Good vs.Bad, or in other words Brugge vs Rangers

bjorn · December 17, 2003

Again thx PM for editing it a bit

Friday 28th November:

AA Gent and Antwerp ended on a 2-2 draw as neither one of the teams could score the winning goal although they had the chances for that.

Saturday 29th November:

There were six games today for the 15th playday to be played. Beveren won with 3-2 against Heusden-Zolder. Genk got an easy home win against Charleroi. The home team scored three times while the visitors couldnâ€™t score. The next game was between Germinal Beerschot and Westerlo. The game ended in a 1-0 win for the home team. The fourth game today was Lokeren vs. Mouscron. It was a boring game as none of the teams could score a goal. Mons crashed at home with 2-4 against La louviÃ¨re. And the last game today ended in an easy home win as Standard trashed Cercle Brugge with 4 against 1.

Sunday 30th November:

Brugge vs. Lierse (H) 20.00

First division game 15

Attendance: 16840

Wet, 4Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Simons, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Gvozdenovic, Stoica, Englebert, Lange, Van de Ven

The first chance in the game came when the first half was almost over as in the 37th minute Van der Heyden passed to Gvozdenovic and he crossed the ball into the area for Van de Ven. He controlled the ball but he was to nervous to finish it in style as he blazed the ball over the crossbar. It was the only chance of the first half and the fans were booing as lately their team isnâ€™t playing great.

Half-time score: 0 - 0

In the 51st minute happened a lot of things. Simons played a long ball to Van de Ven who entered the area before he was tripped by Fassotte. The referee saw that and awarded the penalty and Fassotte was sent off for his foul. Simons stepped up and converted the penalty. The next chance was in the 74th minute when Van der Heyden played a long ball to Van de Ven. He crossed the ball towards Lange who got his head against the ball. His first attempt was saved by the keeper but the ball fell to his feet and he was left a simple finish. In the 80th minute Stoica was injured and replaced by Martens.

MoM: Simons (9)

Final score: Brugge 2 â€“ Lierse 0

Scorers: Simons (pen), Lange

Assist: Van de Ven

Substitutions: 60th minute: Gvozdenovic who picked up a little knock was replaced by Smolders.

80th minute: The injured Stoica left the pitch for Martens.

</pre>

The last game of this playday was between Anderlecht and Sint-Truiden. Both teams scored once to settle the final score on 1-1.

Monday 1st December:

The board is very pleased with the way Iâ€™m managing the club and the fans are delighted with the way Iâ€™m doing. As usual we also had an award today, the goal of the month:

1)Yapi Yapo for Beveren vs. Cercle Brugge

2)Oliveira for Sint-Truiden vs. Lierse

3)Brogno for Westerlo vs. Genk

</pre>

Today I also compared my manager profile:

Ability to handle pressure 7 same

Ambition 10 same

Loyalty 8 same

Media handling 18 same

Professionalism 11 same

Temperament 10 same

Reputation ok same

</pre>

Wednesday 3rd December:

Brugge vs. Bocholt (A) 20.00

Belgian Cup 6th round

Attendance: 2285

Dry, 3Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Verlinden, Maertens, Gvozdenovic, Rozehnal, Spilar, Martens, Van de Ven, Geraerts, Englebert, Vandendriessche, Smolders

As you can see I gave my â€œsecond teamâ€ a chance to prove themselfes. Our first chance was in the 12th minute. Gvozdenovic played a long ball to Van de Ven, whoâ€™s attempt went over the bar. It was a first warning. Eleven minutes later Van de Ven played a cross to the other wing where Vandendriessche picked it up. He chipped the ball into the box and Martens headed the ball past the goallie. In the 39th minute they equalised when Holans played a nice trough ball for Rguibi and his shot was drivven in low past Verlinden.

Half-time score: 1 - 1

The second half was only just underway when Englebert sended the ball to Smolders. He headed the ball over the keeper and the ball went in off the post. It was amagnificent goal and I saw that he was delighted with it. Eight minutes later Rozehnal saw that Martens was unmarked in the area and he cross was perfect as the only thing that Martens had to do was putting his head against the ball to score the 1-3. In the 78th minute they had a free-kick that was taken by their specialist Waligora. He curled it round the wall and hitted the outside of the post and went out of play. They couldnâ€™t do anything back after that and so my â€œB-teamâ€ proved that they are worth keeping an eye on.

MoM: Martens (9)

Final score: Bocholt 1 â€“ Brugge 3

Scorers: Martens (2), Smolders

Assists: Vandendriessche, Englebert, Rozehnal

bjorn · December 17, 2003

Last night when I turned on my TV I saw this intresting newsflash:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>

Police involved in murder?

There are rumours spreading that police officer PM is being involved in a murder case. A few weeks ago Club Brugge manager BjÃ¶rn Noppe lost his wife on a brutal way as she was murdered and kidnapped. Today it seems that the mystery is being solved. A police officer, named PM, and his friend who's a firemen, named HD, are dissappeared without anyone knowing where they are untill this evening. A close friend of them, who wanted to stay unreccognised, said to the police that they left the country. The reason for this would be that BjÃ¶rn had the missing part of the puzzle and if he would bring it to the policestation they knew they would have been caught.

The "missing" piece of the puzzle is a tape on which the two men are heard when they were breaking into BjÃ¶rn's house. The police will try their best to find the two men back but can't promise a thing. One thing's for sure, BjÃ¶rn you are "safe" again and hopefully it last a long time. More news now as Saddam Hoessein is being arrested.....

I was very happy to hear this news and now I know why that officer acted so strange when I went to his office, he was one of the murderers. If I had knew this, oh man he wouldn't be alive now....

LeytonOrient212 · December 17, 2003

funny stuff...

bjorn · December 17, 2003

Friday 5th December:

Today was the day that Ac Milan and Bocafighted for the title of the Inter-Continetal Cup. It was the last one who won that Cup with a 0-2 win. Boca had more chances then the Champions Cup winner and scored in the 6th minute trough Borha and Aguilar doubled the lead in the 72nd minute. A minute before the end of the game the frustrations got Kaka to much and was sent off for elbowing.

Also today there were two games for the 16th playday as Heusden-Zolder lost at home against Standard with 0-2 and La LouviÃ¨re - Anderlechtended one all.

Saturday 6th December:

Brugge vs. Sint-Truiden (A) 20.00

First division game 16

Attendance: 13643

Wet, 5Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Simons, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Gvozdenovic, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

This was THE game of the first round in the competition. We were leading and Sint-Truiden trailed us by three points so if they win then we would be equal on points. My men were nervous and still they fought very brave. In the 7th minute Lange crossed the ball for Mendoza but his volley went over the bar. Eight minutes later Boffin played a wonderful ball for Janssen and he stayed cool and finished this chance in style. In the 34th minute they doubled their lead when Englebert tripped Vrancken in the area and was awarded a penalty. Vrancken missed the penalty but scored in the rebound and so they leaded with 2-0.

Half-time score: 2-0

Two minutes were passed in the second half when Simons played a long ball. While Lange was running to get to the ball, Mendoza was choosing position in the area and when the cross from Lange arrived, the Peruvian headed the ball into the back of the net. We had a game again. From then on Sint-Truiden played very defensively and our only chance came in the 88th minute. Mendoza was one-on-one with the keeper and curled the ball past Belic. Everyone in the stands thought it was in but the post made sure that Sint-Truiden won the three points.

MOM: Mendoza (9)

Final score: Sint-Truiden 2 - Brugge 1

Scorer: Mendoza

Assist: Lange

So we were level again in the competition with Sint-Truiden and because of this it will be a very exciting second round in the competition. Englebert would also have to miss the next game as he picked up his third yellow card in the season and this means he has an automatic ban.

Other games today:

Antwerp 2 - Beveren 1

Cercle 0 - Mons 1

Charleroi 0 - Germinal Beerschot 1

Lierse 2 - Genk 2

Mouscron 4 - Gent 1

Westerlo 1 - Lokeren 1</pre>

bjorn · December 19, 2003

Wednesday 10th December:

Brugge vs. Marseille (A) 19.45

Champions Cup group G game 6

Dry, 10Â°C

Stefaan Lambrechts: Welcome people for the last time before the winterbreak. Tonight we will watch Marseille vs Club Brugge. For Marseille this is an important game as they can pick up the Uefa Cup if they win against Brugge, and for that last one, this game isn't really important as they are already qualified. I give the word to our commentator, Frank Raes.

"A very goodevening to everyone at home. We are currently in Stade VÃ©lodrome for the last game in the Champions Cup for Brugge before the winterbreak. It's reported that there are 52020 footballfans in this stadion, including the 2153 fans who travelled with Brugge to this place. Let's have a look at the line-ups. In goal we have Butina and before him are Simons, De Cock, Clement and Gvozdenovic. In midfield we have Verheyen, Martens, Englebert and Ceh and upfront Lange and Mendoza. As you can see there are two keyplayers missing and these are Van der Heyden and Kallstrom. hey were left out of the squad because BjÃ¶rn wanted to use them certainly in the next round of the Champions Cup, and by leeting them play tonight he would take the risk that one of them picked up a yellow card. So that's the reason. Let's look at Marseille, their last man is Runje, before him we have Beye, MeitÃ©, van Buyten and Cantareil. The midfielders are Meriem, Vachousek, Cheyrou and Mido is on the left wing. Marseille are starting with two strikers tonight Drogba and Marlet."

"The referee tonight is Hugh Dallas and he get's the game underway.

Four minutes have passed already and Brugge have a free-kick in a dangerous position. De Cock fires it at target, but it's saved by Runje."

"We are six minutes later so far and Marlet heads the ball to Drogba. He shoots, but Butina saved it nicely.

And we are in the 20th minute now. Marseille have most ball possession and Marlet has the ball now. Oh a nice trough ball for Drogba. He is one-on-one with the keeper a nice move to dribble Butina!! And yes there it is, the 1-0."

"marseille have the ball again as we have seen 35 minutes of the game. Drogba has the ball and now he centres it..Mido! What a great save by Butina on that header of Mido. But the chance isn't over Drogba has the ball and of course it's in he only had to tip it in and so Drogba doubles his tally and Marseille's lead."

"Brugge can't do a thing. it's four minutes after they conceded their second goal and Vachousek has the ball. He play's a long ball towards Mido, who controls it nicely. Butina is a on his own now. Mido shoots and it's in. The ball went trough the legs of the goallie and Marseille are celebrating for the third time this evening."

"Hugh Dallas made an end to the first half. I give the word to you Stefaan. Half-time score here is Marseille 3 - Brugge 0."

bjorn · December 19, 2003

Stefaan Lambrechts: Welcome back and as you saw with your own eyes Brugge are totally outplayed. Without their free-kick at the start of the game they didn't create any kind of a chance. I can't believe they aren't concentrating them because every game in the Champions Cup you have try to win. Hopefully they bring a better second half. The first half between Milan and PSV ended on 2-0 for Milan. Shevchenko scored in the 18th minute and three minutes later Seedorf doubled their lead. Now let's get back to Stade VÃ©lodrome for the second half of Marseille - Brugge.

"Welcome back and as you said Stefaan, hopefully Brugge bring a better second half. There aren't any changes made to both teams so we restart the game with the same 22 players."

"It's a boring second half as expected. marseille don't have to attack and Brugge can't attack. De Cock has the ball in defence. He passes it to Simons. He's on his own half and play's a long ball towards Lange. Oh but Runje is out of his area and try's to head against it, but he can't get to it. Lange also couldn't reach it and the ball is in!!! What a goal from Timmy Simons. He played a long ball from his own half towards Lange but nobody could hit it so the goal is on Simons' name."

"We are in the 80th minute already and Marseille have a corner. Meriem drifts it in Drogba heads it, but it's cleared of the line by Simons. Brugge were lucky there. And they're going to make two substitutions as Lange and Clement are replaced by Smolders and Maertens respectively."

"And there it is the final whistle. Marseille won this game and they deserved it. Man of the match was without a doubt Drogba. But we can't forget that goal from Simons. I give the word back to you Stefaan and to all the viewers at home, I would like to invited you in february for the next round of Champions Cup. See you there."

Stefaan Lambrechts: Nothing much to say about the second half. It was a boring one. In Milan vs PSV there was one goal also in the second half as Cafu scored in the 80th minute to make it 3-0. So people I hope to see you back in February for the second round of the Champions Cup. Goodnight.

We played a perfect game today and I'm happy we made it to the Uefa cup. Drogba, striker Marseille.

It was one of the weakest games we ever played I think, but I'm very happy with my goal. Timmy Simons, defender Brugge.

Peacemaker7 · December 19, 2003

I'm sure you can forgive them the Marseille result, well done on reaching the last 16 excellent achievement

bjorn · December 19, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

I'm sure you can forgive them the Marseille result, well done on reaching the last 16 excellent achievement <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah I can forgive them, but I wanted to end the group phase with a win to be honest. And thanks for the kind words.

bjorn · December 19, 2003

Geneve, 15 o'clock:

Live draw for the second round of the Champions Cup.

Me and my assistent manager, Rene Verheyen are sitting in the large room together with other topmanagers as Sepp Blatter walks in.

Sepp Blatter: Welcome lady's and getlemen to this live draw of the Champions Cup second round. We will first have a review of the groupstages starting with...

Group A:

it won't surprise anyone if we say that Arsenal were the winners in this group. They didn't lost a game and so they got 16 points. The second team who qualified in this group is really surprising. Anderlecht gained 7 points in this group and with that they had enough points to secure the second place. Celtic ended third in this group with 5 points, before Lyon who had only 4 points.

Group B:

The groupwinners are Ajax with 12 points and only one point more then Inter Milan. Everyone expected that the Italians would win this group but it isn't like that. On third place, and so qualified for the Uefa Cup are Partizan. They earned 6 points in this group and ending on third position is a great achievement for them. Surprisingly VFB Stuttgart ended on the last position with a dissappointing 2 points.

Group C:

There aren't any surprises in this group as the favourites Juventus won the group with a total of 15 points and only conceding 1 goal in six games. That's a remarkable achievement. The second team in this group that are qualified are Dortmund. The German team ended with 13 points and did a great job. Olympiakos stranded on the third position with 4 points which is 3 points more then last placed Grasshopper.

Group D:

The star-team Chelsea had an easy time in this group as they won all of their six games. Which is really magnificent. They are followed by Spain's Real Sociedad who were qualified because of the best results with the other team as them and KR earned 7 points. But it is the Spanish team who've gotten the better results and so they're qualified. In third position we have KR with 7 points of course and they earned a ticket to the Uefa Cup. And Besiktas well they are left with nothing but they can't expect much if you only have 3 points.

Group E:

FC Bayern won the group with 16 points and they also had the biggest win in the Champions Cup so far as they trashed CSKA Sofia, who ended in last position with 3 points, with 8-0. In second position we have Premier League team Newcastle as the toon army ended with 13 points. PAO can now try their chance in the Uefa Cup as they ended on the third position with 3 points but a better result against CSKA Sofia.

Group F:

Man Utd, group favourites and also favourites to win the champions Cup, ended on top in this group. They had a total of 13 points and they were followed by Dinamo Kiev who had 7 points. Porto will have to try their luck in the Uefa cup and FC Copenhagenended at the bottom of the group also with 7 points.

Group G:

As everyone expected last year winners AC Milan won their group despite their bad start in the first game against second placed Club Brugge. The Belgian team appointed their new manager before the start of the season and now they're qualified. They earned 8 points in their group which is 6 points less then the leaders. In third position we have Marseille xith 7 points and PSV ended on a dissappointing last position with only 3 points.

Group H:

The two favourites to win this group also ended on top as Lazio ended on top with 13 points followed by Real Madrid's elite football team with 12 points. Although Real trashed Lazio with 5-2 at bernabeu, it wasn't enough to be the groupwinners. In third position we have Monaco and with their 6 points they had enough to qualify for the Uefa Cup. Sparta Prague are out of the European competition's as they only earned 4 points.

Now let's start with the draw....

Jambo_4eva · December 19, 2003

Your stories aren't too bad yourself, Bjorn.

I presume your a Brugge supporter - unlucky in the Champions League, eh?

bjorn · December 19, 2003

thx Jambo

yes I'm a Brugge supporter. And if you mean unlucky IRL well then you are correct, shoot those ****ing *******s from Milan.

it's going much better in the story

bjorn · December 21, 2003

Sepp Blatter: Now let's start the draw.

