The Retirement of Alex Taylor

[ninjaskill]

Alex Taylor had to admit it, he was bored. He had been retired for 7 months and was ready to do… well anything. The disadvantage of retiring at 36 is that everyone you know still work so you have nothing to do all day. His friends and wife worked all day and his kids were at school so the only people around were fellow retirees and none of them were under 60. He had tried what ex-footballers do, he had taken up golf despite hating it the few times he had played with teammates and learned he still did after in anger of missing the ball yet again his driver ended up wrapped around a tree. A few thousand pounds poorer to know what he already knew, he hated the “sport”. He had tried punditry but, was awful in front of the camera and after doing it twice told his agent he was done with it. Not that channels would be knocking his door down after his awful stiff delivery. It had at least covered the cost of the golfing adventures.

He knew he had to find something to do, other than working out his days were empty he hated day time TV and unlike most footballers hated every other sport. Possibly as he was very competitive and only good at football. But, he had to do something to occupy his time for the good of his house as well as him, some unsuccessful dabbling with D.I.Y. had cost him the rest of the punditry money to hire in people to fix his mess. A normal job was out of the question as he didn’t fancy working in fast food or a call centre. He only had a few GCSE’s and they were all C’s as he knew he could make it as a footballer and as a result hardly studied. He hadn’t considered his life after football. He didn’t like coaching having done some of it in his final two jobs to Alex it was just laying out cones and agreeing with the manager or being told you were wrong. It was also a short job as you generally had the same shelf life as the manager and would have to move where they did, and that was only if they still wanted you. So he again came to what he had been avoiding. Management. His agent had said he would fall into it eventually and having to admit to his agent he was right was most of the issue Alex had with the job. Although there were other issues, he didn’t want to drag his family against there will around the world and also didn’t want to be away from them for the length of a season which could make it harder to find a job.

He’d had a decent career in the lower parts of the Premier League for a number of clubs and had also earned two valuable caps. They were valuable to him for the memories and pride but, also that they meant he was a big signing for a Qatari club who paid him a small fortune a week tax free to boast about having an England International and it could be the same with management. He was actually an England goal scorer ironically the worst goal of his career was the one he was proudest of, a scuffed rebound of a save that took a huge deflection to go in. It was also against San Marino so wasn’t overly impressive but, it counted. Alex also boasted a more formal qualification to be a manager in a Continental Pro License, after much badgering from his agent he had done the quicker course for ex-footballers and passed. The cynic in him still thought, probably correctly, that the only reason his agent pushed him towards the course was in the hope he would become a decent manager and his agent could earn some more money off of him. Despite what reasoning he had his agent was right he needed something to do but, also missed the rush of playing, especially in big games.

He resolved to talk about it with his wife when she came back from work later on in the day. Now he just had to find a way to kill the next 4 hours until his kids’ school ended without swearing at daytime TV show hosts, a near daily occurrence.

 

[Disclaimer89]

Great start ninja! Been away from FM-Base for a few months; great to see you're still producing stories.

Will be eagerly following. Keep it up.

 

[ninjaskill]

Great start ninja! Been away from FM-Base for a few months; great to see you're still producing stories.

Will be eagerly following. Keep it up.

Thanks, I've been away for a bit as well.

Good to be back though.

 

[ninjaskill]

Dying a lot at Call of Duty, an ambitious and failed attempt at a fry up and a book his wife had nagged him to read occupied Alex until he had to pick his kids up from school. His three kids piled into the back of the car oldest daughter Lauren was eight while twins Jake and Ellie were six and he loved them almost as much as they disliked each other. After a strangely uneventful ride back he was thrilled to have something to do for a few hours.

After all of the kids had been put to bed he brought his possible plans to his wife. He had met Rachael when he was 22 and she was 21, it was love at 6th or 7th sight. They had married 5 years after they met in what he thought was a very expensive day but, what he thought didn’t matter. They shared a hatred of sitting around doing nothing which is why she still worked as something or other in a bank Alex had never quite figured it out, the Senior Junior Assistant to foreign something or other. She had taken a few years off when the kids were born but, after the left Qatar three years ago she started working again being bored of staying home. “I’m considering going into management what do you think?”

Rachael sighed “I figured this would come up at some point although I thought it would have been a couple of years from now not this soon after retiring. But, if you can find a job somewhere that is a good place to raise a family and I can find a job then I am fine with it”

Alex was shocked he had spent quite a while drafting points he could use in a big argument that he had expected to happen. “W w well that sounds fair” He said with surprise “I’ll call Graham in the morning and tell him that he was right”

“God I hate that man” Rachael chipped in unasked.

