OCTOBER View attachment 105235
We had a very hectic schedule last month, fortunately we'll actually have some breaks this time out
PROXIMUS LEAGUE FIRST PHASE
KAS Eupen 1-0 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 105225 Zakar, De Kegel (Oblak 71), Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet, Tirpan, David, Cedres (Delaney 45), Gannon, Grieve (Shevlin 62) A first minute goal was enough for Eupen as we failed to get going today. A very poor display.
PROXIMUS LEAGUE FIRST PHASE KSV Roeselare 0-2 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 105224 Zakar, Tirpan, Jonsson, de Jong, Alan (Arnason 61), Marquet, Stojanovic, David, Delaney, Gannon, Anyora (Shevlin 61) A perfect response to a disappointing defeat as we comfortably dispatch Roeselare and bag another 3 points
PROXIMUS LEAGUE FIRST PHASE Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 3-1 Liege View attachment 105223
Zakar, Tirpan, De Kegel, de Jong, Mestdagh, Marquet, Stojanovic (Oblak 58), David, Delaney, Gannon, Anyora
A comfortable 3-1 victory but it should have been more, but three points are three points
PROXIMUS LEAGUE FIRST PHASE
Lommel United 2-2 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 105216 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic, David, Delaney (Grieve 73), Gannon, Anyora (Shevlin 55) To take an early lead and then find ourselves 2-1 down is disappointing but fortunately Matthew Shevlin saved my bacon once again and grabbed us a point
NOVEMBER View attachment 105200
The Belgian Cup returns this month as we take on KV Kortijk for a place in the Quarter Final
PROXIMUS LEAGUE FIRST PHASE
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 2-0 Cercle Brugge View attachment 105199 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic (Ivkovic 64), David, Delaney, Gannon, Anyora (Grieve 45) A simple 2-0 victory over struggling Brugge with Delaney bagging a first half brace
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 2-0 Lierse SK View attachment 105198 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong (Arnason 65), Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic (Ivkovic 65), David, Delaney, Gannon,, Anyora (Shevlin 76) We begin the Second Phase the way we ended the First, with a comfortable 2-0 win
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
KAS Eupen 0-0 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 105197 Zakar, Meyler, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic (Oblak 73), David, Delaney, Gannon (Grieve 74), Anyora (Shevlin 58) Samson Anyora was issued a warning after hits game. He was shocking.
BELGIAN CUP SEVENTH ROUND
KV Kortijk 1-2 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 105196 Zakar, Meyler, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic (Ivkovic 67), David, Delaney (Grieve 88), Gannon, Anyora (Shevlin 56) GET IN THERE! We fell behind but regrouped well with Gannon bagging an excellent equaliser before Matthew Shevlin showed Samson Anyora how to take penalties with a great winner
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 1-1 Liege View attachment 105022 Zakar, Tirpan 72, Van Durmen, de Jong, Gunnlaugsson (Arnason 72), Marquet, Stojanovic (Ivkovic 71), David, Delaney, Gannon, Anyora (Shevlin 71) We battered Liege and its disgraceful that we never broke through, he may have scored but Anyora was absolutely woeful today
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Lommel United 1-0 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 105024 Zakar, Meyler, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Ivkovic, Stojanovic, David, Delaney, Gannon (Cedres 66), Anyora (Shevlin 66) A poor performance added to a poor defeat as we slip up away to Lommel. Anyora was dreadful and received a formal warning following the match
BELGIAN CUP QUARTER FINAL
SV Zulte Waregem 0-4 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 105023 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet (Ivkovic 63), Stojanovic, David, Delaney (Cedres 63), Gannon, Anyora I think its fair to say the warning worked! We dominated Waregem from start to finish and were led by the excellent Anyora, who bagged a magnificent hat-trick to put us into the semi final, where we'll play KVC Westerlo
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 0-0 Cercle Brugge View attachment 105017 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic (Ivkovic 66), David, Cedres, Gannon, Anyora (Shevlin 72) How can you go from beating Zulte Waregem away to drawing with **** Brugge at home? Our players are a joke sometimes
JANUARY TRANSFERS View attachment 104882
We're in 2023. Neymar is the Ballon D'Or holder (Messi has 9!), Italy have won back-to-back World Cup titles and we're a year away from the next European Championship, which is to be held in Spain
But nobody really cares about that, the thing that most people care about are the transfer dealings of Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz.