The first team that's picked is Arsenal. as they are groupswinners in group A they can't be drawn against an other groupwinner. And there is the team that will face arsenal and it's Inter Milan from Italy. It will be a nice game betweens these two teams.

The next team who will play the first leg at home is Juventus. They are the team with the best defence in the group stages and it will certainly be intrested to see if they can keep it up against Real Sociedad. i'm sure they were very surprised that they made i to the second round, but they didn't have a very tough group.

The third draw consists out of Chelsea, the only team who won all of their games and still have alot of money left to buy even better players. And the opposing team is coming from Germany as Dortmund will try to bring them their first loss in the Champions Cup this season. Dortmund didn't have any kind of problems to qualify and they are willing to give 100% to progress even further.

If we complete the fourth draw we will now which games we will have on Tuesday. We will certainly see Ajax as they are the 7th team that are drawn here. Ajax were the surprise winners in their group and they should be able to win against Anderlecht. Although the Belgian team did very well as they held of both Celtci and Lyon and that's quite a nice achievement for them.

The first game on Wednesday will see Dynamo Kiev at home. They only qualified because they had a better goal difference and better results between the other teams in their group but they deserved it. But I'm afraid that their European season will end here as they will have to be very lucky to defeated FC Bayern. The Germans have a very good reputation in the Champions Cup and they shouldn't have any problems to progress to the quarter finals.

The next draw consists out of AC Milan, the Champions Cup holders and the best club of the world in my opinion Real Madrid. This is without a doubt the most interesting clash in the second round. I'm afraid to predict who will come out as winner but one thing's for sure it will be a nice competition.

Now the 7th draw will see Club Brugge at home for the first leg. Last year's winner in the Belgian league will be very happy that they made it so far this season and let's see who will be their visitors. They're coming from Italy and the Club name is....Lazio Roma. Well they are certainly in good form as they had one point more then Real Madrid in group H but every game has to be played.

And the last draw in the second round of the Champions Cup is Newcastle vs. Man utd. one thing is sure here and that is that an English team will win and progress to the Quarter finals. Newcastle didn't have problems to qualify from their group and Man Utd overcame Dynamo Kiev in their group to win it.

There are some nice games to be played and I like to welcome you back next time for the draw of the quarter finals.

bjorn · December 22, 2003

Well I was happy and also unhappy with the draw we had. Unhappy because we could have gotten an easyer team like Ajax and happy because with this draw we well have a full stadion at home, normally, and we have nothing to loose. Roberto Mancini is a very good manager and this is also reflected when I look at his wage. When I see that he earns â‚¬46,500/week, I know that I have a long way to go before I earn that much. My favourite player at Lazio is Jaap Stam as he is a great defender. Let's have a look at the toughts of my players.

Name: Tomislav Butina (GK)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Real Madrid - I also wanted to play in Bernabeu as i would like to know how hard it is to get a clean sheet there.

Predictions: Well it'll be very hard to progress but I'm glad that we've made it this far. Lazio will win with 4-1 after the two games are played.

Favourite player: Claudio Lopez.

Name: Dany Verlinden (GK)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Arsenal - As I want to know if Henry really is a goalgetter. And of course because it was my dream to play their one day.

Predictions: Lazio win with 3-0 over the two legs. Which isn't a bad result of course against a topteam.

Favourite player: Jaap Stam.

Name: Philippe Clement (SW/D/DM C)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Real Madrid - I heard about a lot of defenders that Ronaldo and Raul are the hardest men to defend against. So I would like to know if they're right.

Predictions: Lazio will have a closed fought 2-1 win over us, which isn't a great result for them.

Favourite player: Stefano Fiore.

Name: Olivier De Cock (D RC)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Chelsea - Now that they have their dream together, although they are still looking to bring in even better players, I would like to see how they play in team.

Predictions: We win with a lucky 1-0 win as we will score once at home and then we will defend as much as we can in Rome.

Favourite player: Sinisa Mihajlovic.

Name: Timmy Simons (D/DM RC)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Ajax - I always watch them, if it's possible, when they play. They have a good mixture of youth and one or two expierenced players and my personal view is that youngster should have as much opportunities to play as possible.

Predictions: Lazio have 70% chance to win but i'm carefull about saying a result as every game needs to be played.

Favourite player: Simone Inzaghi.

Name: Peter Van der heyden (D/DM L)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Inter Milan. As they are one of my favourite teams in football and I hope that one day I could wear a t-shirt of them and play there.

Predictions: We will win because of two good days and so we progress to the Quarter finals with a 2-0 win. A goal from Mendoza and one from Clement.

Favourite player: Roberto Muzzi.

Name: Sandy Martens (AM/F RL)

Favoured club to meet in second round: The great Real Madrid - Well the reason is very simple, if we have to lose in th second round I would like to lose against them.

Predictions: Lazio win with 4-2. But it won't be deserved.

Favourite player: Angelo Peruzzi.

Name: Nastja Ceh (AM LC)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Man Utd - I think it's not only my childhood dream to play there one day and of course i would like to change shirst with Ryan Giggs after the game. He's my idol.

Predictions: We will win on penalty's after we draw 1-1. Butina will save at least one penalty.

Favourite player: SÃ©rgio ConceiÃ§ao.

Name: Kim Kallstrom (AM C)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Man Utd - If we would play against them I would like to impress them so they make an offer on me, but I think this will only happen in my dreams.

Predictions: Lazio win with 3-2.

Favourite player: Fabio Liverani.

Name:Gert Verheyen (F RC)

Favoured club to meet in second round: FC Bayern - They say Germans play very defensive well I would hope we beat them at home and then we let them taste at their own blood by playing very defensively. It isn't fun to win like that but maybe then they would know how it feels.

Predictions: Lazio will trash us with 4-1.

Favourite player: Claudio Lopez.

Name: AndrÃ©s Mendoza (F LC)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Newcastle - I know it's impossible to meet them but then again I hope I will face them one day to prove that i'm ready for their level of football.

Predictions: We win with 2-1. Kallstrom will score once at home and then I will score the winning goal at Rome, if ever...

Favourite player: Paolo Negro.

Name: Bengt Saeternes (S C)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Lazio Roma - Believe it or not but for me this is my favourite draw in the second round. As I rate them as a topclub but just that little bit weaker as the rest of the groupwinners.

Predictions: I think we should be able to qualify against them. They are currently in 7th position in the Serie A and I think that in this season anything is possible for us.

Favourite player: Luciano Zauri.

Name: Rune Lange (S C)

Favoured club to meet in second round: Juventus - I always liked they way they play as they are one of the only Italian clubs who bring some nice attacking football and I respect that. And of course they are a great team, and I'm still missing a Juve-shirt in my closet.

Predictions: Lazio will win because we will get a red card in Rome and so they will beat us with 3-0 over the two legs.

Favourite player: Simone Inzaghi.

bjorn · December 23, 2003

Friday 12th December:

The last playday of the first round got underway when Standard lost at home against Antwerp with 0-2.

Saturday 13th December:

Brugge vs. Anderlecht (H) 20.00

First division game 17

Attendance: 29868

Dry, 8Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Simons, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Van de Ven, Saeternes, Mendoza

We had a couple of changes in the squad as Englebert was banned and replaced by Van de Ven and after four months of injury Saeternes finally recovered and started the game instead of Lange.

The game started very well for us. Ceh floated the ball in to the near post from the left wing, Mendoza was there and picked the ball up but Lovre made a poorly-timed tackle on the Peruvian and the referee, Philippe Flament, awarded the penalty. Simons stepped up and converted the penalty. Then the game tempo dropped and the fans had to wait untill the 32nd minute to see the next chance. Van der Heyden hitted a 20 yard pass right to Kallstrom, who advanced with the ball. He tried a long range piledriver but it went over the bar. Six minutes later almost the same chance but on the other side off the pitch as Seol tried it for Anderlecht. The ball flew right into Butina's hands.

Half-time score: 1 - 0

There were 15 minutes played in the second half when the first chance of the second half came. Mendoza picked up Van de Ven's superb pass and he was clean through on goal. He had a go but Anderlecht keeper, Van Steenberghe, held the ball well. In the 78th minute we had another chance. Ceh had the ball on the left wing and crossed it into the box. Lange, who came on for Saeternes in the 63rd minute, headed the ball into the topcorner. The end of the game was very hard as the Anderlecht players were frustrated and there almost was a fight on the pitch. But nothing happened and so we had won against our arch-rivals.

MoM: Mendoza (8)

Final score: Brugge 2 - Anderlecht 0

Scorers: Simons (pen), Lange

Assists: Mendoza, Ceh

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Substitution: 60th minute: Saeternes is replaced by Lange </pre>

There were also some other games today. AA Gent lost at home against a magnificent playing Westerlo with 1-3. Beveren marched on to the 14th position thanks to their 2-1 win at home against Mouscron. We have again three points more then Sint-Truiden as they lost with 1-0 at Genk. Germinal Beerschot have won rather easily against Lierse with 3-0. La LouviÃ¨re - Cercle Brugge ended like it started. Lokeren won with 3-0 against Charleroiand the last game today was a 2-1 win from Mons over Heusden-Zolder.

Monday 15th December:

Today we recieved an offer from Real Sociedad worth â‚¬6M plus Bittor Alkiza for Timmy Simons. I decided to remove their player and ask â‚¬7.5M to pay in one time for one of my best player in the team. Also AtlÃ©tico Madrid made an offer for him. They wanted to pay â‚¬8.25M over 24 months plus Santi. I decided to ask the same amount of money like I asked Real Sociedad.

Tuesday 16th December:

Deportivo were the third team to make an offer on Timmy Simons. They offered â‚¬7.5M payed over 18 months. Again I wanted this all in once and I decided to ask â‚¬9M for him at Depor. If they decided against I could always be lucky that the other two teams gave me what I wanted.

Wednesday 17th December:

Real Sociedad decided that they didn't want to pay that much for him but AtlÃ©tico Madrid offered me â‚¬7.5M and a 30% will go to me if they sell him. I accepted the offer but hoped that he would reject the move.

Brugge vs. la LouviÃ¨re (A) 20.00

Belgian Cup 7th round

Attendance: 8440

Dry, 4Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Verlinden, Maertens, Gvozdenovic, Rozehnal, Spilar, Martens, Van de Ven, Geraerts, Englebert, Saeternes, Smolders

Again I decided that my second team mixed with two first team players could start in this game. Hopefully they can progress. In the sixth minute La LouviÃ¨re toke the lead but the goal didn't count because of offside. The same thing happend for us seven minutes later. We score but also for us it's ruled out for offside. In the 28th minute Saeternes plays a great ball which left Smolders unmarked. He tried a shot at goal but Proto made a nice safe.

Half-time score: 0 - 0

The first chance in the second half was for La LouviÃ¨re but Mamouni's header went over the bar in the 65th minute. It was also the only chance of the second half and so the score stayed level, so it was time for an extra 30 minutes of football. In the 96th minute Belabed crossed the ball into the area. Djamba-Shango was there to aplly the finish and La LouviÃ¨re toke the lead. It started to play with an attacking mentality. At the start of the second half Klukowski played a long ball in the direction of the box. Hiligsmann was the first one to get to the ball and he made it 2-0. In the 118th minute Saeternes made it 2-1 after an individual effort. A minute later Djamba-Shango made it 3-1 and the game was played.

MoM: Djamba-Shango (10)

Final score: La LouviÃ¨re 3 - Brugge 1

Scorer: Saeternes

So we lost in the Belgian Cup but I wasn't dissappointed. I didn't have the intension to win that cup anyway.

bjorn · December 23, 2003

We had 31 days of untill our first match because of the winterbreak. During this time, I will see if we can bring in some new players and who will leave the club.

Thursday 18th December:

Today I was informed by Deportivo's chairman, Lendoiro, that they are willing to pay â‚¬10M for Timmy Simons. I accept their offer because it's a really good one, but still deep down inside I hope he rejects their offer. I recieved another offer today. It came from Mallorca and they made an offer worth â‚¬1.6M for GaÃ«tan Englebert. It was way to low but I asked â‚¬8M for him as I knew they wouldn't pay that for him. I also asked that if they were going to sell him that I would be given 30% of the transfer.

Saturday 20th December:

Today I was informed by Timmy Simons and his agent that he accepted Deportivo's contract offer and that he would join them as soon as possible. He thanked me for the work I've done for him and the team and he hoped that I would do even better in the future.

Deportivo buy Timmy Simons for â‚¬10M.

Name: Timmy Simons (D/DM RC)

28 app, 3 goals, 2assists, 1 MOM and an average rating of 7.11

Well we sure will miss him as he was a keyplayer in my squad. He was without a doubt the best defender I had and he also had the expierence to keep the players calm. I wish him the best of luck at Deportivo and hopefully he will never forget his team and mates here in Belgium.

Also today I was informed by Mallorca that they weren't intrested in Englebert for such a price. I didn't care to be honest.

Sunday 21st December:

Today it was confirmed that Deportivo manager, Irureta, was sacked because of overwhelming supporter pressure. Superdepor are currently in 8th position in La Liga.

Sunday 28th December:

For the past week there has been a lot of rumours spreading. AC Milan are willing to buy Celtic's Henrik Larsson. They didn't mind to pay the bill as they wanted to pay anything to bring him to their club. But that rumour was soon blown away as O'Neill told the press that they didn't want to sell him no mather the price. Larsson himself said that he would be very happy to move to AC Milan. Also this week there were rumours that Man Utd were targetting the unsettled Patrick Kluivert from Barcelona. Barcelona boss, Rijkaard, said that Kluivert is an invaluable player and he made it crystal clear that he won't leave Nou Camp.

Wednesday 31st December:

There were three players from my team who's contract expired in six months and I offered them a new contract. These players were Gert Verheyen, Sandy Martens and Philip Clement. There were also a lot of other players ovver the whole world who's contract expired in six months but none of them were intrested to sign one with us.

bjorn · December 24, 2003

Happy 2004!! Or maybe not????

Thursday 1st January 2004:

There was a lot of news today. The first thing was that both Board and fans were delighted with my performances as their manager. Although the fans were disappointed with the sale of Timmy Simons.

My manager profile looked like this at the start of the month:

Ability to handle pressure 8 1 up

Ambition 10 same

Loyalty 9 1 up

Media handling 19 1 up

Professionalism 12 1 up

Temperament 11 1 up

Reputation ok same </pre>

Then it was time for some awards:

Goal of the Month:

1) Van Hoeylandt for Lokeren vs. Charleroi

2) Walasiak for Standard vs. Heusden-Zolder

3) Pieroni for Mouscron vs. AA Gent</pre>

World Player of the Year:

Hernan Crespo who is playing for Chelsea was voted as the best player in the world this year. Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid came second while Valencia's Roberto Fabian Ayala was third.

World Footballer of the Year:

Chelsea are on top again as Veron recieved the most votes. In second position we had Juventus' Gianluca Zambrotta and in third position we have Michael Ballack who is playing for FC Bayern.

European Footballer of the Year:

Dortmund's Ludovic Giuly was chosen first for this award. After his â‚¬10.25M move from Monaco he played a fantastic season in Germany. Claudio Pizarro from FC Bayern came as second while third place was for Arsenal's Patrick Vieira.

European Goalkeeper of the Year:

This one is without a doubt a good decision as Buffon came in as first. He is currently playing for last year winners in the Serie A, Juventus. He was followed by FC Bayern's Oliver Kahn and in third position we had Roman Weidenfeller. He is keeping the nets clean for Dortmund.

European Defender of the Year:

AC Milan's Alessandro Nesta recieved the most votes and so he won this award. He deserve's it as he is one of the best defender of the world and he is one of the only one's who is playing good in Milan. Dortmund have again a player in the top three as Chrstoph Metzelder came as second and he held of Rio Ferdinand, who is playing for Man Utd.

European Midfielder of the Year:

ZÃ© Roberto came as first as he played a great season for FC Bayern. In second position we have AC Milan's Cafu and he recieved more votes then third placed Yildiray BastÃ¼rk who is controlling the midfield in Leverkusen.

European Striker of the Year:

Jan Koller has been chosen the Striker of the Year as he scored 12 goals in 13 games for Dortmund. In second place scoring 18 goals in 23 games, we have Arsenal's Thierry Henry. And the third position is also for the Premier League in England as Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 12 times in 26 games for Man Utd.