“Yeah so do I but, that makes a good agent people want to stop talking to him so they agree to pay me more” Alex gave his stock answer as to why he stuck with his agent. In truth it was more loyalty that Graham was still his agent he had always kept him in the Premier League despite being relegated twice and being very poor in one of those seasons. The money he made from Qatar was also a very good reason to keep him and he had an annoying habit of being right about everything. “He was right about the coaching badges as well, it means that I can get an easy start in a manager and afford to be choosier instead of having to work in some small town in England where the players are part time and the fans are outnumbered by the referees.”

“True” Rachael conceded “But I still don’t like him”

The next day after lunch Alex got round to calling his agent. “Hey Graham I…” Alex started but, was cutoff.

“So I was right, you want to go into management.” Graham interrupted with a self satisfied tone that made Alex consider saying he wasn’t for a split second. “Only reason you would call me” Graham continued. Explaining why he knew without being asked, another annoying habit of his.

“Yeah” Alex confirmed “What can you do?”

“A Pro License and International experience are good starting points, I should be able to get your foot in the door then it is up to you. Any restrictions?” Again showing his knack for knowing what Alex was about to say.

“Yeah has to be a family friendly place where Rachael has a chance of getting a job”

“Right well that rules out Spain or Italy then” Graham said before laughing at his own joke. “Are you prepared to move abroad?”

“Yeah, doubt there are many jobs in Norfolk and if we are going to move might as well go for it.”

“Great” Click

Another of Graham’s annoying habits random hang ups at least this one had been at the end of a sentence though and not when Alex was talking.

“Why is he my agent?” Alex wondered aloud before throwing his phone next to him on the sofa and trying to decide whether to watch and awful property show or an equally awful Customs and Immigration show. He settled on property and watched as an upper middle class couple tried to find their dream house in Devon.

 

[ninjaskill]

After a week of hurling more abuse at the TV than he had at referees in his career Alex was relieved to see Grahams name on the phone.

“I’ve got you an interview” he blurted out. “Great club, good facilities and a very nice contract”

“Great what’s the club” Alex asked.

“A great team in the Middle East who see you as the man to lead them into the future” Graham answered evasively.

“That doesn’t answer my question”

“It’s in Saudi Arabia, but-“

“NO” Alex said firmly before his agent could produce a spiel. “It was no as a player and no now.”

“Oh come on you loved Qatar how much different could it be?” Graham was determined to sell the club to him so Alex knew the wages were big but, he wasn’t tempted for a second.

“No, the rules are different and stricter, Qatar was a culture shock but it is nothing like Saudi Arabia” Alex replied firmly “End of conversation.”

“They are offering £30,000 a week over 3 years and it is a much lower tax rate there. Come on an International school for the family, you can buy a couple of big names and make yours as a manager”

“No would you want your family to live there. Before you answer imagine you like your wife.”

“Well…” Graham was on the ropes and Alex went in for the kill

“Besides I had a Brazilian team mate in Qatar who played in Saudi and he said don’t go for anything. They had to live in a compound with armed guards and his kids went to school on a bomb resistant bus. If that isn’t enough the guards machine guns had to be fixed facing outside the compound to ensure safety. I. Will. Not. Sign. With. A. Saudi. Team.” With that Alex hung up on his agent before he could reply.

He wanted a job but, not that desperately. Day time TV it was, Police Interceptors or some men catching fish. Alex went with the Police and hoped that he would get a better result from Graham’s next call.

It was later that day during family dinner that Alex received a call from Graham. Risking a stare of death from his wife who had a no technology at the dinner table rule he took the call.

“You just received a call from the best agent in the world.” Graham crowed.

“Oh, hi Jorge Mendes” Alex retorted.

“Cruel, I may not tell you about the interviews you have lined up now.”

“You want the 10% of my wages to much to do that” Alex fired back “And did you say interviews. As in plural.”

“Yes I did” Graham stated proudly. “Club Brugge in Belgium want you but, I saved the best for last. You have an interview to take over at Watford. The chance to start your career in the Premier League even if they are cut adrift a bit in last place. You can thank me now or later, along with my fees”

“I knew there was a reason your still my agent. You have done well for yourself there although Watford are a bit less attractive than they were at the start of the season. When are the interviews anyway?” Alex enquired

“That’s why I called now Watford haven’t set a time but, Bruges want to see you tomorrow and to get there you will have to leave on the 8am train to get the Eurostar to Belgium to arrive in time and meet them so pack something for a one night stay and I will get someone to get book you a hotel room there. I think they really want you so don’t mess it up and you can either go there or use them as leverage to get more money out of Watford if they want you.”