TRANSFERS OUT We said goodbye to some friends. Traitors.
JOHANN DAVID TO HIBERNIAN FOR €800,000 View attachment 104881
This ****** me off. The board went behind my back and agreed this deal, which meant I frantically looked for a better deal, we had €1.3m offers agreed with NAC Breda, Reading and Millwall and the **** picks Hibs
AGUSTIN CEDRES TO VIKTORIA PLZEN FOR €200,000 View attachment 104878
Cedres is a pretty decent player but he never had a look in with Gannon dominating his position so we decided to cash in before his contract ran out
JON JONSSON TO KRC GENK FOR €625,000 View attachment 104876
Jon came in for free in the summer and has only played 3 games so I was more than happy to take Genk's offer
TRANSFERS IN Some people had the honour of becoming Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz players, let's meet the lucky souls
KARI HANNESSON - FREE TRANSFER View attachment 104875
Another Icelander to join our Viking contingent! With David's departure we looked a little light in the middle so I've brought in Kari as a bit of cover
JOHN SMITH FROM KILMARNOCK FOR €160,000 View attachment 104874
With Jonsson going we needed another centre back. In step John Smith, he's young, cheap, is full of potential and is arguably better than Jonsson. Happy days.
OLAFUR PETERSSON - FREE TRANSFER View attachment 104873
My Director of Football organised this. He's gone out on loan to Westerlo for the rest of the season
ROBBIE D'HAESE FROM KV OOSTENDE FOR €190,000 View attachment 104872
David's departure left us with gaps to fill, hopefully Robbie can help plug a few of those
STJEPAN TADIC - FREE TRANSFER View attachment 104871
Not the best deal, it has to be said
JABA MAISURADZE FROM TSKHINVALLI FOR €550,000 View attachment 104867
With Cedres leaving we needed some strength in depth in the attacking midfield position and I think Maisuradze can provide that. 21 years old and already 20 caps for Georgia. I like him
JANUARY View attachment 104847
2023 is upon us and we're looking forward to a potential promotion!
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Beerschot-Wilrijk 0-0 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 104846 Zakar, De Kegel, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan 86, Ivkovic, Vaccaro, David (Oblak 58), Delaney, Gannon (Arnason 86), Anyora (Shevlin 58) A horrendous performance from both sides lead to a bore draw where the only action of note was Alan's dismissal
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 0-1 KSV Roeselare View attachment 104845 Dujardin, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Gunnlaugsson, Hannesson, Ivkovic (Gannon 79), Stojanovic, Delaney, Grieve, Anyora (Ahevlin 79) Injuries, suspensions and international call-ups meant we went for a 4-1-2-1-2 today and boy did it fail! We produced a dismal performance and lost even more ground in the title race
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Lierse SK 1-4 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 104844 Dujardin, Tirpan, Van Durmen (Smith 68), de Jong, Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic, Ivkovic, Delaney, Gannon (Cedres 65), Anyora (Shevlin 68) We fell behind early on here and that had me preparing for the worst, fortunately we rallied and destroyed Lierse, smashing 4 past them and registering our first league win of 2023 in emphatic fashion
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 1-0 KAS Eupen View attachment 104843 Defourny, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Ivkovic (Hannesson 68), Stojanovic, Vaccaro, Delaney, Marquet (Grieve 45), Anyora Our second league win of 2023 came with our only shot on target. Lucky.
FEBRUARY View attachment 104840
We showed signs of improvement towards the end of last month, can we continue in that vein?
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 3-0 Beerschot-Wilrijk View attachment 104837 Defourny, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet (Hannesson 57), Stojanovic, Ivkovic, Delaney, Maisuradze, Anyora (Shevlin 70) We scored every shot on target. Clinical, poor goalkeeping or lucky? Or all three?