There was also some more news around Kluivert's rumour. The player himself indicated that if Man Utd would offer him a contract, he would find it to good to be turned down. But he would leave Nou Camp with pain in his hart.

Friday 2nd January:

Inter have a new player as of today as Ariel Ortega arrived at the club. Fenerbahce are left with nothing.

Also today both Clement and Verheyen agreed with their new contract and putted pen to paper. Other team news we had today is that Stoica has returned from injury.

Sunday 4th January:

Sandy Martens also agreed with his new contract and with that all of my players recieved a new a better contract.

Wednesday 7th January:

My physio, Geert Ryckebusch, told me that Dany Verlinden would be out of action for about a month after picking up a groin strain during a training session.

Tuesday 13th january:

Deportivo have appointed Jesus Mateos as their new manager today. Nothing else really happened in the mean time. Just all the clubs who were busy with negotiating new contracts for their players. And so we returned from the winter break.

bjorn · December 24, 2003

Friday 16th January:

Genk - Anderlecht was the first game after the winterbreak. And it was the home team that won the three points as it ended 3-1.

Saturday 17th January:

Brugge vs. La LouviÃ¨re (A) 20.00

First division game 18

Attendance: 10379

Strong Wind, Wet, 3Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Saeternes, Mendoza

Birger Maertens will replace Timmy Simons on the right hand side of defence while we are looking for a replacement. The first chance came in the first minute. Maertens played a long ball towards Mendoza, who headed it on and then blasted the ball into the topcorner to give us a dream start. In the 10th minute Ceh was injured and I replaced him with Stoica. In the 24th minute Odemwingie had the ball and tried to dribble round the keeper. It worked but his shot stranded in the sidenet.

Half-time score: 0 - 1

The first chance in the second half was for La LouviÃ¨re. van Handenhoven picked up Belabed's fine pass, but he was to nervous to finish the chance. Ten minutes later Englebert floated the ball in from the left wing. Lange jumped higher then the rest but his header was easily saved by Proto. Seven minutes before the end of the game Verheyen threw the ball into the box. Saeternes picked the ball up but his shot went just wide. It was the last big chance of the game and so we got off to a good start after the winterbreak.

MoM: Butina (9)

Final score: La LouviÃ¨re 0 - Brugge 1

Scorer: Mendoza

Assist: Maertens

Substitution: 11th minute: The injured Ceh hobbled of the field and in his place came Stoica.

64th minute: Mendoza picked up a minor injury and I replaced him with Lange.</pre>

AA Gent wasn't able to overcome Charleroi as the game ended 0-0. Beveren practiced well during the winterbreak as the won with 1-0 against Westerlo. Sint-Truiden got a point in Germinal Beerschot as they scored one each. Lokeren - Lierse also ended 1-1. Mons beated Antwerp with 3-1 while Mouscron lost at Standard with 2-0.

Sunday 18th January:

Cercle Brugge vs. Heusden-Zolder was the last game of the 18th playday and it was the home team who won the game with 2-0.

Saturday 24th January:

Brugge vs. Genk (H) 20.00

First division game 19

Attendance: 25714

Wet, 5Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Saeternes, Mendoza

We had our first chance in the 7th minute. Kallstrom played a great pass to Mendoza, he headed the ball to Saeternes. The only thing he had to to score was putting his feet against the ball. Five minutes later Englebert was brought off with an injury. In his place came Van de Ven. In the 18th minute Kpaka had a nice chance for the visitors but he hitted the ball wrong and it went way over the target. In the 34th minute we had the last chance of the first half. Kallstrom played a great ball to bring Saeternes in an unmarked position; but because of his lack of match practice he couldn't finish it off.

Half-time score: 1 - 0

Saeternes tried a long range effort. His shot went just wide of the post. Eleven minutes later, so that means in the 67th minute, Mendoza crossed the ball from the left wing. Saeternes got his head against the ball but Schollen made a good save. Then Rousell had two chances in the 75th and in the 78th minute, but both attempts went over the goal.

MoM: Butina (8)

Final score: Brugge 1 - Genk 0

Scorer: Saeternes

Assist: Mendoza

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Substitution: 12th minute: Englebert was injured and couldn't continue. In his place came Van de Ven </pre>

All the other games were also finished today:

Anderlecht 1 - Germinal Beerschot 1

Antwerp 1 - Cercle Brugge 1

Charleroi 2 - Beveren 0

Heusden-Zolder 3 - La LouviÃ¨re 1

Lierse 4 - AA Gent 0

Mouscron 3 - Mons 1

Sint-Truiden 2 - Lokeren 1

Westerlo 2 - Standard 0</pre>

I also recieved the news that De Cock had picked up an automatic one match ban after collecting 3 yellow cards this season.

Peacemaker7 · December 24, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR> So we lost in the Belgian Cup but I wasn't dissappointed. I didn't have the intension to win that cup anyway <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bah thats what they all say

This is excellent

bjorn · December 25, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR> So we lost in the Belgian Cup but I wasn't dissappointed. I didn't have the intension to win that cup anyway <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bah thats what they all say

This is excellent <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would be more happy to win the Champions Cup then the Belgian Cup PM

Excellent What a big word for my little story Thanks anyway

Dr_dR3 · December 25, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by bjorn:

Excellent What a big word for my little story Thanks anyway <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Little? lol.

Btw: I'm also from Belgium. Bridges 'till I die.

bjorn · December 25, 2003

Monday 26th January:

Well it is official now that Patrick Kluivert is going to score goals for Man Utd as both teams confirmed the â‚¬27,5M transfer deal. Barcelona didn't have any problems to sell him as they didn't use the unsettled striker.

Tuesday 27th January:

Hidetoshi Nakata made his move from Parma to Liverpool today. The attacking right-sided midfielder was bought for â‚¬11,75M. The Japanese has signed a â‚¬49,500/week contract which will last untill 30.6.2007

Friday 30th January:

The 20th playday started today as Heusden-Zolder lost at home against Antwerp with 0-2.

Other news today was the â‚¬12.5M move from Vincenzo Montella. He stayed in Italy but traded his Roma shirt for that of Parma. They could buy him because of Nakata's move earlier this week.

Saturday 31th January:

I recieved a fax from the Belgian FA that the transfer deadline for Belgian clubs is tonight.

Brugge vs. Germinal Beerschot (A) 20.00

First division game 20

Attendance: 12348

Wet, 10Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Saeternes, Mendoza

Rozehnal replaced the suspended De Cock in this game. In the 7th minute Maertens played a long ball to Saeternes, he controlled it well and played the ball infront of Mendoza. All he had to do was tip the ball in the back of the net but Van Dooren tripped him before he could do so. The referee saw this and awarded a penalty to us. Because of Simons leave it was Ceh who stepped up to take the penalty's but his attempt stranded on the crossbar and was saved then by Verbist. In the 21st minute Saeternes passed to Mendoza and he finished it off. In the 35th minute we had an injured player on the pitch as Maertens couldn't continue anymore. I brought Gvozdenovic. He changed positions with Clement and we were ready to continue. Three minutes later Verheyen tried a shot from just inside the area but it flew just wide.

Half-time score: 0 - 1

In the first minute of the second half Cruz stole the ball from Van der Heyden and then crossed it into the area. Victor's volley stranded against the post before it was saved by Butina. Three minutes later Mendoza dribbled past Van Dooren before he crossed the ball towards Saeternes. His header was saved on the line by Verbist. A mistake in defence in the 77th minute made it possible for Schockaert to score the equaliser. Nine minutes before the end of the game the disaster was complete as Snelders gave the assist to Schockaert to make it 2-1.

MoM: Verbist (9)

Final score: Germinal Beerschot 2 - Brugge 1

Scorer: Mendoza

Assist: Saeternes

Substitution: 35th minute: Gvozdenovic came on to replace the injured Maertens.

77th minute: Saeternes left the pitch for Lange </pre>

I hope for them that they are happy with their undeserved win. Birger Maertens is out for 2 weeks with a rib injury.

The other results today were these. AA Gent lost 0-1 at home against Sint-Truiden. Beveren - Lierse ended one all. La LouviÃ¨re got a surprise 1-0 win at home against Genk. Lokeren trashed Anderlecht with 4-1. Mons and Westerlo scored one each and the last game today ended in a home team win as Standard won 2-0 against Charleroi.

bjorn · December 25, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Dr_dR3:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by bjorn:

Excellent What a big word for my little story Thanks anyway <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Little? lol.

Btw: I'm also from Belgium. Bridges 'till I die. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well I meant "little" by quality.

And enjoy the read

bjorn · December 25, 2003

February, the Champions Cup month...

Sunday 1st February:

The board is still delighted with my performances and the fans are delighted with the progress the club has been making under my management.

Then it was time for the Goal of the Month:

1) Thijs for Genk vs. Anderlecht

2) Wuytens for Cercle Brugge vs. Heusden-Zolder

3) Van Hoeylandt for Lokeren vs. Anderlecht </pre>

Then I saw my manager profile:

Ability to handle pressure 8 same

Ambition 10 same

Loyalty 9 same

Media handling 19 same

Professionalism 12 same

Temperament 11 same

Reputation ok same </pre>

There was also one game today which was the last one of the 20th playday. Cercle Brugge kept the three points at home as they humiliated Mouscron with 5 to 1.

Wednesday 4th February:

Today was the day that I could add one player to my Champions Cup squad and replace two if I wanted to. I added Van de Ven and I didn't changed anybody.

Saturday 7th February:

Verlinden returned from injury today and has started with the training since this morning.

Brugge vs Lokeren (H) 20.00

First division game 21

Attendance: 15487

Wet, 9Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Saeternes, Mendoza

De Cock will play on the right back position for this game as Maertens is injured. If you talk about a boring start to the game, you are talking about this game I think. The first thing that happened was in the 29th minute when Saeternes needed to leave the pitch with an injury. Lange came in his place. And that was also the only thing that happened as there weren't any changes in the first half.

Half-time score: 0 - 0

The first real chance came in the 55th minute! Ceh crossed the ball into the area and Mendoza headed it towards goal. It cannoned back of the crossbar and Lange was the first one to the rebound and he gave ujs the lead. It was the only chance of the game can you believe that? Only one chance and luckily a goal to. I will try a different tactic in the next game I think.

MoM: Butina (8)

Final score: Brugge 1 - Lokeren 0

Scorer: Lange

Assist: Mendoza

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Substitution: 30th minute: Saeternes was injured and replaced with Lange. </pre>

And Saeternes is out again. This time he is out for 3 weeks with a damaged knee cartilage.

Other results today were:

Anderlecht 2 - AA Gent 1

Antwerp 1 - La LouviÃ¨re 1

Charleroi 2 - Mons 2

Genk 1 - Germinal Beerschot 2

Lierse 0 - Standard 1

Mouscron 3 - Heusden-Zolder 1

Sint-Truiden 2 - Beveren 1

Westerlo 2 - Cercle Brugge 3</pre>

Friday 13th February:

Heusden-Zolder drawed with Westerlo on the 22nd playday. The final score was 2-2.

Saturday 14th February:

Antwerp lost with 0-1 against Mouscron. Germinal Beerschot won at La LouviÃ¨re with 0-1. Lokeren were humiliated at home as Genk trashed them with 0-4. Mons-Lierse ended in a 2-0 win for the away team and Standard defeated Sint-Truiden with 2-0.

Sunday 15th February:

Cercle Brugge won their game against Charleroi thanks to Arijs who scored the only goal of the game. Beveren lost their home game with 0-2 against Anderlecht. And we also had a game to play today:

Brugge vs. AA Gent (A) 20.00

First division game 22

Attendance: 7884

Wet, 9Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

I started the game with my first team as except on Saeternes as he is injured and replaced by Lange. The first chance of the game was in the 15th minute but AA Gent's corner was saved by Butina. Two minutes later Ribus is one-on-one with Butina but he couldn't finish the chance. In the 31st minute Lange played a long ball to Mendoza. Our current topscorer added another one as he rounded the keeper and then putted the ball against the back of the net. He did it in two times tough as Herpoel saved his first attempt. From that moment Gent pulled back and we less space to create chances.

Half-time score: 0 - 1

In the 53rd minute AA Gent had a corner and it was Theunis who headed in the equaliser. Machethe was the one who swung the corner in. I told my boys to play a little bit more attacking as I was hoping to score more then once. In the 66th minute Kallstrom played a great ball for Mendoza but he couldn't score his second goal of the game. In the 83rd minute Hempte fired in a great free-kick but Butina saved it with his fingertips. Three minutes later Gent are awarded a free-kick for a little foul by Van der Heyden. Mudingayi stepped up but the penalty was saved by our goallie but he couldn't do anything about the rebound effort of Mudingayi.

MoM: Herpoel (9)

Final score: AA Gent 2 - Brugge 2

Scorer: Mendoza

And so we didn't took profit of Sint-Truiden's loss yesterday. We still have two points lead.

bjorn · December 29, 2003

Friday 20th February:

The 23rd playday got underway today as Anderlecht, the home team, won their game against their visitors, Standard, with 2-0.

Saturday 21st February:

Brugge vs. Beveren (H) 20.00

First division game 23

Attendance: 14872

Dry, 11Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

We had the first chance of the game in the 10th minute when Van der Heyden knocked the ball down the line for Mendoza. He jumped higher then Stepanovs and won the ball in the air. He headed it towards goal but it went wide. Eleven minutes later Beveren had their first chance of the game with a freekick just outside the area. Geerinckx dispatched it towards goal and left Butina stranded when the ball hitted the back of the net. In the 39th minute Mendoza had another chance as he smashed the ball towards the top corner but it went just over.

Half-time score: 0 - 1

The second half was just underway when Mendozaâ€™s goal was ruled out for offside. In the 57th minute Lange tried to head the ball past Copa but the Beveren goallie was placed very well. Twenty minutes later Sanogo tried the same thing on the other side of the pitch but Butina saved it also. In the 82nd minute Boka doubled Beverenâ€™s lead as he headed the ball past Butina. Five minutes later we were totally humiliated as Persoons scored their third goal of the game.

MoM: Copa (8)

Substitution: 74th minute: Englebert was replaced by Stoica.

Smolders came on to replace Lange. </pre>

Charleroi won their home game against Heusden-Zolder with a convincing 3-0. Cercle Brugge lost in and against Lierse with 3-1. Mouscron won with 2-1 against La LouviÃ¨re. We lost our first position to Sint-Truiden as they won with 2-1 against Mons and the last game today was a 2-2 draw between Westerlo and Antwerp.

Sunday 22nd February:

The last two games of the 23rd playday were played today as Genk lost at home against AA Gent with 0-1 and Germinal Beerschot won with 2-0 against Lokeren.

The days past on and before I knew it I had to play in the Champions Cup.

Wednesday 25th February:

Brugge vs. Lazio (H) 19.45

Champions Cup second round first leg

Dry, 10Â°C

Stefaan Lambrechts: Welcome to our studio in Vilvoorde after two months without Champions Cup football. Tonight Frank Raes will bring you a live reportage, as always, from Brugge vs. Lazio. Brugge are currently in a â€œlittle crisisâ€ as in their last seven games they failed to score more then once and they lost four of those seven games. They are also in second position for the first time this season. Now letâ€™s go to Frank Raes.

â€œWelcome and good evening to all of those who are sitting at home watching this game. Iâ€™m sitting here in my studio in the Jan Breydelstadion and outside there are 29945 people for this game. The stadion isnâ€™t filled to the top as there are 30 places left.. Letâ€™s have a look at the line-ups from both teams. Starting with Brugge we have Butina in goal, on the right side of defence we have Maertens since the departure of Simons and on the left side we have Van der Heyden. Between them are De Cock and Clement. The four midfielders today are, from right to left, Verheyen, Kallstrom, Englebert and Ceh and the two most attacking players for Brugge are Lange and Mendoza. So they are playing with a 4-4-2. Lazio are also starting with a 4-4-2 with in goal Peruzzi and in front of him front right to left Oddo, Stam, Mihajlovic and Zauri. In midfield we have Fiore, Liverani, Albertini and CÃ©sar. Inzaghi and Claudio Lopez are the two strikers tonight.â€

â€œHelmut Fleischer is the referee tonight and he gets the game underway now.