“Wow, um alright I’ll pack later tonight and set an alarm to get there”

“You’d better” Graham growled “nothing harder than getting a manager their first job. Also as a thank you you’d better return from Belgium with some nice chocolate.”

“Will do” Alex chuckled “anyway I better go I’ve been getting a death stare for the length of the conversation. Great job though Graham I appreciate it.”

Alex sat back down to 4 questioning faces. “I have two interviews lined up soon. Watford and Club Brugge, in Belgium” He added cutting of the next question. “I have to go tomorrow to interview for the Brugge job.

“But, Dad I have football practice tomorrow and you’re in charge” Jake whined.

“Oh, I’ll have to message Tom to take it. Sorry Kiddo nothing I can do I have to go to the interview if I want the job. Anyway you all like Tom and he knows a lot about the game.” He could see his son wasn’t pleased with his answer but, still had an ace up his sleeve. “I’ll also be bringing back lots of chocolate from Belgium.”

This stopped any protests and the rest of the day went as normal but, Alex struggled to get to sleep the chance to manage a team was an opportunity of a lifetime and he didn’t want to mess it up.

 

[ninjaskill]

Alex’s journey had been uneventful and calm until just before the “Chunnel” and it wasn’t going under the sea for a while that scared him it was a different realisation. He had no idea what to expect. He had never had a job interview before, they weren’t needed as a player and he had never held another job. Some googling gave him a basic idea of what to expect but, what had been a loose knot in his stomach was suddenly very tight. He tried to relax by reading and listening to music as he didn’t want to rack up data roaming charges.

A quite stress free change at Brussels and Ghent saw him arrive at Brugge almost six and a half hours after he left and when you add the time difference it was 3:30. A club representative was there to pick him up and whisk him to the stadium where his interview would be conducted in a suite at the stadium, just over ten minutes away.

Some nervous steps got him up to the suite and in front of 3 men only one he recognized from some hurried prep, club president Bart Verhaeghe the others turned out to be Vincent Mannaert the CEO and Roel Vaeyens who was the Coordinator of Sport, whatever that was.
Some polite chit chat about travel lead into the interview. Fortunately, they all spoke English well enough to not need an interpreter.

The first question covered that issue “We are concerned that you don’t speak Flemish or French which most of our players do.” Asked the president.

It was an expected question but, a hard one to answer “Well as you have all shown the education system here is good and so with a combination of that and an interpreter I should be able to get my point across. I also managed to learn Arabic quickly and it doesn’t use the Latin alphabet so I think that I would be able to learn basic Flemish by the start of next season which would be enough to get everything done.”

The next question was from Vincent Mannaert “You have been linked to a few jobs can you tell us why?”

This Alex hadn’t seen coming “Well… it is hard to get a first job in management so my agent said I should apply for as many jobs as possible so I followed his advice.”

Roel Vaeyens took his turn to ask a question “We feel that poor morale was a key reason for our failures so far this season do you think you could change that.”

This one was a hard answer as he had no experience should couldn’t cite examples so he decided to take a different tack. “From my time as a player I know how important it is to have high morale in a squad so I would endeavour to bring that here. I think the fresh perspective I would bring and blank slate that all of the players would get with me would provide an instant boost to morale.”

The rotation of questions seemed to fall back to the president and did. “This is somewhat awkward but, Roel is what you would call our director of football and he has done a good job of getting us top players for a cheap price the highlight being Carlos Bacca so we would require you to keep him.”

It would have been awkward if he had said no but, Alex had no reason to as Roel seemed to have done well in the past. “Yeah I have no experience with backroom staff so I had just planned on keeping everyone here. Especially if they have as impressive a body of work as Roel has”

“Wonderful, we would also like you to buy young players as we can make a profit on them and that helps us to keep the club running smoothly financially.” The committee question plan seemed to have been aborted as it was again Bart Verhaeghe.

“Yeah, I would be happy to do that I want to develop youngsters and if it helps the club financially then I’m more than happy to do that. Especially if Roel can find some more bargains for me” Sucking up is always good in an interview Alex was sure of that despite his lack of experience.”

The committee seemed back in force as Roel questioned Alex. “We would propose a top half finish is realistic. What do you think?”

“Well the club is there now and the table is tight above and below Club Brugge so I think that it is a very fair plan for the rest of the season. Hopefully I could take the team up a couple of places but, I would be very disappointed if the team fell down the table if I was placed in charge.”

Roet now seemed to be in charge of the interview “We would propose a transfer budget of 3.7 million euros and a wage budget of €375k a week. What do you think?”