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Liege 0-4 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 104834 Defourny, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong (Smith 85), Alan, Marquet, D'Haese, Ivkovic (Hannesson 55), Delaney, Maisuradze (Shevlin 55), Anyora We've suddenly hit a bit of form! A 3-0 win then a 4-0 win! What is this madness?
BELGIAN CUP SEMI FINAL FIRST LEG
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 4-0 KVC Westerlo View attachment 104833 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet, D'Haese (Hannesson 65), Stojanovic, Delaney, Maisuradze, Anyora (Shevlin 65) Oh we do love our 4-0 cup wins! An excellent performance and result as we batter Westerlo in the first leg and all but secure our place in the final!
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 2-0 Lommel United View attachment 104832 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong (Smith 66), Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic (Hannesson 66), D'Haese, Delaney, Maisuradze (Gannon 66), Anyora If Anyora could take penalties, he'd have had a first-half hat-trick
BELGIAN CUP SEMI FINAL SECOND LEG
KVC Westerlo 0-0 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz win 4-0 on Aggregate View attachment 104831 Zakar, De Kegel, Smith, Arnason, Gunnlaugsson, Hannesson, Ivkovic, Stojanovic, Maisuradze (Tadic 67), Greive, Anyora (Shevlin 67) Our reserves did a job on Westerlo and booked our place in the final!
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
Cercle Brugge 2-0 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 104830 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Alan, Marquet (Maisuradze 45), D'Haese, Ivkovic, Delaney, Gannon, Anyora (Shevlin 63) Deja vu? We batter a Jupiler Pro League team then lose to **** Brugge
PROXIMUS LEAGUE SECOND PHASE
KSV Roeselare 0-1 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 104829 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, de Jong, Gunnlaugsson, Marquet, Stojanovic, Vaccaro, Delaney, Gannon, Anyora A scrappy 1-0 win to end the season. But that 1-0 was enough for us to break two records. Goals scored (47) and games won (18)
CHAMPIONS PLAYOFF View attachment 104820
Lommel United (managed by Wesley Sneijder) are all that stand between us and the Jupiler Pro League
CHAMPIONS PLAYOFF FIRST LEG
Lommel United 1-2 Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz View attachment 104819 Zakar, Tirpan, Van Durmen, Smith, Gunnlaugsson, Marquet, D'Haese, Stojanovic, Delaney, Gannon (Maisuradze 65), Anyora (Grieve 59) When Lommel took the lead within the first minute, I feared the worst. Fortunately our team is made of sterner stuff and rallied, equalising minutes later before dominating the game and getting a somewhat fortunate penalty at the end, which Luka Stojanovic dispatched for his first ever Mouscron goal
CHAMPIONS PLAYOFF SECOND LEG
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 2-1 Lommel United
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz win 4-2 on Aggregate View attachment 104818 Zakar, De Kegel, Van Durmen, Smith, Alan, Marquet, Stojanovic, Vaccaro (D'Haese 63), Delaney, Gannon (Maisuradze 63), Anyora (Shevlin 73) An almost carbon copy of the first game as Lommel take an early lead before we play them off the park and win through a penalty! WE'RE IN THE JUPILER PRO LEAGUE!
LINEUPS View attachment 104810
Mouscron go for a narrow 4-3-2-1 whilst Brugge opt for a wide 4-2-3-1
KICK-OFF 14th Minute-D'Haese stands over the corner, its an outswinger, it isn't cleared by Brugge... its fallen to DELANEY!!!! Saved! He should have scored
39th Minute-Hansson's corner aimed towards the edge of the box, its cut out well by Smith and now hears Anyora, can Mouscron break from here? Here's Tirpan, inside to Gannon, through for Marquet, he shoots... HE SCORES!!! ROYAL MOUSCRON-PERUWELZ HAVE THE LEAD!!!
HALF-TIME
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 1-0 Clubb Brugge
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz are good value for their lead the the break
SUBS: Fred Friday replaces Emil Hansson for Club Brugge.Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz remain unchanged.