Five minutes have passed and nothing really happened. Stam has the ball and plays a long ball. Inzaghi picks it up. He advances on Butina!! A hard shot but a good save. Lazio had the first real chance of the game. And certainly not the last one. Three minutes have gone since that last chance and Ceh has the ball outside the pitch fo a throw in. he throws it in the area but Fiore clears it. The referee is pointing at the spot! Brugge are awarded a penalty and it seems that Albertini pushed Mendoza in the area. Ceh is the player who steps up to take the penalty kickâ€¦Itâ€™s in Brugge take the lead.â€

â€œSo far we have sixteen minutes of football and Van der Heyden has the ball in the back of the defence. He clears the ball and Mendoza is able to pick it up. He dribbles past Oddo and now he plays a wonderful ball towards Lange. He shoots it high and hard towards the topcorner!! Itâ€™s in, Brugge have taken a 2-0 lead after seventeen minutes of football. What a nice goal.â€

â€œNow we are in the 21st minute and Fiore has the ball on the left wing. He centres the ball. Inzaghi picks it up and shows some good control on the ball. He strikes the ball with fury!! And itâ€™s in, Butina couldnâ€™t get to it and Lazio are back in the game. Four minutes after Bruggeâ€™s 2-0 they score the 2-1. Itâ€™s an exciting game for the fans.â€

â€œThe game tempo has dropped a bit as we are in the 37th minute and we didnâ€™t saw another nice chance of both teams. Inzaghi has the ball for Lazio, he runs to the byline and he crosses the ball to the near post. Fiore is there!! Oh thatâ€™s just over. They were very close from the equaliser here and Brugge shouldnâ€™t be pulling back. It was the last chance of the first half ad so I give the word back to you Stefaan and Iâ€™d like to welcome you back in 15 minutes for the second half of Brugge â€“ Lazio. The half-time score here is 2-1.

bjorn · December 29, 2003

Stefaan Lambrechts: So Brugge are leading. Itâ€™s a big surprise bu we canâ€™t say itâ€™s tottaly undeserved as they started very well in the first half. They pulled back a little but thatâ€™s normal as they canâ€™t put pressure on lazio for the whole 45 minutes. The other games were also tonight and we are going to have a quick view at the half-time results. Arsenal - Inter are currently drawing with 0-0. In Juventus vs. Real Sociedad the half-time score is 1-1. Chelsea are leading with 2-0 at half-time vs. Dortmund as Mutu and Bridge scored a goal each. Half-time score in Ajax - Anderlecht is 0-0. thatâ€™s also the same score as in Dynamo Kiev vs. FC Bayern. Shevchenko putted Milan on a 1-0 lead vs. Real Madrid and in the last game between Newcastle and Man Utd the half-time score is currently 1-1. Now letâ€™s get back to Brugge â€“ Lazio.

â€œWelcome back people all the players just arrived on the pitch and as far as I can see there arenâ€™t any changes made so letâ€™s get the game underway.

Six minutes have passed and Claudio Lopez has the ball. Oh he tries a long range effort and Butina saved it without problem.â€

â€œThe second half is really boring at the moment. We are in the 68th minute and so far we have just seen one chance from Lazio. Now CÃ©sar has the ball and look and see what space he gets. He can just walk into the area!! He shoots but it went just wide. If Brugge want to pogress or want to win at least then they should be playing better then this.â€

â€œAnd now we are in the 83rd minute. Brugge are still leading but they havenâ€™t done anything good in the second half,. Not that Lazio is playing ggreat but they created at least some chances. Van der Heyden has the ball now and plays it to Ceh. He crosses the ball into the area and Lange tries to head it in but Peruzzi saves it with ease.

And there it isâ€¦ The final whistle. Brugge won this game although they didnâ€™t play great. The man of the match was Butina as he prevented Lazio from scoring more then once. I give the word back to Stefaan and I will see you guyâ€™s back in two weeks for the return in Lazio.â€

Stefaan Lambrechts: Thanks for the reportage Frank. So Brugge won the first leg as the second half didnâ€™t have much to offer. Itâ€™s a nice achievement but I donâ€™t think it will be enough to progress. We will know that in two weeks. Here are the other results of this evening.

Arsenal 0 - Inter 0

Juventus 1 - Real Sociedad 1

Chelsea 3 - Dortmund 0

Ajax 2 - Anderlecht 0

Dynamo Kiev 0 - FC Bayern 0

AC Milan 2 - Real Madrid 0

Newcastle 3 - Man Utd 1 </pre>

I would like to welcome you back in two weeks for the return leg of the Champions Cup second round. I wish you a good evening further and letâ€™s say it once more Brugge 2 - Lazio 1

Peacemaker7 · December 30, 2003

Gonna be a nail-biting second leg methinks

bjorn · December 30, 2003

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

Gonna be a nail-biting second leg methinks <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah will then we are with two who are thinking this

Thanks for your support from the start of the story

bjorn · December 30, 2003

Friday 27th February:

The 24th playday got underway with AA Gent losing at home against a great playing Germinal Beerschot with 1-2. Because of this win they toke their unbeaten record to an amazing ten games and they are currently in 3rd position. Lierse won in and against Heusden-Zolder with 0-1.

Saturday 28th February:

Today there were another four games to be finished as Anwerp and Charleroi drawed 0-0, Beveren - Genk ended one all, La LouviÃ¨re crunched Lokeren with 4-1 and Mouscron defeated Westerlo with 2-0.

Sunday 29th February:

Today our arch rivals did us a great pleasure as Cercle Brugge won with 2-0 against Sint-Truiden. So if we win our game then we can retake our first position. Mons lost at home against Anderlecht with 0-1. Because of this win they are in 4th position currently.

Also today was the English League Cup Final between Everton and Man City. It was the last one who won the cup after a a hard fought 1-2 win over â€œthe Toffeesâ€.

Brugge vs. Standard (H) 20.00

First division game 24

Attendance: 23610

Wet, 9Â°C

Team line-up (4-3-1-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

I decided to use a new tactic in the competition because of our latest bad results. The same players are used the only difference there is, is that the three midfielders are playing central and we have an attacking midfielder which is filled in by Kallstrom. The game started slowly with both teams havind a litlle chance but Mumlek for Standard and Mendoza for us both missed it. In the 31st minute Mendoza plays the ball to Lange, who was unmarked, and he volleys it into the top right corner. Two minutes later Mpenza tried to score the equaliser but Butina saved it nicely.

Half-time score: 0 - 1

Three minutes into the second half Mendoza intercepted a pass from Houtekier. He continued his run untill he reached the area before he fired his shot over the goal. In the 57th minute Mumlek tried a shot from distance but it stranded into the sidenetting. In the 74th minute Verheyen heads on Butinaâ€™s goalkick. Lange picked up his pass but his finishing was poor and so it stayed 0-1. A minute later Englebert played a long ball to Mendoza. He headed it on towards Lange, who got rid off his marker, and he finished it off in style as he curled the ball past Carini.

MoM: Lange (9)

Final score: Standard 2 â€“ Brugge 0

Scorer: Lange (2)

Assists: Mendoza (2)

Substitutions: 90th minute:

I made a double substitution as both Lange and

Mendoza came off after a great game

and they were replaced by Van de Ven and Smolders </pre>

It was a great game and I was very pleased to score more then once in the league. Because of this win we are on the first position again.

March, the return of the Champions Cup second round.

Monday 1st March:

The board and fans were still delighted with the way I was performing as a manager.

There was also the Goal of the Month award today:

1) Yaya for Beveren vs. Genk.

2) De Decker for Germinal Beerschot vs. La LouviÃ¨re.

3) Jbari for Cercle Brugge vs. Mouscron. </pre>

Then the last thing I had to do was looking at my manager profile:

Ability to handle pressure 8 same

Ambition 10 same

Loyalty 9 same

Media handling 19 same

Professionalism 12 same

Temperament 12 1 up

Reputation ok same </pre>

Saeternes also returned from injury today and he started with full training again. Because of his return I decided to use a new system in my striker substitutions. Lange and Mendoza are starting upfront and if ie. Mendoza scores in the next game and lange doesnâ€™t then Lange will be replaced by Saeternes. So actually if the striker doesnâ€™t score they will be replaced. For this system I will use Lange, Mendoza, Saeternes and Van de Ven.

Friday 5th March:

The 25th playday saw Genk vs. Standard as his first fixture. It was the home team who won the game with 2 against 1.

Saturday 6th March:

Brugge vs. Mons (H) 20.00

First division game 25

Attendance: 12611

Dry, 17Â°C

Team line-up (4-3-1-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

We had to wait until the 17th minute to see the first chance of the game. Lange played the ball towards Verheyen, who played a wonderful first time pass to Mendoza. He had all the time to control the ball before he fired it in. Six minutes later Mendoza served Lange. He headed the ball past Willockx to give us a two goal lead. In the 31st minute I saw some magnificent team play by my team but Langeâ€™s header was aimed right onto the keeper. It would have been a great goal. In the 40th minute Van der Heyden played a long ball which was headed on to Lange by Mendoza. The Norwegian striker controlled it well and then he scored a low drive to make it 3-0.

Half-time score: 3 - 0

The first chance of Mons came in the 67th minute. Joly crossed the ball into the area but Castoâ€™s header was to weak to bring Butina in danger. The second half was actually pretty boring as the next chance came in the 83rd minute. Gadiaga fired in the freekick but it went over the crossbar. And so the game ended without any chance for us in the second half.

MoM: Lange (8)

Final score: Brugge 3 â€“ Mons 0

Scorers: Mendoza, Lange (2)

Assists: Verheyen, Mendoza (2)

Anderlecht lost at home against Cercle Brugge with 0-2. Charleroi beated Mouscron with 2-0. The team who is in splendid form Germinal Beerschot trashed Beveren with 3-0 while Sint-Truiden lost with 0-1 at home against 18th placed Heusden-Zolder. The last game tonight ended in a 1-0 win for Westerlo against La LouviÃ¨re.

Sunday 7th March:

The last games were finished today. Lierse won with 4-2 against Antwerp while Lokeren and AA Gent ended one all. Here is a league table after 25 games:

Holders - Club Brugge

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D.| Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | | Club Brugge | | 25 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 27 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 16 | 8 | +30 | 57 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Sint-Truiden | | 25 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 21 | 16 | +19 | 52 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Germinal Beerschot | | 25 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 27 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 15 | +18 | 48 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Mouscron | | 25 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 21 | +14 | 45 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Anderlecht | | 25 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 21 | +13 | 45 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Genk | | 25 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 22 | 19 | +18 | 43 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Standard | | 25 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 14 | +6 | 40 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Westerlo | | 25 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 19 | 20 | +12 | 36 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Cercle Brugge | | 25 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 27 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 25 | 0 | 34 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th| | Lierse | | 25 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 29 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 24 | +2 | 32 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th| | Charleroi | | 25 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 20 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 16 | -2 | 31 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th| | La LouviÃ¨re | | 25 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 27 | -4 | 28 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th| | AA Gent | | 25 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 20 | -8 | 27 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th| | Lokeren | | 25 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 27 | -13 | 26 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th| | Antwerp | | 25 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 21 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 15 | 35 | -27 | 24 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th| | Beveren | | 25 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 17 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 28 | -23 | 23 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th| | Mons | | 25 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 26 | -27 | 17 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th| | Heusden | | 25 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 32 | -28 | 17 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

</pre>

[This message was edited by Peacemaker7 on 30 December 2003 at 13:56.]

bjorn · December 30, 2003

Tuesday 9th March:

Today I spent most of my day searching players who were intrested in joining my club. I decided to make an offer on Betisâ€™ Gaston Angel Casas. I send them an email to ask them if they would accept my offer of â‚¬1.5M for their unsettled striker. I also mailed Valencia to ask them if â‚¬4M is enough for John Carew. I decided that I wanted only one of them so I would see who was intrested to sign for us.

Wednesday 10th March:

Brugge vs. Lazio (A) 19.45

Champions Cup second round second leg (agg 1-2 for Brugge)

Dry, 16Â°C

Stefaan Lambrechts: Welcome viewers. Tonight the last 8 teams will be decided to play in the Champions Cup Quarter Final. Brugge can progress but it will be very hard. If they can score once then anything is possible but we can expect a fierce Lazio tonight. Letâ€™s go to Frank Raes for a live reportage on the game.

â€œA very good evening to everyone. Iâ€™m sitting here in a nice studio in Olimpico, Rome. And the stadion is filled with 46796 footballfans. Like Stefaan said, Brugge can progress but it will be very hard as Mancini told the press that they wouldnâ€™t lose at home. Letâ€™s have a look at the starting line-ups then. Brugge are playing with their new 4-3-1-2 tactic. Butina is in goal and in defence we have Maertens, De Cock, Clement and Van der Heyden. You should now the midfielders by now. Verheyen, Englebert and Ceh and in front of them we have Kallstrom. Lange and Mendoza are starting upfront. Now letâ€™s have a look at Lazio. Between the sticks we have Peruzzi and the defenders are Oddo, Stam, Mihajlovic and Zauri. The four midfielders are Conceicao, Albertini, Giannichedda and CÃ©sar and in the attack we have Corradi and Inzaghi.â€

â€œThe man who will try to run everything well tonight is Steve Bennett and he starts the game right now.

Five minutes have passed and Zauri has the ball. He passes to Inzaghi and he is taking the ball into the box. He drove it towards goal with his right foot!! But Butina saves it nicely. Itâ€™s a warning by Lazio.â€

â€œSo far we have seen twelve minutes of football and as expected Brugge canâ€™t make a fist. CÃ©sar has the ball on the left wing. He swings it into the areaâ€¦ Inzaghi is there. Will he finish it off? Yes he does. Lazio have taken the lead after 12 minutes of football. Butina canâ€™t be blaimed as Inzaghiâ€™s shot had both class and power.â€

â€œTen minutes have passed since the goal and still Brugge canâ€™t do anything. CÃ©sar has the ball and he dribbles past De Cock. He still continues with his run. And now he shoots. Oh that was very close the ball skimmed the top of the bar.

So far there are 28 minutes gone and Lazio have a freekick in a dangerous position. Mihajlovic is waiting behind the ball. Bruggeâ€™s wall is on the right distance. He shoots. What a magnificent goal by Mihajlovic. You canâ€™t blaim anyone as you know when he steps up itâ€™s dangerous.â€

â€œFive minutes are left before the first half ends and Verheyen has the ball. Could this be their first chance of the game. Mendoza picks up Verheyenâ€™s and he brings the ball forward. Heâ€™s into the box now and this should be the 2-1â€¦. But it went over the bar.

And there it is the end of the first half. Lazio are leading andâ€™s it very deserved to say the least. Back to you Stefaan.â€

bjorn · December 30, 2003

Stefaan Lambrechts: Well as expected Brugge are blown away. Itâ€™s only 2-0 so far but it could be much more. But still we have a chance. If we can bring a nice second half then maybe we could progress. Weâ€™ll see. Letâ€™s have a look at the other games this evening. Anderlecht - Ajax is one all at the moment while Chelsea have taken the lead in Dortmund thanks to a Crespo goal. FC Bayern vs. Dynamo Kiev is 0-0 at the moment. Inter and Arsenal have both scored once in the first half and Man Utd and Newcastle have done the same so far. Real Madrid and AC Milan havenâ€™t scored so far and in the last game between Real Sociedad and Juventus the half-time score is 0-1 as Di Vaio converted a penalty in the 11th minute. Letâ€™s return to Rome for the second half of Lazio â€“ Brugge.

â€œWelcome back everyone. Stefaan youâ€™re right we have still a chance to progress but then the second half should be ten times better then the first 45 minutes. Both teams started with the same 11 players so letâ€™s look what Brugge can do in this half.â€

â€œWe are in the 62nd minute now and CÃ©sar has the ball on the left wing. Heâ€™s a constant threat this evening and let us hope he doesnâ€™t score. He passes to Oddo, who holds the ball up for a minute before he swings it into the area. CÃ©sar!! Oh his header went inches wide and I think this will be the same 45 minutes like the first ones. Lazio who are looking for more while Brugge canâ€™t do a thing.â€

â€œFourteen minutes have passed in the second half and Kallstrom has the ball in midfield. He plays it up to Englebert. He tries a distance shot which is sailing over the bar. He shouldâ€™ve passed to Lange.

Three minutes later and Brugge have the ball again. Maybe itâ€™s possible after all. Verheyen chips the ball into the area. Lange with the volley!! What a save by Peruzzi. He did very well to get his fingertips onto that ball and the fans of Brugge who travelled to here were all jumping as they thought they scored.â€

â€œFour minutes are left before the game ends. Brugge had some little chances as Lazio didnâ€™t attacked anymore. But now they have another freekick in a dangerous position and again itâ€™s Mihajlovic who steps upâ€¦. And once again itâ€™s gone in. Another superb freekick by Mihajlovic. And now itâ€™s game over for Brugge as they need to score twice in the last four minutes.