Alex knew the club had debt but, wanted a bit more. “I’m happy with the transfer budget but, as the wage budget is what you are currently spending I would prefer it to be increased so that I could afford to sign new players.”

The President took over to end the interview. “Well thank you for coming, I think that I speak for us all when I say it was a very interesting interview and you are a strong candidate for the position. Thank you for attending.”

Alex was relived that what felt like an interrogation was over. “Thanks for considering me and I’m glad that you though I did well.” He then shook hands again and left to go to his hotel. He could feel the sweat on his shirt and couldn’t wait to get it off and shower before going to buy the promised chocolate.

With a small bag loaded down with chocolate Alex made his way to Graham’s London office to discuss how his previous interview had gone and plans for his interview with Watford. He’d only been to the office once before, and was far more nervous this time.

“Ah, Alex I was about to call you I have news from Watford and Club Brugge” Graham said welcoming in Alex “Watford have called an arranged your interview for Friday at 4:15 so you will have to come back to London for that. Brugge also called and they want to offer you the job as manager.”

Alex mulled all of this over before responding. “Tell Watford I don’t want to interview for the job and negotiate a deal for me with Brugge”

Graham looked a bit shocked at the news “You don’t want to interview for Watford, you could start your management career in the Premier League most managers would kill for that.”

“Yeah, but they look like they will go down and I don’t want my first job to be a relegation. The owner also sacks managers quickly and I liked the board of Brugge and Bruges so I want to go there”

“Okay less money for me but, oh well” Graham huffed “I’ll not turn down Watford until we have a deal agreed to try and get you more money”

“It will let you earn more money in the future and don’t mess up the negotiations, I want the Brugge job” They talked over some more details of what he had already been offered before Alex ended the conversation by looking at his watch “Anyway I have to go to grab the train home”

“Alright” Graham replied “I’ll get on the phone with them soon to get you at least 10% more than they offered”

Alex smiled at that as he left, Graham charged 10% and always boasted that he earned his clients more than ten percent than the initial offer to try and justify his fee. Alex couldn’t stop smiling as he headed back home. He had his break in management but, he would have to make sure his career got off to a good start. He was also nervous moving to another country and the pressure of being a manager would be different for him and he wasn’t sure how he would do.

 

[ninjaskill]

Just a day after going back home Alex was back on the Eurostar to heading to Belgium and this time it was for the foreseeable future instead of an interview, and Alex couldn’t decide which trip had made him more nervous. The one where he was trying to get the job or the one where he had the job.

His arrival in Brugge saw him met with a small reception party who were sent to brief him for the press conference he would have, Graham had also appeared out of no where as he often seemed to do when money was involved. Alex was sure he wasn’t on the train and doubted the history and architecture of the city convinced him to pay for an overnight stay.

He quickly briefed Alex on the plan for the next few hours “Go to the training centre sign the deal your incredible agent negotiated for you and then your off to meet the press. After that you’ll be meeting the backroom staff here and getting a tour of the facilities. You arrived to late for training so will meet all of the players tomorrow before they fly off to Serbia.”

Alex hadn’t heard anything about Serbia before but, his questions were cut off as he was ushered into a car to take him to the training centre. Under the watchful eye of his agent he was ready to sign the one and a half year deal that had been agreed. Graham had told him he had negotiated the initial offer of €9,500 a week to €12,250 which he had added was less than Saudi Arabia or Watford would pay but, Alex was sure he had made the right decision.

The contract was gone over with a lawyer for the club and Graham analysing each line to ensure no new clauses had snuck in from when they last looked over it 3 minutes ago. With that done Alex and the President signed and initialled a number of times until he was then congratulated on being the new manager of Club Brugge Koninklijke Voetbalvereiging, although a smart man had shortened that to Club Brugge with an optional K.V. at the end. With that he was accompanied by the president to go out and meet the press who didn’t have much knowledge as to who the manager would be some pictures of him from the train station meeting had been seen though so most guessed Alex was going to be the next manager and were surprised at the decision.

They both settled down in the seats and the President made a short speech. “This has not been a good season for us so far but, we have faith in our new manager to turn things around. We are a club known for nurturing young talented players and have decided to do the same with a manager so please join me in welcoming to Belgium and Club Brugge Mr. Alex Taylor!”