SECOND-HALF
61st Minute-Ricardo Azevedo replaces Matteo Zanini for Club Brugge
63rd Minute-Marwuet has the ball now for Mouscron, they're being patient now outside the Brugge box, he goes back to D'Haese, forward for Gannon, now into Anyora who sprays it out wide for Alan, Alan takes it on, whips it in for ANYORA!!! AND ITS 2-0!!!
64th Minute-Adrien Bongiovanni replaces Rik Bogers for Club Brugge
72nd Minute-Zeljko Ivkovic replaces Robbie D'Haese for Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz
91st Minute-The ball drops out wide for Alan, he plays it inside to Vaccaro, Vaccro plays it to Marquet, he takes it on, the crowd call on him to shoot, Maarquet hits it... OH MY WORD WHAT A GOAL FROM FRANCOIS MARQUET
FULL-TIME
Royal Mouscron-Peruwelz 3-0 Club Brugge
The underdogs have shocked Brugge here View attachment 104812
Its been a few days since the Belgian Cup win and I'm finally on the comedown. The days since the win have been filled with parties, booze and fun and that's started to take its toll on the squad, fortunately we don't have any games for the remainder of the season.
Its strange to start the season in August and end in March, but that's the way its worked out for us as we completed a sensational double, including a fantastic Belgian Cup win against Club Brugge, have I already mentioned that? I'll do that a few more times.
I've won the Cup competitions in all three countries I've managed in so far, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Belgium, that is and I think I've started to prove myself as a manager, is that Real Madrid I hear calling?
Despite all this success in Belgium, I've never really settled here, sure I've learnt French and I like mayonnaise as much as the next guy, but I miss some home comforts, i.e. Chips without mayonnaise
I like the squad and I think I could go far with this lot, given time. And by time, I mean a lot of time. Belgium's pretty much a closed shop at league level, with Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Standard Liege and KRC Genk dominating there, we need time to close the gap and I'm not sure I can live in Belgium for the next 5+ years
What also hasn't helped is the board going behind my back. TWICE. And selling two of my best players. TWICE. Can I work under these conditions over a long period?
I flipped up my laptop lid and opened my email and shifted through the usual nonsense about Swedish ***** pumps, I was about to close the tab until something of interest suddenly appeared...
I've taken the trip down from Belgium to the beautiful city of Ingolstadt, Bavaria in search of one thing. Employment (at FC Ingolstadt)
Historically, I'd never heard much of Ingolstadt and never knew where it was until I got the email, and then phone call, summoning me to this meeting in Bavaria, a phone call I'm glad I received, anyway down to business
I would be meeting Ingolstadt's president, Peter Jackwerth, at the Audi Sportpark (Ingolstadt's stadium) to discuss this job. I really want this job.
Peter asked me a whole range of questions in an intense hour long interview that whizzed by. It was part of football philosophy, part psychological analysis and I felt drained, mentally and physically as I said my goodbyes and hopped on the next train to Brussels
"Don't" the voice said as I turned to meet it. It was Gavin Delaney, Irish Under 21 international and attacking midfield extraordinaire
"Why not?" I asked, taken aback by his brazen attempts to keep me here, I didn't even know he knew where I lived
"Because we need you. There's no way we can stay up next season without you, you saw what happened to Waasland-Bevern (last season's champions), they got destroyed"
"You'll be fine" I sighed "The board will get a replacement who's better than me and I'll be forgotten about before you know it"
"The lads want you to stay. If you leave, they leave. That's what they said. Jaouhar's already been on the phone today. Half of f*cking France want him!" Gavin exclaimed, the passion in his voice was moving, but I'd already made my decision
"Not my problem." I responded, coolly staring at the Irishman "If I stay, they'll leave anyway, you saw what happened with Johann (David) and Bram (de Jong), as soon as they board smell money they'll take it. I can't work like that"
"But-"
"I need to get out before the team is ripped apart in the summer and my reputation takes a hit. Parks teams would be turning me down before long" I responded "In an ideal world I'd stay and we'd win the Champions League. But that ain't gonna happen, now if you'll excuse me, I have a train to catch"