You see I just told you and there it is the final whistle. Brugge are out of the champions league but they shouldnâ€™t be ashamed about their campagne. The man of the match tonight was without a doubt Mihajlovic for his splendid defensive work and for his two amazing goals. I give the word back to you Stefaan and Iâ€™ll see you guyâ€™s back next year hopefully. Good night.â€

Stefaan Lambrechts: So like everyone expected Brugge are out of the champions league but it isnâ€™t a shame as they did very well this year. Tommorow we will have an interview with BjÃ¶rn Noppe and now Iâ€™d like to finish with showing you the teams that progressed to the next round. Good night and see you back next time.

Ajax are progressing despite Anderlecht (5 - 1)

Chelsea are progressing despite Dortmund (6 - 0)

FC Bayern are progressing despite Dinamo Kiev (2 - 1)

Inter are progressing despite Arsenal (3 - 1)

Lazio are progressing despite Brugge (4 - 2)

Newcastle are progressing despite Man Utd (4 - 2)

Milan are progressing despite Real Madrid (2 - 0)

Juventus are progressing despute Real Sociedad (3 - 1)

</pre>

Lazio 3 - Brugge 0

bjorn · December 31, 2003

A small interview with BjÃ¶rn Noppe!

Reporter: Hello BjÃ¶rn can I ask you some questions about your Champions Cup campagne?

BjÃ¶rn: Sure, fire away.

Reporter: Well how do you feel after this two games with Lazio?

BjÃ¶rn: Well Iâ€™m very pleased. We canâ€™t say that we have been blown away. We won our home game and we knew that the game in Lazio would be very tough. Iâ€™m very proud about the way we played, surely if you saw that we were in a minor â€œcrisisâ€ before our Lazio game but now we are back on track I think.

Reporter: And how do you feel about the full campagne?

BjÃ¶rn: Iâ€™m very pleased with the way we played in the Champions Cup. The one game that will stay in my mind is the 1-1 draw in San Siro against AC Milan, but overall the campagne was a great succes and I hope we can do the same or even better next year.

Reporter: Last question, which player made the biggest impact on you during the campagne?

BjÃ¶rn: You canâ€™t expect that I will say a name. The whole team made a great impression on me and I can only hope that they will impress me even more in the future.

Friday 12th March:

I received an email today from Betis telling me that they accepted my offer and that we can start with negotiating a contract with Casas. He didnâ€™t seem very enthousiastic to join our club but I said him to consider our contract offer.

Also today there was one game planned for the competition as Standard drew level against visitors, Germinal Beerschot, with 1-1.

Saturday 13th March:

I received a phonecall today from Valencia and they told me that they accepted my offer on their striker John Carew. I offered him the most I could to get him to sign for my club as he would be a great addition to the squad.

My assistant manager also gave me the results of todayâ€™s games:

Antwerp 2 - Sint-Truiden 3

Beveren 3 - Lokeren 0

Heusden-Zolder 2 - Anderlecht 0

La LouviÃ¨re 1 - AA Gent 1

Mons 0 - Genk 2

Mouscron 1 - Lierse 1

Westerlo 0 - Charleroi 2 </pre>

Sunday 14th March:

Brugge vs. Cercle Brugge (A) 15.00

First division game 26

Attendance:

Wet, 8Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, Maertens, Van der Heyden, De Cock, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

Arijs had the 1-0 at his feet in the 9th minute but a crucial save by Butina prevented him from scoring. In the 18th minute Snoeckx had a nice chance for Cercle but once again it was Butina who kept his nets clean. In the 28th minute we had our first chance of the game but Mendozaâ€™s header was to weak to bring Begeyn in danger. Nine minutes after that Jbari played the ball to De Meester who gave his team the lead with a vicious shot into the top corner. Just before the end of the first half Mendoza headed the ball to Lange, who used his feet well to turn on the ball, before he brought the scores back level again.

Half-time score: 1 - 1

We had to wait a while in the second half to see the first chance. In the 68th minute Van der Heyden tried a shot from distance but it splashed onto the crossbar. Seven minutes later Verheyen swung the ball in from the right. Mendoza jumped higher then Wuytens and he headed the ball into the back of the net. Cercle Brugge had one last chance in the 87th minute as Jbari was one-on-one with the keeper but his shot went over the bar.

MoM: Mendoza (9)

Final score: Cercle Brugge 1 â€“ Brugge 2

Scorers: Lange, Mendoza

Assists: Mendoza, Verheyen

After the game I was informed that Maertens was banned for one game after picking up three yellow cards.

Monday 15th March:

John Carewâ€™s agent called us to tell us that he isnâ€™t intrested to sign for our club. So I will try my best to sign Casas.

Wednesday 17th March:

Valencia have won the Spanish Cup today as they beated Deportivo with 4-2. Depor could have done better but they missed a lot of chances.

Saturday 20th March:

Brugge vs. Heusden-Zolder (H) 20.00

First division game 27th

Attendance: 9906

Dry, 11Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

I decided to play De Cock on the right wing while Rozehnal would play in central defence. In the 12th minute we got our first goal of the game as Englebert passes to Kallstrom. He entred the area and then he fired the ball in off the post to give us the lead. In the 22nd minute Brunoâ€™s shot stranded on the post before it was cleared by De Cock. Four minutes later Kallstrom swung a corner into the area. Mendoza headed it towards goal but it was fisted away by Bailly. The loose ball was picked up by Verheyen, who was left a simple finish. In the 34th minute Bersnjak pulls one back for Heusden-Zolder.

Half-time score: 2 - 1

In the 57th minute Mendoza had a great chance to score but his header stranded into the hands of the keeper. Bruno had a great chance to bring the score back level again but Butina made sure we still had the lead in the 65th minute. In the 80th minute Mendoza played a one-two with Lange before his shot went inches wide. In the 90th minute Mendoza had another chance to score but once again he missed it.

MoM: Bailly (9)

Final score: Brugge 2 â€“ Heusden-Zolder 1

Scorers: Kallstrom, Verheyen

Assists: Englebert, Mendoza

Substitution: 60th minute: Englebert was replaced by Stoica </pre>

Van der Heyden will miss the next game as he picked up his third yellow card against Heusden-Zolder.

Anderlecht won with 2-0 against Antwerp. La LouviÃ¨re lost in and against Charleroi with 2-1 while Genk beated Cercle Brugge with 2-0. Germinal Beerschot continued their nice run with a 3-1 win against Mons and Lierse lost with 0-2 at home against Westerlo. The last game today ended in a 0-0 draw as neither Sint-Truiden or Mouscron could score.

Sunday 21st March:

AA Gent won with the most little difference against Beveren as ZÃ©zÃ©to scored the only goal of the game while Lokeren won at home against Standard with 2-1.

Casas called me personnaly to let me know that he agreed with our contract offer and that he would join us on Thursday 1st July 2004.

bjorn · January 1, 2004

Wednesday 24th March:

I decided today to make an offer on a player on who Iâ€™m keeping an eye on for quite a while. Heâ€™s only 21 but heâ€™s looking as a very promising player. His name is Carlos Diogo from River Plate (URU). I offered them â‚¬2.5M over 12 months.

Friday 26th March:

River Plate callem me today to let me know that they accepted my offer and that we can start negotiating a contract.

Monday 29th March:

I received some good news today as Carlos Diogo accepted our contract offer and he would join us the same day as Casas.

Thursday 1st April:

The board and fans are still delighted with the way Iâ€™m running the club.

As always thereâ€™s also the Goal of the Month:

1) Snelders for Germinal Beerschot vs. Standard

2) Smits for Antwerp vs. Lierse

3) ArsÃ¨ne for Beveren vs. Lokeren </pre>

Then I looked as ussualy at my manager profile:

Ability to handle pressure 8 same

Ambition 10 same

Loyalty 9 same

Media handling 19 same

Professionalism 12 same

Temperament 12 same

Reputation ok same </pre>

Friday 2nd April:

The 28th playday started today as Heusden-Zolder won with 2-0 against Genk. Because of this win they have one point less then 16th placed Antwerp.

Saturday 3rd April:

Brugge vs. Antwerp (A) 20.00

First division game 28

Attendance: 8445

Dry, 15Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Saeternes, Smolders

Lange and Mendoza havenâ€™t scored in their last game and so they are replaced by Saeternes and Smolders. In the 4th minute Saeternes had a big chance but he blew it over the bar. In the 22nd minute Sergeant tried a shot from just outside the area but he couldnâ€™t keep it down. Five minutes later Butina makes a big mistake and Gomez toke profit of it by scoring the 1-0. From then on they started to defend like I expected.

Half-time score: 1 - 0

Two minutes into the second half Maertens plays a long ball to Smolders and he headed it on for Englebert. He controlled the ball well before he slotted it home to make things level again. On the 70th minute mark Smolders played a fine ball for Englebert but this time he couldnâ€™t finish it off. Three minutes later Kallstrom heads the ball to Gvozdenovic, who dribbled past his marker, before he sended the ball into the area. Kallstrom took the ball on his chest and then he smashed the ball past the keeper to give us the lead. From then on Antwerp were stunned and the game slowly ended.

MoM: Englebert (9)

Final score: Antwerp 1 â€“ Brugge 2

Scorers: Englebert, Kallstrom

Assists: Smolders, Gvozdenovic

Substitution: 64th minute: Ceh, who wasnâ€™t playing his best game, was replaced by Martens. </pre>

La LouviÃ¨re easily won with 3-0 against Beveren while Lokeren won in and against Mons with 2-3. Mouscron lost at home against Anderlecht and Sint-Truiden did what they needed to do as they won in Westerlo with 0-2.

Sunday 4th April:

Cercle Brugge were the first team in 13 games that gave Germinal Beerschot a defeat. The home team won with 1-0. The other game ended in a 1-1 draw as Charleroi welcomed Lierse to their stadion. And the last game ended in a win for the home team as Standard trashed AA Gent with 3-0.

Saturday 10th April:

Brugge vs. Mouscron (H) 20.00

First division game 29

Attendance: 16975

Dry, 8Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Van de Ven

We had to wait until the 25th minute to see the first chance of the game. Verheyen headed the ball towards Lange, who tried a volley. His shot came back off the crossbar. In the 33rd minute Martic tried a volley but his attempt was saved by Butina. Van de Ven has the last chance of the first half in the 42nd minute. He tried a shot from just inside the area but it went over.

Half-time score:

In the 54th minute we were awarded a freekick. Ceh putted the ball into the area. Delbeeke pushed Lange in the area and the referee pointed at the spot. Ceh stepped up an kept his nerves as he gave us the lead from the spot. Seven minutes later we had another freekick from 30 yards. Ceh had a go from the freekick and it went in. It was a lovely freekick. In the 80th minute Mbo Mpenza was one-on-one with Butina but he blazed the ball over the target. Three minutes before the end of the game Mpenza tried a header but it was saved easily by Butina.

MoM: Ceh (9)

Final score: Brugge 2 â€“ Mouscron 0

Scorer: Ceh(pen) (2)

Assists: Lange, Van de Ven

Also today Anderlecht won against Westerlo with 1-0 and Germinal Beerschot walked over Heusden-Zolder with a 3-1 win.

Sunday 11th April:

Today it was official that Valencia would look for a new manager as Rafa Benitez was thanked for his services.

I didnâ€™t understood it as yesterdayâ€™s games were the only ones of this week. It was strange but the FA would have a valuable explaniation for it.

bjorn · January 1, 2004

Wednesday 14th April:

Today there were four games of the 29th playday to be finished. AA Gent won their game against Mons with 1-0 while Beveren and Standard ended in a 0-0 draw. Genk-Antwerp also drawed with 1-1 and Lierse won with 2-1 against La LouviÃ¨re.

Friday 16th April:

There were two games today. I canâ€™t say of which playday theyâ€™re because some teams played 29 games while otherâ€™s only played 28. Charleroi lost at home with 0-1 against Anderlecht and the other game ended in a 2-2draw between Heusden-Zolder and Lokeren.

Saturday 17th April:

Brugge vs. Westerlo (A) 20.00

First division game 30

Attendance: 10099

Dry, 8Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Saeternes, Mendoza

The first real chance of the game came in the 16th minute when De Cock putted the ball into the area. Mendoza was there and he putted his head against the ball. The ball skimmed the top of the bar. Two minutes later Dosunmu chipped the ball over Butina to give the home team the lead. In the 37th minute Englebert tried a weak distance shot. Six minutes later Van der Heyden played a great cross towards Verheyen, who headed the ball across the goal. The ball took a little deflection of Ba before it hitted the back of the net.

Half-time score: 1 - 1

In the 50th minute Stoica layed the ball back for Englebert. He fired a canon shot at goal and Deelkens was unable to keep it out of goal. In the 71th minute Paas headed the ball towards goal. I thought the ball was going in but a brilliant save by Verlinden prevented him from scoring. In the 78th minute Kallstrom fired in a freekick which was fisted away by Deelkens. The ball fell to Saeternes but his shot was to weak. Mendoza had another great chance in injury time but he didnâ€™t found it neccesary to score.

MoM: Verlinden (9)

Final score: Westerlo 1 â€“ Brugge 2

Scorers: Verheyen, Englebert

Assists: Van der Heyden, Stoica

Substitutions: 45th minute: Butina came off, with a little knock, to be replaced by Verlinden

Ceh also picked up a little knock and he was replaced by Stoica </pre>

Lierse did me a great pleasure by beating Sint-Truiden with 3-2. Beveren won in and against Mons with 0-2.

Sunday 18th April:

Antwerp managed to get a draw at home against Germinal Beerschot as the game ended one all. Cercle Brugge lost at home against AA Gent with 0-2. Mouscron won their home game against Genk as they scored two times while their visitors only score once. Standard took the three points home as they won in La LouviÃ¨re with 2-3.

Tuesday 20th April:

Irureta was very happy today as he was appointed as the new manager of Valencia. A while ago he was sacked by Deportivo.

Wednesday 21st April:

Lokeren managed to win at home against Cercle Brugge. We were crowned as champions today because of Sint-Truidenâ€™s 1-3 loss at home against Charleroi. I would have been happier if we took the tittle because of our own results instead of a loss from our followers but still Iâ€™m verry happy with this achievement.

Sunday 25th April:

Germinal Beerschot and Mouscron both scored once so the game ended in a draw.

Wednesday 28th April:

Brugge vs. Charleroi (H) 20.00

First division game 31

Attendance: 19610

Wet, 9Â°C

Team line-up (4-4-2): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Smolders

I surely hope we win this game so that the party after the game is even bigger. The first chance came in the 9th minute when Kallstromâ€™s distance shot went just wide. Then the game tempo dropped a bit but in the 30th minute we could have taken the lead but Lange was to selfish to cross an instead he tried a distance shot which went way over the bar. Our visitors almost took the lead in the injury time as Di Gregorioâ€™s header was just tipped away by Butina.

Half-time score: 0 - 0

The second half was one of the most boring ones I ever saw as the first chance came in the injury time, but Kallstromâ€™s effort was saved by Laquait.

MoM: Laquait (8)

Final score: Brugge 0 â€“ Charleroi 0

This game showed how we played the last weeks. We just canâ€™t convince anyone we are the champions. We are rellay playing weak and I will try my best to find a good tactic four our last three games.

Genk won with 3-1 against Westerlo while Antwerp did a good job in their battle against relegation as they won with 0-2 in Lokeren. Standard easily took distance from Mons in a 2-0 home win. Because of this loss theyâ€™re certain of relegation from the first division.

Friday 30th April:

Heusden-Zolder won at home against Beveren with 2-1 while Anderlecht won with 1-2 in and against Sint-Truiden.

Peacemaker7 · January 3, 2004

Excellent. Well done on the title, even if it was by default Hopefully next year you can reach the QF's of the CL

bjorn · January 3, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

Excellent. Well done on the title, even if it was by default Hopefully next year you can reach the QF's of the CL <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thx my only reader/replyer

I hope so to

bjorn · January 4, 2004

May, the final month of the football season!

Saturday 1st May:

The board and fans are delighted with the way Iâ€™m doing my job and the board is also happy because of our tittle in the first division.