​

After surviving his first run in with the press Alex met with the chairman for what he was told would be a brief talk about the club and its history but, was more of a lecture. “Historically and recently we are one of the best teams in Belgium and are the only Belgian team to make the Champions League final, where we lost to Liverpool who also beat us in the UEFA Cup final the two years before. Brugge have the most Belgian Cups with 11 and also the most Super Cups with 13. We are big rivals with city opponents Cecle Brugge, one of few city rivalries in Belguim that is played, we are also rivals with Gent nearby and have a competitive rivalry with Anderlecht that dates back to the 1970’s. We have 13 top league titles but, our last one was in 2004-05 so if you could bring one here you would become a legend. We also recently celebrated our 125th birthday so we hope you can try and turn the season into something special anyway. Our fans are also voted the best in Belgium and we constantly sell out the stadium so don’t let them down they will create a great atmosphere for you.”

The passion of the President was hard to miss and Alex thought he might have a very demanding owner but, as it was based out of a love of the club and not a want to earn some money from the club. “Well I will try and push the club on and add to the impressive trophy collection that the club already has.”

“Great” responded the chairman “Well I’ll let you get on with your job Philippe Clement, your assistant, is waiting for you in your office a quick chat with him and the staff and then you can get some rest before a full days work tomorrow.”

“I look forward to it” Alex said as the chairman rose and left the meeting room. Alex then realised that he hadn’t asked where his office was so would have to find his way there. He decided to turn left guessing that his office would over look the training pitch. He walked past a couple of doors before seeing one with office on the door and a man inside who could be the assistant and if not point him in the direction of his office. “Excuse me are you Philippe?” Alex asked.

“Ah, Mr. Taylor welcome to Club Brugge. I’m not Philippe I’m Thierry along with my brother Lode we are the club doctors. I was just getting ready to meet you with the rest of the staff to update you on the health of the squad.” Thierry seemed nice and the sort of person who could break bad news well which was a key part of the job.

“Oh, well nice to meet you Thierry and you can call me Alex, do you know where my office is? I’m supposed to meet Philippe there then everyone else after.”

“Yes” Thierry gave him the directions to office and Alex found himself with is assistant a 6 foot 5 centre back who had 38 caps and had been the caretaker before Alex was hired so he wanted to ensure that Philippe was happy to work under him.

“Great to meet you Alex, I am Philippe your assistant you’ve just got yourself the second best job in Belgium after mine as I don’t get sacked if things go wrong.” Well that answers that thought Alex it wasn’t surprising he was happy to stay according to Wikipedia when Alex had checked him out he had played for Brugge for 9 years and joined the backroom staff right after he retired.

“Pleasure to meet you and hopefully I won’t have to worry about the sack any time soon.” Alex replied.

“Yes, hopefully you won’t as that would mean trophies. Anyway I’m just here to give you an overview of everything before we meet everyone else. They will go over the squad and all that. The big thing is that after thirty games when everyone has played the other teams twice the league separates into two groups. In one the top six teams all get their points halved and the winner of that group is the winner of the league. In the other there are two groups and the winners of them play each other and the winner of that plays another playoff with the chance of Europa League football. Got it?”

“Err..” Alex stalled he understood pretty much it just seemed a bit odd. “Yeah a bit odd but, simple we just need to get top six and with the halving we should have a chance.”

“Pretty much” Philippe confirmed. “Anyway I was hoping this could be longer but, we are running late to meet the rest of the staff and I can explain some other stuff there.”

“Yeah sorry about that. I couldn’t find the office.” He admitted sheepishly “So I’ll let you lead the way to the meeting”.

Philippe laughed “Good idea.”

Alex introduced himself to all the staff and sat back to listen to what they had to say.

​

Thierry spoke first “Well from an injury point of view you’ve come at a good time some players are going to be well recovered from some long term injuries and will be more than ready before your first match. Other than that Bernie Ibini has the flu so within a week you should have a fit squad if nothing happens.”

“Great, hopefully you can have a relaxing few months for us”

​

Stephan Van der Heyden, the assistant assistant manger, spoke next. “We like to have a happy squad and we have three players who are unhappy so you will have to deal with that. Felipe Gedoz the backup right winger, Brandon Mechele fourth choice centre back and Benoit Poulain fifth choice centre back all want first team football. Gedoz was promised first team football when he started while the other two are promised rotation football. You arriving should placate them though.”

Alex thought it over “Okay, good I’ll talk with them all as soon as I can to make sure that it isn’t a big issue for them anymore.”

Renaat Philippaerts, a fitness coach, spoke up. “You can change the captaincy if you want but, the best man for the job has it.

Alex knew the impact changing the captain could have and had no intention of changing captain. “No leave it as it. One final thing then you can all go home who is our star player the man to build the team around to you guys.”

Philippe laughed “They are two different things here our best player is not who you should build your squad around.”

