the mighty Manchester City!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 26
We were far from our best here, but got the result which has been a common theme for us this year. We've steamrollered a lot of sides and when we haven't been that good, we've consistently grinded out results.
Croky Cup Semi Final 2nd Leg
Bringing a 3-1 lead from the 1st leg, it was widely expected we would progress to the final. And we did...easily...really easily! Never in doubt really was it!
Cercle Brugge await us in the final and we have to feel confident considering they have never beaten us since I've been manager.
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 27
I made 10 changes to the starting lineup with the Man City game on the horizon only 3 days away. It definitely disrupted us and we were the worst we've been for a long time. However, again we pick up the result thanks to Yanis Rahmani's excellent free kick which curled around the wall and into the top corner from 25 yards.
Jupiler Pro League
League Table
With 3 games to go before the table splits into the Championship Group, we are now 13 points clear at the top and absolutely flying! Only Gent remain anywhere near us as USG find themselves a massive 21 points off the pace back in 3rd. Meanwhile, Anderlecht are now in real danger of being drawn into the relegation group...could the giants actually go down this season?!
Champions League
Round of 16 First Leg
Now although we recognise just how much of a huge challenge it will be to go to Manchester and get a result, we have given ourselves the slimmest of chances of doing something amazing here by limiting City to only a 1 goal win at our place. We created chances of our own as well, so we have every reason to think we can score a goal against this lot!
It can't be underestimated just how good a win this was! USG came into this game 3rd in the table and on a 13 game unbeaten run, so to absolutely batter them the way we did was superb!
Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg
A brave effort against one of the strongest teams in the world and losing 2-0 over two legs against City is nothing to be ashamed of!
Jupiler Pro League
Matchday 29
An easy win over the bottom side.
Youth Intake: This year's intake isn't terrible but it isn't amazing either. Possibilities for a couple of these to maybe play for the first team one day, but they won't be world class players.
Nand Bruneel is probably the most promising of the lot.
In terms of wonderkids, we have one making the list this season. Stanislas Mboyo is number 11!
Jupiler Pro League Matchday 30
Our final game of the regular league format (before the split into the Championship Group) ends in a big victory. Nice to get some revenge over Standard who beat us earlier in the season.
Jupiler Pro League
League Table
We absolutely ran away with the regular league campaign, a good 18 points clear at the top of the table!
Which means we carry a 9 point lead into the Championship Group stage and surely with 10 games remaining, this league title is very much ours to lose!
Injury: Unfortunately, top goalscorer Vincent Janssen won't play any more part this season and that is a gutting blow to take!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 31
We kick off the Championship Group stage with a draw, salvaged with the very last kick of the game!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 32
Great way to bounce back from the draw against Genk!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 33
A fantastic second half turnaround ensures another important win on the way to retaining our title.
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Table
With 7 games remaining, we have a 10 point lead. Effectively, if we beat Gent in our next game and win one other game we pretty much have the title sealed!
2nd June 2025
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group Matchday 34
Massive win in terms of the title race! Absolutely massive!
It leaves us a maximum of 2 wins away from winning our 3rd straight league title. However, things could be wrapped up sooner if we win our next match against Genk and Gent lose to Leuven.
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 35
We had 20 shots at the Genk goal in this game, but only managed to score once! However, due to such a solid defensive display, that one goal was enough to take all the points.
Gent did win as well, which means we have to wait at least one more game to seal the title...it is now agonizingly close!
For now though, we turn our attentions to the Croky Cup Final against Cercle Brugge. With them currently playing out their final games in the relegation group of the top tier, we would naturally come into the game as favourites to lift the trophy for a second consecutive season, although I possibly would have expected us to be a shorter price with the bookies. We do have a few injuries going into the game though and this will give Cercle confidence they can win the game.
Croky Cup
Final
We were the much better team and fully deserved this result. Great to pick up another trophy and the second step towards second successive domestic treble is now complete! Now to go on and win the league title!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group Matchday 36
At the first possible opportunity, we win the league title in emphatic fashion, thrashing a Mechelen side that looked miles off it compared to where we are at right now! An excellent performance!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 37
With the league wrapped up, it seems it's all about entertainment for our fans now as we play out an 8 goal thriller in our next game. It was another 3 points though.
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 38
We well and truly are the entertainers offering up another 10 goals here in this one! 18 goals in our last two games is just madness, but nobody can deny they get good value for money coming to watch us play!
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 39
A much more conventional win this time round! Nice to see that we haven't lost focus since winning the title and continued our good form afterwards.
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Matchday 40
And we finished off the season with an easy win against the side that finished 2nd in the league. This result just goes to show how far we are ahead now of all the other Belgian clubs.
Jupiler Pro League - Championship Group
Table
Our most convincing title win yet sees us finish 22 points above our nearest rivals!
In the end the league was won easily...in fact it couldn't have been any easier as we dominated the competition for most of the season!
The Croky Cup was also retained this year and again we never really looked in doubt in any game throughout the competition.
The Supercup was won again as well, which rounded off a domestic treble for the second season in a row. Meanwhile in the Champions League we did ourselves proud and made it through the group stage. A win over Shakhtar in the playoff knockout was a good result before Manchester City proved a step too far. But we can be proud of our showing in the competition again this season.
Overall Squad Stats
The New Arrivals
The Best 11
Club Awards
League Awards
Not much change in the way of the supporter profile over the past season, although it's strange to lose social media followers after another successful season. The fans simply won't drop this idea of playing direct football!!!
The Commercials
Finances
The club is in a pretty stable position despite the large amount of debt that still needs paying back.
The board didn't exactly bless me with the biggest budgets for the Summer though, with only £6 million available to spend on new players!
But that might be down to the fact they are forking out £12 million on stadium upgrades. Initially the plan was to upgrade the seating by just under 3,000 but it seems those plans have been enhanced and we will now increase capacity by over 8,000!
The Belgian league is continuing to rise in stature and the Jupiler Pro League is up to 8th in the European rankings.
Whilst our good performance in the Champions League last year has seen Antwerp rise to 27th, meaning we are now the highest ranked Belgian side in the continent.
And it is official...Antwerp do now top the Belgian football club rankings!
It would be fair to say my work here is done and I am now destined for bigger things in a tougher league maybe?! It would be fair to suggest I should test my managerial skills in another country after completing a double treble in Belgium?! With the Udinese job looming, it would be fair to suggest a move to Italy is on the cards?!
I've taken the job with the Italian club offering me a 3 year contract and virtually doubling my wages. I've also brought a whole load of my staff with me too!
I leave Antwerp with a sensational record of 125 wins from my 168 games in charge!
And my career trophy cabinet after my first job is pretty impressive after just 3 years in charge...
3x Jupiler Pro League
2x Croky Cup
2x Belgian Supercup
I also made it to 3rd place on the Belgium managerial hall of fame list!
And finally, I did make the favoured personnel list of the club!
But now we embark on the next chapter of my managerial journey. The Dacia Arena will be my new home!
And my new club have some fairly useful facilities...it took me three years to build Antwerp up to this level so it's nice to start my new job with comparable facilities from the off.
The biggest plus of my new supporter base is that they don't expect me to play direct football! Yay!!
In terms of my new employers, a top half finish in Serie A will suffice for my first season in charge, whilst working to grow the reputation of the club...something I have good experience of in Belgium.
Top half would certainly be an achievement based on the fact Udinese have well and truly become a bottom half side over the last 10-15 years.
So here we are, in Italy...let's see if we can replicate the success of what I achieved in Belgium! Looking forward to this!
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