Then we had the Goal of the Month:

1) Van Zundert for Germinal Beerschot vs. Heusden-Zolder

2) Habets for Antwerp vs. Lokeren

3) Igor for Heusden-Zolder vs. Lokeren. </pre>

Then I had only one more thing to do today, watching my profile:

Ability to handle pressure 8 same

Ambition 10 same

Loyalty 9 same

Media handling 19 same

Professionalism 13 1 up

Temperament 12 same

Reputation ok same</pre>

Antwerp lost at home with 1-2 against AA Gent while La LouviÃ¨re and Mons both scored once in their game. That was also the same result in Mouscron - Lokeren and the last game today between Westerlo and Germinal Beerschot ended 0-2.

Sunday 2nd May:

Cercle Brugge defeated Standard at home with 1-0 while Charleroi easily won their home game against Genk with 3-0.

Brugge vs. Lierse (A) 20.00

First division game 32

Attendance: 10906

Dry, 11Â°C

Team line-up (4-3-3): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

I decided to try a 4-3-3 tactic with Mendoza on the left, Kallstrom as central and Lange as right side forward. The first real chance came in the 7th minute. Englebert tried a shot from just outside the area but Van der Straeten parried it. Nine minutes later Mitu aimed for the top corner but his shot stranded in the side netting. In the 36th minute De Wilde had a good chance but his shot was tipped away by Butina.

Half-time score: 0 - 0

From the kick-off we had a nice action. Ceh played the ball up to Mendoza, who now had the ball on the left wing. He played a cross to the far post and Lange was there to put his head against the ball. But it just went over the bar. In the 56th minute Delorge had a nice chance for Lierse but Butina saved it nicely. Thirteen minutes later Englebert had the ball just behind our striker line. He played the ball up to Mendoza. He moved in on goal and scored. Nine minutes before the end of the game Lange almost doubled our lead with a fine header but it was saaved by the keeper. Two minutes later Kallstrom plays a nice trough ball for Lange. He picks up the pass and fires it in low across the body of the keeper. It was the last chance of the game but I was very happy with the way we played here.

MoM: Mendoza (9)

Final score: Lierse 0 â€“ Brugge 2

Scorers: Mendoza, Lange

Assists: Englebert, Kallstrom

Wednesday 5th May:

There were four games on the programme today as AA Gent and Heusden-Zolder played 2-2 while Anderlecht lost at home against Lierse with 1-2. Beveren vs. Cercle Brugge ended on three all and the last game today ended in a 2-0 victory for Sint-Truiden over La LouviÃ¨re.

Saturday 8th May:

Brugge vs. Sint-Truiden (H) 20.00

First division game 33

Attendance: 15973

Dry, 11Â°C

Team line-up (4-3-3): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Rozehnal, Clement©, Verheyen, Ceh, Kallstrom, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

I decided to stick with the same team that won against Lierse. The gameâ€™s first chance was in the 11th minute. A freekick attempt from Ceh was saved by Belic. Four minutes later Mendoza had the ball on the left wing. Verheyen entred the area, where he controlled the ball, before he slotted it home to give us the lead. In the 29th minute Janssen almost equalised but his shot hit the upright. In the 33rd minute Van der Heyden crossed the ball into the area. Englebertâ€™s

Header was pushed away by Belic. The ball fell to Mendoza who made it 2-0. Six minutes later Kallstrom tried a shot from distance but his attempt went inches wide.

Half-time score: 2 â€“ 0

Two minutes into the second half Boffin played a nice ball for Oliveira. He made himself some space before he blasted the ball past Butina. In the 66th minute Ceh chipped the ball into the area where Mendoza powered a header at goal but Belic saved it. The last chance in the game was for us. Kallstrom entred the area with the ball and then he tried a shot for the top corner. Again it was Belic who prevented us from scoring more.

MoM: Belic (9)

Final score: Brugge 2 â€“ Sint-Truiden 1

Scorers: Verheyen, Mendoza

Assists: Mendoza, Englebert

All the other teams also had to play this evening. AA Gent - Mouscron ended 1-2 while Anderlecht walked over La LouviÃ¨re with a convincing 4-0 win. Beveren lost with 1-2 at home against Antwerp. Genk and Lierse both scored 3 times in a game that ended level while both Germinal Beerschot and Charleroi didnâ€™t found the way to the goal. Lokeren - Westerlo ended one all and Mons managed to win at home against Cercle Brugge with 3-2. Heusden-Zolder lost in and against Standard with 3-1.

If Iâ€™m correct then today weâ€™ve got the first sack in our highest national league as Olde Riekerink was sacked by AA Gent.

Saturday 15th May:

Inter Milan have won the Italian Cup today as they defeated Juventus with 3-1 over two legs. Inter manager, Alberto Zaccheroni, was very happy with this win as this will is going to be the only silverware they will win this season.

Brugge vs. Anderlecht (A) 20.00

First division game 34

Attendance: 26333

Dry, 9Â°C

Team line-up (4-3-3): Butina, De Cock, Van der Heyden, Spilar, Clement©, Stoica, Ceh, Serebrennikov, Englebert, Lange, Mendoza

What a nice way to end the season if you can play against your biggest rival on the last day of the competition. I knew that we already won the league but I asked my players to give 110% of themselves in this game as I didnâ€™t want to lose my last game this season and certainly not against them. I also decided to use some players I want to sell during the pre-season. The first chance of the game came in the second minute when Ceh played a lovely ball for Mendoza. He entred the area with the ball before he fired it into the top corner and we were leading after 120 seconds. In the 15th minute Baseggio tried a long distance shot but Butina saved it in style. Nine minutes later we saw the last chance of the first half and again it was Baseggio who tried his luck from distance but once again it was Butina who saved it.

Half-time score: 0 â€“ 1

The first 15 minutes of the second half were controlled by Anderlecht but all those who had the chance to score were denied by Butina. He was playing an outstanding game today. But in the 59th minute he was defeated as Zetterbergâ€™s nice cross was headed in by Seol. Anderlecht pushed for more after that goal, but the first chance was for us as Englebertâ€™s header went just over the goal. Four minutes before the end of the game Sels has a big chance but he didnâ€™t finish it. And so we ended the season with a draw.

MoM: Butina (9)

Final score: Anderlecht 1 â€“ Brugge 1

Scorer: Mendoza

Assist: Ceh

All the other games were also finished today. Antwerp Lost at home with 0-1 against Standard while Cercle Brugge easily won against La LouviÃ¨re with 3-0. Lokeren won in and against Charleroi with 0-1 and Heusden-Zolder trashed Mons with 4-1. Lierse defeated Germinal Beerschot with 2-1 while Mouscron won at home against Beveren with 2-0. The last game ended in a win for the home team as Westerlo won with 2-1 against AA Gent. Both Heusden-Zolder and Antwerp have 31 points which means they will have to play play-offâ€™s to see who will stay and who will relegate.

bjorn · January 4, 2004

Cup winners:

Genk won the Belgian Cup thanks to a Kpaka goal and a penalty goal from Thijs. Sint-Truiden were left with nothing.

The Uefa Cup final between Roma and Liverpool was decided with penaltyâ€™s. And it were the players from the Premier League who did the best job as they scored four out of four while the Roma players scored three out of five. Liverpool deserved the win as they controlled the game most of the time. The final score after the original time of play was 1-1.

Man Utd have won the English FA Cup after a convincing 4-1 win over Newcaslte.

The Champions Cup was won by Lazio this season as they kept their nerves in the penalty shoot-out. Juventus scored three out of six penaltyâ€™s while Lazio scored four out of six. The final score in the regular time was one all.

League reviews from Italy, Spain and England:

And we are starting with England. The Premiership was won by Chelsea this season. They earned 87 points which is the same as Man Utd, who ended second, but their goaldifference was better. The teams who couldnâ€™t stay up were Fulham, Man City and Charlton. The Top Goalscorer was Chelseaâ€™s Crespo with 24 goals.

The Serie A was won by Juventus this season. Juve had 3 points more then second placed Lazio. Three teams were relegated here and these were Empoli, Ancona and Siena. Shevchenkoâ€™s 20 goals were enough to be crowned as Serie A Top Goalscorer.

And last but not least was La Liga in Spain. As everyone expected the stars of Real Madrid won La Liga. They had 7 points more the Sociedad who ended surprisingly in second position. Again three teams were relegated as Albacete, Valladolid and Racing Santander didnâ€™t have enough points to stay up. Deportivoâ€™s Diego Tristan scored most this season in the Spanish League as he found the way to the net 22 times this season.

Belgian Awards:

Belgian Professional Player of the Year:

Andres Mendoza of Club Brugge wame in first and he was followed by Standardâ€™s Emile Mpenza. Third position was given to Marcin Zewlakow who plays for Mouscron.

Belgian First Division Goalkeeper of the Year:

Zvonko Milojevic finished first and on the second step was Bart Deelkens who is trying to get clean sheets at Westerlo. In third position was Charleroiâ€™s Bertrand Laquait.

Belgian Manager of the Year:

As everyone expected BjÃ¶rn Noppe ended in first position and he was followed by Sef Vergoossen who won the Belgian Cup and ended in 7th position with Genk. In third position we had Jacky Mathijssen who is managing Sint-Truiden.

Belgian Young Player of the Year:

Zoundi who is playing for Lokeren ended first followed by Westerloâ€™s Dosunmu. Ending third was Dati of Standard.

Belgian Ebony Boot:

This is the trophy for the best African player in the Belgian Competition. In first position we had Olufade from Charleroi. And he ended before Machethe of AA Gent. They were followed by Beloufa from Mouscron.

Belgian Man of the Season:

Oliveira of Sint-Truiden won this award and he ended before BjÃ¶rn De Wilde from Lierse and Pieroni of Mouscron.

Belgian First Division Goal of the Season:

This award was won by Bart Van Zundert from Germinal Beerschot. The second best goal of the Season came from Thijs who is playing with Genk and the third best goal came from Beverenâ€™s Yapi Yapo.

Belgian Golden Boot:

Zokora from Genk came in as first and he was followed by Belic who is playing in Sint-Truiden. And it seems that there isnâ€™t a third player in the row.

Belgian First Division Revelation of the Year:

Nicky Hayen from Sint-Truiden ended first and he was followed by Kpaka of Genk.

Belgian Player of the Year:

Again it was Sint-Truiden who ended first as Kalisa was the winner. Thijs of Genk came in as second.

Belgian Rookie of the Year:

Vangeel won this award for his club, Sint-Truiden and in second position was Sigurdsson of Genk. It seems like the awards go only to the teams that played the final in the Belgian Cup.

Belgian First Division Top Goalscorer:

Anderlechtâ€™s Seol finished first with 21 goals and he was closely followed by Club Bruggeâ€™s Andres Mendoza as he scored 20 times. Emile Mpenza ended third as he scored 17 goals this season for Standard.

Belgian First Division Goalkeeper of the Season:

Very strange as there is only one name on the list and this is Davy Schollen who is playing for, again, Genk.

And here is the final league table of the Belgian Competition:

Holders - Club Brugge

| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D.| Pts |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 1st | C | Club Brugge | | 34 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 25 | 12 | +39 | 80 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 2nd | | Anderlecht | | 34 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 35 | 12 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 24 | +21 | 64 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 3rd | | Sint-Truiden | | 34 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 30 | 18 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 29 | 23 | +18 | 62 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 4th | | Germinal Beerschot | | 34 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 34 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 21 | 20 | +22 | 61 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 5th | | Mouscron | | 34 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 25 | +14 | 58 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 6th | | Genk | | 34 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 31 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 26 | 26 | +19 | 57 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 7th | | Standard | | 34 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 30 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 17 | 19 | +13 | 57 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 8th | | Lierse | | 34 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 36 | 24 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 20 | 30 | +2 | 47 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 9th | | Charleroi | | 34 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 26 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 17 | +4 | 46 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 10th| | Cercle Brugge | | 34 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 33 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 35 | -3 | 44 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 11th| | Westerlo | | 34 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 28 | 21 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 23 | 25 | +5 | 43 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 12th| | AA Gent | | 34 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 16 | 27 | -8 | 41 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 13th| | Lokeren | | 34 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 27 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 15 | 35 | -13 | 41 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 14th| | La LouviÃ¨re | | 34 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 26 | 15 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 40 | -13 | 33 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 15th| | Antwerp | | 34 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 19 | 30 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 39 | -30 | 32 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 16th| | Beveren | | 34 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 26 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 12 | 36 | -26 | 31 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 17th| R | Heusden | | 34 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 28 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 13 | 42 | -25 | 31 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| 18th| R | Mons | | 34 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 16 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 37 | -39 | 21 |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |

| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>

As you can see Heusden-Zolder and Mons couldn't prevent themself from being relegated and they will have to play division two football next year. The two teams that are coming up are Oostende and Roeselare.

bjorn · January 7, 2004

Pre-season:

Nothing very big happened during the pre-season. Normally I would have given you a detailed review about it but because of a stupid mistake by myself I lost all of it. There were some new managers appointed over the whole world and there were some transfers made. The club who brought in the most players were Valencia as they bought Filippo Inzaghi and Vieri. For that last one they spended â‚¬42M. The board also expanded my training facilties and they installed undersoil heating in the stadium. They expect me to win the first division again this season. That are about the most important things that happened. But once again sorry for the little review.

I will now give a squad review of my club:

Goalkeepers:

Tomislav Butina, Croatian (9 caps), 30y: Butina played a terrific season last season. He was one of the reason of our succes. And this year he is once again the undesputed number one for the position between the sticks. He managed to 25 clean sheets last season, and I hope he does the same or evne better this season.

Last season stats: 47 apps, 33 con, 25 cln, 10 MoM, 7.21 avg. r.

Stijn Stijnen, Belgian, 23y: Stijn Stijnen was promoted from the reserve squad during the pre-season because of Verlindenâ€™s retirement. He will only play if Butina fails or if heâ€™s injured. He didnâ€™t play under my management and maybe he wonâ€™t play again this season.

Last season stats: none

Defenders:

Philippe Clement, Belgian (24 caps/1 goal), 30y: Philippe Clement played every game he could last season and he did a great job. With an average rating of 2 tackles a game he was one of the best defenders in the Belgian First Division. This season he will play on the same position as last year, in central defence.

Last season stats: 46 (1) apps, 0 gls, 0 ass, 0 MoM, 6.74 avg. r.

Olivier De Cock, Belgian (9 caps), 28y: Just like his partner in central defence, Do Cock, did a great job last season. He was one of the reason that Butina got so many clean sheets. De Cock is playing his life long with Club Brugge and he said that he wants to stay here until he retires. I hope to see an even better De Cock next season.

Last season stats: 46 apps, 0 gls, 4 ass, 0 MoM, 6.52 avg. r.

Peter Van der Heyden, Belgian (15 caps/1 goal), 28y: Our number one choice on the left wing last season and also this season as he delivered fine work. He made an average 3 tackles a game last season and he ran a great amout of km on that left wing. So letâ€™s hope he can do the same this season.

Last season stats: 42 apps, 0 gls, 3 ass, 0 MoM, 7.00 avg. r.

Ivan Gvozdenovic, Serbia and Montenegro (1cap), 25y: Last season he played on different positions as he doesnâ€™t have a first team option. He played on the left wing in defence and in midfield. Heâ€™s a nice guy but isnâ€™t as good as Van der Heyden.

Last season stats: 10 (5) apps, 0 gls, 1 ass, 0 MoM, 6.67 avg. r.

Birger Maertens, Belgian, 24y: He got a first team position from the moment that Simons moved to Deportivo and he did a nice job to replace him. But this season heâ€™s moving to the bench again as I will use Diogo on the right hand side of the defence. He made 4.40 tackels a game average last season which is really good, but he has the time top grow even better.

Last season stats: 18 (4) apps, 0 gls, 1 ass, 0 MoM, 6.68 avg. r.

Midfielders:

Gert Verheyen, Belgian (50 caps/10 goals), 33y: last year fans favourite Gert Verheyen did a great job as right winger but I expected just a little more goals from him. I donâ€™t say he played bad as everyone played very well last season. Because of his age I think this will be his last season as first choice.

Last season stats: 41 (2) apps, 7 gls, 7 ass, 3 MoM, 6.91 avg. r.

GaÃ«tan Englebert, Belgian (12 caps), 28y: He played a great season as he was the only midfieler who didnâ€™t have to take an attacking option in my 4-4-2 tactic but still he managed to get 5 goals. Letâ€™s hope that he can confirm last season by playing an even better season this year. Last season stats: 48 apps, 5 gls, 6 ass, 2 MoM, 7.10 avg. r.