“Oh, so he is over 30” Alex guessed if he was it was fine it was a character issue he wouldn’t be happy.

​

“Yes” Philippe confirmed “He is quite a way over thirty, Timmy Simons is our best player a 39 year old defensive midfielder.” Alex realised there was a player that was older than him which he hoped wasn’t awkward. Philippe continued “Model professional and still got the legs to play the role. He had a 5 year spell here in 2000-2005 and then re-joined in 2013 he is also Belgium’s second highest capped player got another year or two in him”

Alex wrapped up the meeting and headed for his hotel with a lot of reading work to do which made him glad his family was only joining him in February.

 

[ninjaskill]

Alex was back in his hotel room looking over a how the team had done so far this season. Surprisingly Brugge were still competing on two fronts having got out of a Europa League group containing Ajax, who were first along with ASA Tirgu from Romania and BATE from Belarus. Getting out of the group had given them a tie with Braga where they would be big underdogs. They were knocked out of the Champions League playoff by Fenerbahce, the Belgian cup by Lokren and lost the Belgian Super Cup to Gent. In the league they were 8th out of 16 teams but, it was tight so the team could go up or down eaily in the ten games left.

​

Alex then had a look at the squad it seemed solid with some star players and considerable depth in most places, although he would prefer to add some depth at right back to ensure that he was never short of players in key positions. He picked picked out a few players who he felt he would be relying on for the rest of the season and would ensure that they got as much playing time as possible.

​

The squad was undoubtably under performing so Alex had to try and get them performing at the level that they were capable of playing at.

​

Meunier was a very attacking full back and if needed he was more than able to cover a number of positions out wide for the team. A determined hard working defender Alex thought he would be a very talented defender.

​

Denswil was a talented defender from the Ajax academy who had excelled in Brugge when he arrived and attracted some attention from Premier League sides. Alex had no intention of selling him though.

​

Vossen was the best paid player in Belgium and had fired in 14 goals in the first half of the season helping the club to not be in relegation trouble. A strong striker Alex felt he would be able to rely on him but, was concerned by reports that he was in the midst of a long scoring drought.

​

Vanaken was a midfield playmaker who had the ability to pull the strings for Brugge in midfield and create chances for the strikers to finish off. At 6'4 he would also be a threat from set pieces in the air and could also take them.

​

Butelle is a very talented keeper who Alex thought would be more than able to help his side keep clean sheets, especially if there was a solid defence ahead of him.

He then looked at his youth coaches report and was amazed at what he saw either whatever had been making all of the football superstars in Belgium was concentrated in Bruges or he had the world’s most optimistic youth coaches “He completed a pass, future Ballon D’Or winner. His shot went for a goal kick not a throw in. He will captaining a side to the Premier League title.” He wasn’t sure why the board were so desperate for him to sign young players when they seemed to be able to produce such a number of talented players. If he believed his youth coaches and he had no reason not to most of the U21’s and U19’s would be able to start for the first team In years to come and he would just have to plug in some new signings and the team would be able to dominate for years come. All he would have to do was keep them all at the club for the future.

​

After having gone through all of the reports he went for a walk through the centre of Bruges which was as beautiful as advertised and planned out all of his meetings for the next few days. Then Alex laughed one day and his job was already all he could think about.

 

[ninjaskill]

A quick meeting with his squad before they left for a friendly in Serbia had gone fine, it had been decided Alex would stay behind to plan training and transfer plans and leave the friendly against Partizan in Philippe’s hands. He had also met with Sinan Bolat and Mikel Agu to cancel their loans from Porto and save 6 grand a week in his wage budget. He was about to host a meeting with his chief scout to decide who to target.

Alex opened the meeting. “While we seem not to need anyone desperately I would like us to add a right back for depth. Other than that unless you find a great talent for a low price then I would rather not spend anything.”

Stan Van den Buijs as part of his assistant to the assistant’s assistant role was also the chief scout and so had all the records of players scouted and flicked through them. “I had picked up some people for each position before you came. For the right back I would recommend Franck Beria from Lille, his contract runs out at the end of the season so you could sign him now and then try and get him permanently for a small fee. This is what the scout made of him” He said while handing over the report. “Probably first choice only problem is he would have to take a big wage cut”

Alex looked over the report it indicated the scout felt that he would be a first team player and Alex decided to trust him and authorized the move. Stan then moved to the second target “Going back to France Baptiste Santamaria plays for Tours and wants to leave so we could get him for a cheaper fee and he is a young player who can do a job now and play a key role in the future we feel.”

