Happy Saturday! It’s already time for season 3 in Beveren and that means more shortlist tricks with Philip…

Hallo allemaal!

It’s weekend again! It seems only yesterday when I started writing the blog, but we are already in the off-season of our 2nd year. When I look back to last season, I am actually quite happy with what we have achieved. We finished 3rd place again and made it to the semi finals of the Belgian Cup. And on top of that we reached Round 4 of the UEFA Cup. Can we repeat or even do better this year?

First things first, let’s have a look what the Belgian regen market has to offer. Besides the sorted players database, you all know now I am using a little trick to my advantage: players on your short list don’t retire. So all the anchor points I have set at the end of season 1 are still there.

This is what the Belgian free transfer market looks like. Do you see what I am seeing? There are a few interesting regens, but there is 1 in particular that immediately catches my attention.

And that is Geert Van Meir. I have put him on my short list, together with the other regens I have an interest in. This is how everybody lines up.

Geert Van Meir tops the list. There is only 1 goalkeeper that comes before Wegerle in the sorted players database and that is of course Michel Preud’homme. One of Belgium’s greatest goalkeepers and voted goalkeeper of the 1994 WC.

And I am sure a lot of you know what this picture is about. Preud’homme was known for his excellent reflexes, but he didn’t have a chance against the volley of David Platt that eliminated Belgium in the 1990 WC. That moment is still considered a national tragedy in Belgium.

Let’s have a closer look at the picture. On the right side you recognise our regen Appels (Grun). There is however another Belgian player in that picture and he is now also available as a regen. Can you guess who it is?

Allright, let’s start the bidding and see who we can get in.

The off-season is over and we got all the regens we wanted. Let me introduce you to the most important members of the class of 99.

Geert Van Meir (Preud’homme regen). Top regen of this class with an ability of 150 & a potential of 170. He is the long-term goalkeeper I have in mind for both Beveren and Belgium. He comes in with a big-club release clause, so I will have to be careful not to loose him.

Patrick Van der Borght & Hans De Wilde. Regens of Club Brugge icons Vital Borkelmans & Franky Van Der Elst. Van Der Elst is the one behind David Platt in the picture. In reality Van Der Elst was a defensive midfielder and not exactly known for his outstanding dribbling skills the game gives him. Anyhow in here he can develop into a decent 8.

The Scifo brothers Chris (Moury regen) and Fernando (Van Rethy regen) – I am told there is no connection with the famous Enzo Scifo – and Marnik Mommens (Verspaille regen) will get an introduction later when needed.

But now it’s about time to get season 3 started! The core of the team has not changed and Appels & Nasden are now part of the starting line-up. Jansta’s contract though is expiring at the end of the season, so as per my rules of engagement I cannot retain him. I decide to transfer list him in an attempt to generate some extra cash.

We kick off the season with a home match against Antwerp. Jansta is suspended and Soenens injured for several weeks. Appels (Grun) moves to the anchor position and Van der Borght (Borkelmans) gets his first start already in the first match of the season. Van Meir (Preud’homme) starts as back-up to Velkeneers. We start with a dominant win.

A few days later Tristan tells us he is ready for a bigger team. With 32 goals last season I can’t say I am surprised. Fine, I will put you on the transfer list. What I don’t tell him though, is that I will refuse whenever I can and I plan to extend his expiring contract.

Game 2. Are we ready for another streak? Not at all. When you play like this, a winning streak is just a dream. We didn’t even deserve a point.

Jansta had 2 excellent seasons, so the first offers come in very quickly. Nantes brings out the first bid, and Celtic follows a few days later. Both offers are slightly under price, but with an expiring contract his value will decrease over the next weeks and months. I decide to accept both of their offers.

No winning streak this time to start the season, but it actually doesn’t bother me too much. What bothers me though, is that we play again a mediocre match. We’re even lucky to get a point.

Time now for the UEFA cup draw. My reputation must have increased as we go immediately to the Second Round. I don’t think I have ever played Sigma Olomouc before, but I consider it a good draw.

This one I did not see coming: Jansta refuses to move to Nantes and Celtic and shows up at practice the day after.

OK Kamil, as you are still around, you go back into the line-up. His mind was probably still with the failed contract negotiations and he picks up again a red card. We concede 3 goals in a 3-3 draw against Aalst.

We won our opening match of the season, but we haven’t won since then. If we want to climb up the standings, a win would be nice. However we host last season champions Standard, so far from an easy fixture. All new regens go to the bench and I am starting with the strongest line-up available. It is not the walk-over like we had last season, but a win is a win, especially against the Big Three.

The win puts our mind a bit at ease as we go into the international September break. Leekens has a lot of trust in our goalie Velkeneers and he gets another cap. Belgium gets an important win over Norway. With the last two qualifying matches at Macedonia & the Faroe Islands, there is still a chance for direct qualification.

Next we travel to Lierse. A few hours before the match Daerden gets sacked. They didn’t have a great start, and 6 points in 5 matches is enough for the board to send him away. Guys, the title in 1997 was just a lucky shot. The sooner you realise that, the better off you’ll be. Anyway, we better keep our focus. Jansta is suspended (again); Soenens returns after his injury and Appels moves back one line to centre back. In an even match we go home with one point.

Time now for our first European match of the season. Gérard is suspended and Mommens (Verspaille) gets his first start. I take a risk and I also start De Wilde (Van Der Elst) over Simba. It works out well, we get a comfortable win that should be sufficient to advance to the next round.

Well, even though I believe their 1997 title was nice but difficult to repeat, an absolute football legend disagrees with me and is appointed as their next manager.

Our next opponent is Germinal Ekeren. With Simba’s contract expiring at the end of the season, I decide to give De Wilde (Van Der Elst) another start. Last year our winning streak ended here, this time we go home with 3 points. The score was only 0-1, but we dominated the match from start to end.

We are finding our rhythm back and for the first time this season we win two straight league matches. By far our strongest performance of the season.

With our form increasing we travel to the Czech Republic. Three shots on target, three goals. Velkeneers does the rest and gets us a draw and a ticket for the next round. A Scandinavian opponent is next, always difficult to beat.

Even though he is not performing as strong as last season, Appels (Grun) gets his first call-up for Belgium’s next Euro 2000 qualification match.

After several injuries De Vreese finally returns to the line-up. Even though we weren’t acting great in Olomouc, we get our third league win in a row.

With Velkeneers starting and Appels on the bench, Emmers leads Belgium to a win at the Faroe Islands.

After the international break we make it 4 in a row. We had a bit of a slower start, but in the meantime we moved up to 2nd position.

That’s it for today. Next week we will see if we are able to advance again to the UEFA Cup 4th Round and if we can maintain our position in top-3.

Tot volgende week!