Nastja Ceh, Slovenian (20 caps/4 goals), 26y: I donâ€™t know how many times he dribbled his way to the by line last season but it sure was a lot of times. Ceh is one of the best dribblers in the squad and he can also deliver a nice cross. He even picked up his goals in some matches. This season he will start on the same position as last year, the left wing.

Last season stats: 44 apps, 5 gls, 13 ass, 1 MoM, 6.80 avg. r.

Alin Stoica, Romanian (17 caps/2 goals), 24y: Alin Stoica couldnâ€™t impress me last season so it will be very hard to play some games this season. I will see how it goes and maybe I will try to sell him in december.

Last season stats: 7 (10) apps, 0 gls, 1 ass, 0 MoM, 6.88 avg. r.

Carlos Diogo, Uruguayan (4 caps), 21y: One of the new boys who arrived at the club. He will start at the right side in defence this season but it could be that he sometimes plays in midfieild. Iâ€™m expecting a lot of this player but he still has the time to grow.

Last season stats: â‚¬2,6M signing from River Plate (URU).

Kim Kallstrom, Swedish (17caps/1 goal), 21y: Kim started very well last season because he was played right behind the two strikers but in my 4-4-2 he was a little bit more invincible. But still he played well and hopefully he can score more this season. He has attracted intrest from Malaga,Espanyol and Aston Villa but I donâ€™t want to sell him unless they are willing to spend much.

Last season stats: 43 apps, 6 gls, 5 ass, 1 MoM, 6.79 avg. r.

Attackers:

Bengt Saeternes, Norwegian (1 cap), 28y: He started as my first choice striker together with Mendoza last season but because of two long term injuries he wasnâ€™t in my plans anymore. Because of Casasâ€™ arrival it could be that Iâ€™ll sell him.

Last season stats: 15 apps, 5 gls, 2 ass, 1 MoM, 6.13 avg. r.

Rune Lange, Norwegian, 27y: Because of Saeternes injuries he was choosen as Mendozaâ€™s partner upfront. He played very well but Iâ€™m not sure if he will start this season. That depends on Casasâ€™ performances. Lange isnâ€™t the man to dribble, but if thereâ€™s a cross coming in heâ€™s always very near to head it in.

Last season stats: 32 (8) apps, 19 gls, 6 ass, 3 MoM, 6.50 avg. r.

Gaston Angel Casas, Argentinian, 26y: Iâ€™m expecting very much of Casas as he has a lot of expierence. He played with Betis before he was loaned out to Racing last season, where he scored 17 times in 25 games. Letâ€™s see if he can live up to the expectations.

Last season stats: â‚¬1,5M signing from Betis.

Andres Mendoza, Peruvian (48 caps/18 goals), 26y: Last year's club top goalscorer is unhappy since the start of last season. He is having personal problems and he wants to move as soon as possible. He played a magnificent season last year and I hope, if he stays, that he can do the same this year.

Last season stats: 42 apps, 28 gls, 18 ass, 12 MoM, 7.88 avg. r.

bjorn · January 7, 2004

Season 2003/2004 review:

Transfers + the squad:

When I first arrived here I knew the squad already as Iâ€™m a lifelong fan of Brugge, so there werenâ€™t any real surprises. Although Butina and Mendoza surprised me the most. Butina was a big reason of our succes in the league and in Europe as he kept us up in some important games and Mendoza, well he scored goals with his eyes closed. Iâ€™m sorry to see that he wants to leave our club as we would miss him very much. The first signing I made was KÃ¤llstrÃ¶m from DjurgÃ¤rden. I heard a lot of positive things about him but I didnâ€™t know he was as good as he played last season. His performances got better with every game he played and now heâ€™s wanted by some subtop clubs. I hope we can keep him for at least a season or two here at Brugge. The other transfer that happened last season was an outgoing transfer as I sold Simons to Deportivo on 20 December. I thought we were going to get problems with this in the back but Maertens did a great job in replacing him. Conclusion is that Iâ€™m very happy with the squad and the transfers that weâ€™ve done.

The First Division:

I knew we were one of the favourites to win the First Division although others didnâ€™t thought I was up for it. The team and I proved them all wrong as we really got off to a flying start. I was very happy about the ways things went further in the competition but the last months were really hard as we couldnâ€™t dominate most of the games. Hopefully thatâ€™s just because my players were tired or so as Iâ€™m hoping that we can retain the tittle again this season. Sint-Truiden really surprised me this season and I hope they can give us a bit more competition next year. But my conclusion is that we played a great First Division campagne and I hope we can do it again.

The Champions Cup:

Well what can I say about this. It was really marvelous last season. I donâ€™t think we will qualify ever again in such a hard group. It all started against GAK, who were easily put away. Then we faced Lokomotiv Moscow in the third qualification round. I knew we had a chance to qualify but we didnâ€™t have much over as it came 2-1 over two legs. When I heard which teams we had to face in the Group Phases I was very happy if we could get away with the third position, but we did even better as we ended second and qualified for the second round. In the Group Phases we managed to get a draw at San Siro vs. Milan but we lost at home against them. Against PSV we won at home and drawed away. And against Marseille we managed to get a 3-0 win at home and in the away game we were beaten 3-1. Overall a good campagne. Then we moved on to the second round where we were drawn with Serie A side Lazio. When we won at home against them with 2-1 everyone believed we had a chance to qualify for the Quarter finals, but that dream was soon blown away as we lost two weeks later at Olimpico with 3-0. It wasnâ€™t a shame as Lazio went on and won the Champions Cup and all together we played a perfect Champions Cup campagne. Letâ€™s hope we can do even better next year.

Gino · January 7, 2004

Well done on the title, and unlucky against Lazio. Still, better luck with the new season. Rune Lange is my favourite player, due to Champ games gone by! Good work Bjorn!

bjorn · January 8, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Gino:

Well done on the title, and unlucky against Lazio. Still, better luck with the new season. Rune Lange is my favourite player, due to Champ games gone by! Good work Bjorn! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thank you Gino. I'm glad to see you're reading.

Yeah hopefully the next season will even be better

We will find out soon

bjorn · January 8, 2004

August, the first month of the football seasonâ€¦

Sunday 1st August:

Both the board and the fans are very delighted with the way Iâ€™m running the club and they are in full support of my management.

I looked at my manager profile at the start of the month:

Ability to handle pressure 8 same

Ambition 10 same

Loyalty 9 same

Media handling 19 same

Professionalism 13 same

Temperament 12 same

Reputation ok same

</pre>

My assistent manager came in my office to ask me which tactic I would use. I gave him this paper:

^ Mendoza, A Casas, G ^

| |

Ceh, N Verheyen, G

Englebert, G Kallstrom, K

^ ^

| |

Van der Heyden, P Diogo, C

Clement, P De Cock, O

Butina, T

</pre>

Tuesday 3rd August:

There was some transfer news today as Man Utd have signed Real Madridâ€™s Roberto Carlos. The Red Devils payed â‚¬12,25M for the left back. He rejected the contract offer of Chelsea.

Thursday 5th August:

The draw for the European Champions Cup Third Qualifying Phase was made today and we would face a very though opponent. The first leg is played in Celtic Park as we will face Celtic. The first game is on 18 August 2004. I wasnâ€™t happy with this draw as there were much easier teams to draw.

Friday 6th August:

Middlesbrough were the first team to ask me how much I wanted for Kallstrom. I wasnâ€™t ashamed to ask them â‚¬15M plus 50% if they sell him to anyone else. I donâ€™t think they will be intrested in him for that price. Espanyol came with the same question and they got the same reply.

Saturday 7th August:

We had to play the Super Cup final today against Genk. (I decided to try to write an other style of match updates, hopefully itâ€™s good enough to keep you reading.)

Hard fought Cup win for the Champions.

Club Brugge have retained the Belgian Super Cup for the second time under manager BjÃ¶rn Noppe. Last year they defeated La LouviÃ¨re with 3-0 and now 29972 fans saw a great game which ended 2-1 for Brugge against Genk. Casas made a great debut as he scored the first goal in the game. Their lead was doubled later by Mendoza. Kpaka pulled one back for Genk in the second half.

Both of Bruggeâ€™s striker scored thanks to Kallstrom, who saw a perfect game crowned with two assists. But the real man of the match was without a doubt Davy Schollen as he prevented Brugge from trashing his team. Casasâ€™ goal was a very nice one and he was very happy with it he said after the game. He immediately showed the fans of what he is capable of. Mendozaâ€™s goal later in the first half was a big relief for the manager and he hopes that he will score even more.

Final score: Club Brugge 2 â€“ Genk 1

Scoreline: Casas 15 min 1-0; Mendoza 25 min 2-0; Kpaka 54 min 2-1

Attendance: 29972 (new record)

Bookings: none

Player ratings: Butina 8, Diogo 7, Van der Heyden 7, Clement Â© 6, De Cock 5, Verheyen 7, Englebert 7, Kallstrom 7, Casas 7 (Lange 62 min 7), Mendoza 6, Ceh 7

Sunday 8th August:

Juventus have won the Italian Super Cup for the fourth time since their excistence. They beated Inter Milan with 3-1 thanks to a brace from Del Piero and a goal from Di Vaio. It started very good for Inter as Recoba scored the first goal of the game in the 31st minute.

Monday 9th August:

Boro letted me know that they werenâ€™t intrested in Kallstrom for that price. I didnâ€™t care. A bit later on that day I got the same news from Espanyol.

Also today there were the First Division title odds. Anderlecht were made favourites to win the division this season and they were placed at 6-4. We were placed at 7-4, Standard at 16-1 and Genk and Sint-Truiden were placed at 20-1.

Saturday 14th August:

Today I had to confirm the squad number for the forthcoming season. I gave Casas nr. 99.

Sunday 15th August:

The English Community Shield was won by Man Utd again this afternoon.They defeated Chelsea with three against two.

Also today Sampdoria signed Petr Cech from Rennes for â‚¬3.9M

Wednesday 18th August:

Scott Parker, one of the many talented youngster playing in England, moved today from Charlton to Newcastle. They had to pay â‚¬9M for the midfielder.

Brugge lucky or unlucky?

Both teams could have come out as winners after the game but at the end no-one did. Celtic had the most chances but they always found Butina in their way and Brugge had a penalty chance in the 70th minute but Cehâ€™s nerves and the class of man of the match Allaway had a big deal in the misser.

As everyone expected Celtic immediately started to attack but the first ten minutes were for Brugge as they had the nices chance but both Casas and Mendoza couldnâ€™t score. From then on the biggest chances were for Celtic but Butina played a great game and he prevented Larsson and co from scoring. Some people will say that Brugge were lucky to get away with a draw but they could have won the game if Ceh would have scored the penalty in the 70th minute. One thing is sure it will be a very exciting game at Jan Breydelstadion in 2 weeks.

Final score: Celtic 0 â€“ Club Brugge 0

Attendance: 52694

Bookings: Van der Heyden, De Cock, Casas (yellow)

Player ratings: Butina 7, Diogo 7, Van der Heyden 5, Clement Â© 7, De Cock 5, Verheyen 7, Englebert 7, Kallstrom 7, Casas 7, Mendoza 7, Ceh 7

[This message was edited by bjorn on 08 January 2004 at 10:05.]

[This message was edited by bjorn on 08 January 2004 at 10:06.]

bjorn · January 8, 2004

Thursday 19th August:

Betis completed the signing of Real Madridâ€™s Fernando Morientes for a fee of â‚¬19,75M. The Spanish striker was very pleased to leave Bernabeu as he wasnâ€™t in the managerâ€™s plans since a long time.

Today I also received an email from Malaga as they wanted to know how much I wanted for Kallstrom. They received the same offer I wanted from the other teams in an email I send back.

Saturday 21st August:

Malaga informed me that they arenâ€™t intrested anymore in Kallstrom. I wonder why this is?

Tuesday 24th August:

The Belgian FA informed me that the transfer deadline for Belgian clubs is in one week.

Friday 27th August:

Lange was very unhappy as I declared my intrest in Shakhtarâ€™s Julius Aghahowa. I didnâ€™t reacted onto it and then he made an outburst to me and then I told him he shouldnâ€™t worry about my intrest in the player.

There was also some other news today as Newcastle signed Zenden from Chelsea for a fee of â‚¬6,75M.

Saturday 28th August:

Today Giovanni van Bronckhorst moved from Arsenal to Lazio. Last yearâ€™s champions cup winner splashed out â‚¬11,5M for the dutch international.

Inter Milan have confirmed the signing of Udineseâ€™s David Marcelo Cortez Pizarro for a fee worth â‚¬18M depending on appearances.

Sunday 29th August:

Jon Dahl Tomasson moved today from Milan to Spanish side Barcelona. The once so great club in Spain paid â‚¬8M for the striker.

Shakhtar accepted my â‚¬6,75M offer for Aghahowa and we can now start with discussing a contract. He is willing to come and if he does he will be our best paid player at the club.

Newcastle bought another player as today they brought in Arsenalâ€™s Francis Jeffers for a total of â‚¬13,25M.

Monday 30th August:

Today we have signed Julius Aghahowa from Shakhtar. We paid them â‚¬6,75M for their player. Although we donâ€™t have any money left now for transfers Iâ€™m sure he is worth every cent. He is still out for three weeks and Iâ€™m sure when he is ready to play he will make a big impact. The chairman told me that this could be Bruggeâ€™s most significant transfer of recent time.

Roma have signed Inter Milanâ€™s Ariel Ortega for â‚¬13,25M.

September, the big start of the competition and hopefully the Champions Cup.

Wednesday 1st September:

Today the transfer deadline started and we also had to face Celtic to see who will progress to the group stages.

Brugge stroll trough after a great game.

Brugge have qualified for the second time in two years under their manager BjÃ¶rn Noppe after a 2-1 win at home over Celtic. Although the game didnâ€™t start very well for the Belgian Club. Petrov putted Celtic on roses after 4 minutes but thanks to their workrate and a goal from Lange in the first half and a Verheyen goal in the second half they were qualified.

The game started very well for Celtic because after four minutes they took the lead as Petrov finished of Larssonâ€™s great pass. Even after that goal Celtic were the better team, until the 40th minute when Diogo played the ball to Verheyen, who played it on for Lange. His shot was unstoppable for Hedman. Brugge came out of the dressingrooms as the better team, but an easy given penalty in the 55th minute almost blew everything for Brugge. Celtic thought they were trough but they didnâ€™t count on Butina as he saved the penalty. Five minutes later Celtic were punished for this mistake as Verheyen scored the winning goal. So Brugge are back in Europeâ€¦..

Final score: Club Brugge 2 (2) â€“ Celtic 1 (1)

Scoreline: Petrov 4 min 0-1; Lange 40 min 1-1; Verheyen 60 min 2-1

Attendance: 29944

Bookings: De Cock, Ceh ; Miller, Oâ€™Brien (yellow)

Player ratings: Butina 9, Diogo 7, Van der Heyden 6, Clement Â© 7, De Cock 5, Verheyen 8, Englebert 7, Kallstrom 7, Lange 6, Saeternes 7, Ceh 8

Other teams going trough. (The â€œlosersâ€ will enter the Uefa Cup)

Champiosn Cup Uefa Cup

Dinamo is progressing despite AEK

Ajax is progressing despite Slavia Prague

M. Haifa is progressing despite Austria Vienna

Anderlecht is progressing despite Barcelona :eek:

Benfica is progressing despite Galatasaray

Betis is progressing despite Grasshopper

Dortmund is progressing despite APOEL

Arsenal is progressing despite FC Copenhagen

Besiktas is progressing despite Flora

Maribor is progressing despite M. Tel-Aviv

Partizan is progressing despite Marseille

Dinamo Kiev is progressing despite Shakhtar

Sparta Prague is progressing despite Rosenborg

Milan is progressing despite Zilina </pre>

We have to wait until Liverpool plays his game to know who our contesters will be in the Group Phases.

Friday 3rd September:

Liverpool have won the European Super cup after a penalty shoot-out. The final score before the shoot-out was two all. In the shoot-out it was 2-4 for the Uefa Cup winner.Liverpool deserved the win because they controlled the game most of the time.