Alex was again happy to agree with the scout department but, did have a question “If he wants to leave surely there is a team interested so we may miss out on him. Other than that I’m more than happy to sign him.”

“It’s an odd one” Stan responded “the interested side is Pohang Steelers in South Korea so as he wouldn’t have to move continents to join us I’m hopeful we could beat them to him. I’ll phone Roel and tell him to start negotiations, also while you’re here Jelle Vossen has been in poor form and we have found a great striker who wouldn’t cost a lot that could replace him.”

Alex was puzzled he had looked over the stats Vossen had over a goal every other game “I’ve seen his stats he is scoring and that is what I want from my strikers so he don’t bother with the striker yet but, I will keep him in mind. Anyway I have to go and set up training for when everyone returns so I’ll talk with you later.”

It was a few hours later when Alex’s door opened and Roel walked in. “Good news and bad on the transfer front. We had agreed a deal with Franck but, I just got off the phone with his agent and Lille offered him a new deal worth more and he wouldn’t have to move so he will take that over our offer.” Alex cursed Franck inwardly even if he would have made the same decision anyway it at least meant Santamaria had signed for the good news.

“So Santamaria will join us then”

“Yes” Roel confirmed “just ironing out the details with his club and agent but, he should be here in a couple of days. Fee looks set to be somewhere around €2.1 million euros but, his wages will be quite cheap. Also looking over some agent offers I found a decent goalkeeper who I want to offer a trial to and I was told by Stan to drop this report off to you.”

“Great, I’ll give the keeper coach a heads up and look over the report in a couple of minutes.” Alex replied as Roel left. He was pleased he had got Brice and turned back to his training plans forgetting about the scout report. He remembered it half an hour later and after just seeing the name he was on the phone “Roel sign him now.”

Roel laughed “Took you long enough I’ll get on it. Also Santamaria has all but, signed he’ll travel up tomorrow and we will announce it in the afternoon.”

​

A decent player now and good potential for the future should justify the fee

 

[ninjaskill]

Alex was sitting in his office mulling over his day his side had returned from Serbia and a 4-2 loss against Partizan. He had held meetings with all of his players wanting first team football and the defenders dropped it but, he had to guarantee Gedoz first team football as he didn’t want to upset this squad this soon into his job. The goalie he had been recommended Kevin Sousa had signed a deal so overall a good day.

​

Alex’s reverie was interrupted by a player barging into his office. “I quit, I retire I’m done playing.” The player Alex vaguely recognized yelled “I’m leaving and I’m going to coach somewhere other than here.”

Alex was startled by the interruption but, tried to stay cool. “Right, are you sure you want to retire, I still wish I could play” Alex was interrupted

“I’M RETIRING NOW” The player yelled.

“Okay” Alex conceded “get your agent here tomorrow and we can go over everything and finalize it” With that the player turned and left leaving Alex bemused. “Jean-Claude?” Alex’s personal assistant “Who was that and should I be concerned they are retiring?”

The response was simple “Nope, Michaël Cordier a goalie who played for the U-21’s at 31 and hasn’t played since signing.”

​

“Godzijdank” Alex muttered using his recently learned Flemish.

It was three days before Alex’s first game, which was away to last place Charleroi, and the pre match meeting was being held with Stan presenting a report in the opposition. “Despite being last we have to be wary Charleroi have done well against bigger sides. They’ve beaten Anderecht and drawn with 2nd and 3rd place Genk and OHL. Anyway they are weak at the back so we should look to exploit that, we should be careful at the start though as they score early frequently but, don’t score late often.”

“Good” Alex was pleased with what his scout had to say and hoped his attacking players could get him a good first win. “Thierry any new injuries concerns”

​

“We just have one, Mechele with his head injury earlier in the week won’t make it but, other than that everyone is fit and should be fine.”

“Great” Alex stated “anyone got anything to add or are we done here.”

After a couple of seconds silence Philippe chimed in “I think I speak for us all when we wish you a good first game and hopefully it is the first of many to come.”

Two days later Alex was facing the press and the first question didn’t surprise him. “How do you feel about the comments of Marco Been who said he felt you weren’t good enough for the job.”

​

“Well” Alex started “that isn’t what he said exactly but, I am inexperienced I can’t deny that. However, everyone here has faith in me and that matters more than what opposition managers think of me.”

He spent the rest of the press conference refusing to talk on transfer admitting some nerves for his first game and what he hoped to achieve for the rest of the season.

 

[ninjaskill]

​

It was a 1.5 hour drive to Charleroi and Alex spent the time sleeping, a trick he learned in his playing days. He had also been up late trying to decide between a suit and a tracksuit to wear on the sidelines he had gone with a suit but, the weather made him regret it.

​

In the dressing room he went back over the first 11 and tactic that he had picked with the help of his staff.

Alex walked down the sideline in a Wenger-esque coat to deal with the near freezing temperatures and hail. He exchanged a quick handshake with Been before settling in his seat for the game.

He was out of it again after 5 minutes to yell some encouragement to his team who were playing poorly and struggling to string passes together. “Come on pass the ball, to one another. Focus” He yelled from the sidelines.

Charleroi pushed forward on 15 minutes two passes from a throw in and Pollet had space on the edge of the box, Alex thought it was going wide but, the keeper pushed it away for a corner. This was one area Alex was concerned with he hadn’t had a lot of time to train on how to defend them. The first corner Denswil headed out for another corner but, on the other side. Claudemir headed it away and Charleroi couldn’t push forward again.

After 25 minutes Baby went on a run down the wing and despite Alex yelling to close him down no one did until he was fouled wide of the 18 yard box to give away another free kick. The ball was hit in and Perbet escaped his man to head in between the keeper and the man on the line, a poor goal to concede and Alex as furious. He also was somewhat regretting into management freezing, getting hailed on and losing when he could be swearing at the T.V. or as he knew Graham would add counting the money in the heat of Saudi Arabia.

Two poor fouls in as many minutes led to two bookings from Club Brugge that Alex couldn’t complain about. Just as he was planning out his words for half time the pitch grabbed his attention again, the ball was played wide to Joao Paulo and he passed to Izquierdo just wide of the six yard box and he squared the ball to Vossen who had an open goal from 6 yards out but, totally missed the ball and it was hit behind for a corner. Gedoz hit in a good corner and Engels rose high and his header looked to be going in but, it hit the corner of the bar and post and went out for a goal kick. Alex couldn’t believe they hadn’t scored once.

Both sides hit some poor passes and the ball was with Claudemir at midfield and Vossen was making a great run but, the pass was over hit and Alex turned away as the defender took a touch. The gasps of the crowd made Alex turn around an awful back pass must have let Vossen get one on one with the keeper but, he hit his shot right at the keeper who pushed it behind for a corner and left Alex with his head in his hands.

Alex let the team know how he felt at half time and took of Gedoz, who had been poor, for Lior Refaelov. They looked a bit better at the start of the second half but, hadn’t created much so Alex moved to a 4-4-2 by pulling off the poor Claudemir for a fellow Brazilian, striker Leandro Pereira.

A poor tackle that was high, from behind and two footed after 65 minutes on Pereira got the Brugge coaching staff off of the bench calling for a red card. The referee only booked Ninis and while Alex went to “politely enquire” with the fourth official why it wasn’t a red card his player took a quick free kick to Izquierdo he cut inside and passed to Vossen who flicked the ball out wide to the overlapping Joao Paulo. Paulo fired the ball into the box with his first touch and just after the bounce Pereira thumped the ball in at the back of the net leaving the keeper no chance. A very good equalizer and Alex was sure the fourth official appreciated it as it had distracted him.

As the game was heading into the last ten minutes Alex told his team to keep pushing for a winner. Following an offside call Charleroi got the ball and moved it quickly up the pitch Pollet with a neat pass with the outside of his boot to Tainmont and to Alex’s disbelief he beat Joao Paulo to get into the box and despite Alex’s yells to pick up the late man Pollet was unmarked and unlike Vossen did fire in from 6 yards out to leave Brugge chasing a point.

Alex’s day got worse after 90 minutes, as a catalogue of errors allowed Charleroi to grab a third goal no one closed down Marinos near the halfway line and he chipped a ball forward that Denswil should have intercepted but, didn’t. This played Pollet in on goal but, at a tight angle. His shot was poor to the near post and managed to beat Butelle to make it 3-1 Charleroi.

​

The final whistle was pleasing to Alex as the result couldn’t get more embarrassing and he ripped into his team after. “That was awful, I have no idea how you are eighth playing like that. Watching that game I would have thought you were the ones in last place. It could have been a cricket score out there you could hardly pass the ball 5 feet.” Alex realised no one got the cricket mark but, kept going. “We created some decent chances but, they are last we should be scoring them and not allowing them to make so many. We play again in four days and many of you have to impress me in training to start again.” With that off his chest Alex left the room to face the press.

Alex was bitterly disappointed with his start at Brugge playing the last place team in the league was the best chance he had to start his career with a win but, it hadn’t been taken and he knew the match against 5th place Lokren would be vital.

​

Brugge fell two places in the table after Alex’s first game in charge.