Saturday 4th September:

The first playday got underway today as Charleroi and Sint-Truiden drawed three all. La LouviÃ¨re lost their first home game with 2-3 against Lokeren. And the last game of the day ended in a win for Mouscron, who played at home, against Lierse. The final score was 3-2.

Sunday 6th September:

AA Gent won their first game of the season with 2-1 at home against Antwerp. Cercle Brugge started their season with a 0-0 draw at home against Anderlecht while Standard lost in and against Genk with 1-0. Newly promoted Oostende managed to get a draw at home against Beveren while the other promoted team, Roeselare, started even better as they won at home with 2-1 against Westerlo.

Brugge win at Kiel

Brugge have won their first game in the competition thanks to a goal by Lange. Germinal Beerschot got the best chances of the game and they can feel like theyâ€™ve been stolen. Van Doorenâ€™s sending off in the 54th minute didnâ€™t help GBA either.

Brugge got off to a good start in the competition as they won in Germinal Beerschot with the narrowst win possible. The only goal of the game came when Mendoza crossed the ball from the left towards Lange. He controlled the ball before he placed it in the low right corner. GBA had the best chances of the game but once again Butina, who was the man of the match, was in a sensational form as he stopped every shot from Beerschot. When Van Dooren was sent off in the 54th minute with his second yellow card of the game, GBA knew that it would be tough. They tried to pull one back but they couldnâ€™t finish of their chances. So Marc Brijsâ€™ men will have to do better in their next games if they want to finish in the top three.

Final score: Germinal Beerschot 0 â€“ Club Brugge 1

Scoreline: Lange 38 min 0-1

Attendance: 12349

Bookings: Hoefkens, Thompson ; Van der Heyden, Diogo (yellow)

Sent off: Van Dooren 54 min (2 x yellow)

Player ratings: Butina 9, Diogo 7, Van der Heyden 7, Clement Â© 7, De Cock 7, Verheyen 7, Englebert 7, Kallstrom 7, Lange 8, Mendoza 7, Ceh 7

bjorn · January 9, 2004

Monday 6th September:

Liverpool were the last team who qualified for the group phases of the Champions Cup today. Rapid lost with 4-1 over two legs and now they will go to the Uefa Cup.

Today were the draws for the Group Phases. Here is the full draw:

Team Country

Group A: Betis SPA

Man Utd ENG

Monaco FRA

Partizan SCG

Group B: Benfica POR

Juventus ITA

Olympiakos GRE

Sparta Prague CZE

Group C: CLUB BRUGGE BEL

AC MIlan ITA

Rangers SCO

Real Madrid SPA

Group D: Besiktas TUR

FC Bayern GER

Liverpool ENG

PSV NED

Group E: Dinamo Kiev UKR

Lazio ITA

Maribor SVN

Real Sociedad SPA

Group F: Ajax NED

Anderlecht BEL

Inter Milan ITA

VFB Stuttgart GER

Group G: Chelsea ENG

Dinamo CRO

Dortmund GER

PAO GRE

Group H: Arsenal ENG

Lyon FRA

M. Haifa ISR

Porto POR

</pre>

Well one things is almost sure and that is that we wonâ€™t qualify for the next round this year. We really got the toughest group of them all and I would be very happy if we could take the third spot so we can enter the Uefa Cup. The group matches will start on 21st September 2004

Wednesday 8th September:

Today was the draw for the Belgian Cup 6th round. In that round we will face third division club Seraing RUL. Last season they ended in 9th position in the same division and so far they are in first position after two games. The game is played in their stadion on 21st November 2004.

Friday 10th September:

Here are the title odds for the European Champions Cup:

Real Madrid and Man Utd 6-1, Juventus and Milan 9-1, FC Bayern and Inter 11-1.

Iâ€™m surprised to see that Lazio isnâ€™t within the top six to win the Cup this season. We were placed at 25-1, which Iâ€™m proud of.

Saturday 18th September:

Brugge on right track for Tuesday.

First division Champions Club Brugge easily overcame newly promoted team Oostende at Jan Breydel. A brace by Peruvian striker Mendoza, and a goal by Casas made it a convincing 3-0 win. Oostende couldnâ€™t do nothing else then watch how they were played away.

Brugge started furious at the game with some warning shots by Englebert and Kallstrom. Aghahowa also played his first game this season in a Brugge shirt and he played a great game. The first goal came when Ceh swung in the corner to the near post. Aghahowa was there and he headed it on for Mendoza, who just had to tip in the ball. In the second half Casas added his goal when Mendoza passed the ball to him. He dribbled past Van Rumst before he slotted the ball home. With just 15 minutes to play Mendoza scored his second goal of the game. Aghahowa played the ball to Casas, who saw Mendoza unmarked at the second post. He played the ball up to him and just like his first goal, he only had to tip in the ball. Mendoza came out as the man of the match.

Final score: Club Brugge 3 â€“ Oostende 0

Scoreline: Mendoza 39 min 1-0; Casas 62 min 2-0; Mendoza 75 min 3-0

Attendance: 13537

Bookings: De Cock, Clement; Crv, Portier, Jordens (yellow)

Player ratings: Butina 6, Diogo 7, Van der Heyden 7, Clement Â© 7, De Cock 7, Aghahowa 8, Englebert 7, Kallstrom 7, Casas 8, Mendoza 9, Ceh 7

Anderlecht won with 1-0 against Germinal Beerschot while Antwerp â€“ Cercle Brugge ended one all. Beveren won at home against Mouscron with 1-0 and Lokeren lost at home with 1-2 against a good playing Genk. Sint-Truiden and Roeselare scored two each and the last game today ended in a win for the away team as La LouviÃ¨re won in Westerlo with 0-1.

Sunday 19th September:

Lierse surprisingly lost at home against Charleroi. The final score was 0-1. Standard played a superb game at home against AA Gent as they won with 4-0.

bjorn · January 9, 2004

Tuesday 21st September:

Just before the game with Milan I received the news that Philippe Clement was out for a week with a damaged neck injury. Maertens will replace him.

Andres, man of the match, Mendoza!

Brugge have schocked the football world by winning at home against Milan. Manager BjÃ¶rn Noppe can thank Mendoza as he was one of the reasons they won the game. He scored a brace in the first half. Shevchenkoâ€™s goal in the 61st minute made it a thrilling second half. But thanks to a great Butina and a good playing Diogo theyâ€™ve won the game.

Milan started as the favourite but just like last year Brugge surprised Milan. Last year they managed to get a draw at San Siro and now theyâ€™ve beated them at Jan Breydelstadion. In the 14th minute Englebert played the ball towards Mendoza, who was on the left wing. He continued unopposed and everyone thought he would cross the ball to Lange, who replaced Casas in the first team, but instead he tried his luck from an narrow angle. Dida was surprised by this shot and he couldnâ€™t react to it. After half an hour of football Brugge got a corner kick. Kallstrom chipped it into the area where Mendoza headed it towards goal. Dida saved it but he couldnâ€™t save Mendozaâ€™s rebound shot and so they lead by 2 against 0. In the second half Simic played a long ball towards Shevchenko. Maertens couldnâ€™t reach the ball and the Ukrainian striker beated Butina to make it very exciting. From then on Milan pushed forward but they failed to finish the chances they created and so Brugge got of to a good start in Group C.

Final score: Club Brugge 2 - AC Milan 1

Scoreline: Mendoza 14 min 1-0; Mendoza 31 min 2-0; Shevchenko 61 min 2-1

Attendance: 29942

Bookings: De Cock; Gattuso (yellow)

Player ratings: Butina Â© 8, Diogo 8, Van der Heyden 5, Maertens 7, De Cock 7, Verheyen 7, Englebert 7, Kallstrom 7, Lange 5 (Saeternes 73 min 7), Mendoza 9, Ceh 7

Elsewhere in Spain Real Madrid won against Rangers with 3-1 to complete the other game in our group. Castillo, Zidane and Raul made it 3-0 before Lovenkrands pulled one back. I still canâ€™t believe we actually beat them. But we should stay with our feet on the ground as we are far from qualified. Also after the game I received the news that De Cock is banned for the next Champions Cup game.

bjorn · January 9, 2004

Thursday 23rd September:

Juventusâ€™ David Trezeguet is out for two months with a torn groin muscle and the fans arenâ€™t happy to see one of their best players being injured. Hopefully for Juve they can hold together without him.

Friday 24th September:

The third playday got underway today as AA Gent lost again, this time at home, against Lokeren with 0-2.

Saturday 25th September:

Charleroi and Beveren drawed today with two all while Genk stayed unbeated as they won with 2-0 at home against last placed Westerlo. Meanwhile La LouviÃ¨re won at home against the revelation of last year, Sint-Truiden, with 3-1.

Sunday 26th September:

Cercle Brugge slumped to a defeat at home against Standard while Germinal Beerschot managed to win their first game of the season. Oostende where the losing team against them with 0-2. Lierse got away from Roeselare with a 0-2 win.

Brugge gone with Genk.

This evening Brugge managed to win at Le Canonnier to be the only club, together with Genk, that didnâ€™t lost this season. Brugge won very easy at Mouscron thanks to a goal from Casas and Mendozaâ€™s brace. Mouscron couldnâ€™t do much as they were totally outclassed.

Brugge had the Milan game in the back of their minds as they started very furious but keeper Martin prevented them from early scoring. In the 34th they finnaly scored the first goal when Mendoza served Casas. Just before the half-time rest it was otherwise as Casas served Mendoza this time. In the second half Casas got a second assist as once again he gave the final pass for Mendoza. The Peruvian scored his second goal of the game and his seventh goal of the season. Mouscron werenâ€™t bad the whole time as their best player, Zewlakow, almost pulled one back but he was denied by Butina. And so the game ended with an easy win for Brugge. Manager BjÃ¶rn Noppe had nothing but praise for his new signings as they established them very well in Belgium.

Final score: Mouscron 0 â€“ Club Brugge 3

Scoreline: Casas 34 min 0-1; Mendoza 45 min 0-2; Mendoza 48 min 0-3

Attendance: 10661

Bookings: Zewlakow; Maertens, Englebert (yellow)

Player ratings: Butina Â© 8, Diogo 7, Van der Heyden 7, Maertens 7, De Cock 6, Aghahowa 7, Englebert 7 (Verheyen 65 min 6) , Kallstrom 7, Casas 8, Mendoza 9 ( Lange 65 min 7), Ceh 7

Antwerp lost at home against Anderlecht with 0-2.

October will bring usâ€¦.

Friday 1st October:

Both the board and the fans were delighted with the way I was performing. The fans were also delighted with the signing of Aghahowa.

Then we had the Goal of the Month for the first time this season:

2) Vervaeke for Roeselare vs. Westerlo

3) Mahieu for Oostende vs. Beveren </pre>

My manager profile looked like this:

Ability to handle pressure 6 2 down

Ambition 11 1 up

Loyalty 7 2 down

Media handling 17 2 down

Professionalism 11 2 down

Temperament 10 2 down

Reputation ok same

</pre>

Charleroi are the next victims.

Brugge continue theyâ€™re good form as they trashed Charleroi with 4-1 at Jan Breydelstadion. A Mendoza brace and a goal each by Casas and Ceh sealed Charleroiâ€™s fate. Macquet scored a goal to make things level again early in the game but that was the best they could do as they were tottaly blown away. Kargbo even got sent off in the 86th minute.

Brugge got off to a flyer in this game as in the first minute Casas centred the ball, which was head in by Mendoza. Charleroi fought back and they equalised trough Maquet; but then Brugge got in second gear and all hope was gone for â€œde zebraâ€™s.â€ On the half hour mark Mendoza doubled his tally when he headed in Cehâ€™s corner. In the second half Casas added his goal in two times as his first attempt was saved by Laquait. The fourth, and final, Brugge goal came in the 69th minute when Ceh scored a free kick from 25 yards out. Four minutes before the end of the game Kargbo was sent off with his second yellow card of the game. So our conclusion is: this was too easy for Brugge.

Final score: Club Brugge 4 â€“ Charleroi 1

Scoreline: Mendoza 1 min 1-0; Macquet 13 min 1-1; Mendoza 31 min 2-1; Casas 52 min 3-1; Ceh 69 min 4-1

Attendance: 16567

Bookings: Ghislain (yellow)

Sent off: Kargbo 86 min (2 x yellow)

Player ratings: Butina 5, Diogo 8, Van der Heyden 8, Clement Â© 7, De Cock 7, Aghahowa 7, Englebert 7 (Verheyen 68 min 7) , Kallstrom 7, Casas 8, Mendoza 9 ( Lange 65 min 7), Ceh 7

Saturday 2nd October:

Anderlecht easily took distance from Oostende as they beated them with 3-1 while Beveren won against Roeselare with 2-1. Germinal Beerschot lost at home against Mouscron with 0-1 while Lierse kept the points at home in a 2-0 win over La LouviÃ¨re. Lokeren - Cercle Brugge and Sint-Truiden - Genk both ended in one all. Standard won at home against Antwerp with 2-0 while Westerlo and AA Gent both scored once

$I\'m Not Ruud$ · January 9, 2004

Go Brugge! Unstoppable it seems!

Keep up the great work!

bjorn · January 10, 2004

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote">quote:<HR>Originally posted by I'm Not Ruud:

Go Brugge! Unstoppable it seems!

Keep up the great work! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks Ruud

Yep so far we are unstoppable, but how long will it last is the question.

bjorn · January 10, 2004

Wednesday 6th October:

Brugge are top against Scotland.

Today Brugge proved that they arenâ€™t a â€œlittle Belgianâ€ team but that they belong to the sub-top in Europe, as they easily won in and against Rangers for the second game of the Group Phases. Ceh opened the score for Brugge and the lead was doubled by Mendoza five minutes before the end of the first half. Three minutes into the second half Casas brought his season total to five as he made it 0-3. Rossâ€™ goal in injury time was too late for the Gers.

Brugge got off to a brilliant start at Ibrox as Ceh opened the score after he was left with a simple finish, after Klos saved Mendozaâ€™s attempt. The whole first half was totally controlled by Brugge as it looked like Brugge were only training. In the 39th minute something strange happened. Casas fired a shot at goal which was blocked by Ostenstad. The ball ran loose but Klos didnâ€™t even try to take it and Mendoza was left with a simple finish. In the second half the first chance was for Brugge again and it was a goal immediately. Kallstrom lifted the corner into the area and Mendoza powered a header at goal which took a deflection of Casas, and that final one got the goal on his name to make it 0-3. Rangers fought back from then on and they were dangerous trough Ostenstad and Lovenkrands, but it was defender Maurice Ross who scored, what looked nothing else then, a consoltation goal in injury time.

Final score: Rangers 1 - Brugge 3

Scoreline: Ceh 5 min 0-1; Mendoza 39 min 0-2; Casas 48 min 0-3; Ross 90+1 min 1-3

Attendance: 43715

Bookings: Ricksen, Moore; Diogo, Ceh

Player ratings: Butina 8, Diogo 7, Van der Heyden 6, Clement Â© 7 (Rozehnal 70 min 6), Maertens 6, Verheyen 7, Englebert 7 (Verheyen 65 min 6) , Kallstrom 7, Casas 7 (Saeternes 70 min 7), Mendoza 8, Ceh 7

Elsewhere in Italy Milan won against Real Madrid with a small 1-0 as Shevchenko scored the only goal of the game in the first minute. Because of this result we are on top with six points. I never dared to dream about this. Hopefully we can continue our good form.

bjorn · January 11, 2004

Saturday 9th October:

AA Gent â€“ Sint-Truiden and Antwerp - Lokeren both ended on 2-2 while Charleroi lost at home against Germinal Beerschot with 1-2. Genk defeated Lierse with 3-2 while La LouviÃ¨re and Beveren ended one all. Oostende managed to win in and against Mouscron with 0-2. The last game today ended in a 2-1 win for Standard against Anderlecht.

Sunday 10th October:

Brugge and Casas do the job against Roeselare.

Even without Mendoza, who was away with his national team, Brugge won their fifth game away at Roeselare. Casas opened the score for Brugge early in the game. Roeselare fough back and they surely deserved the equaliser but poor finishing and a good keeping Butina prevented them from coming back. When Casas scored his second of the game in the 79th minute the game was over for Roeselare.

Brugge first goal came in the 12th minute when Diogo intercepted a pass from BarbÃ©. He played it on to Lange who crossed the ball into the area for Casas. The Argentinian striker, who is in sensational form, jumped higher then the rest and headed the ball against the back of the net. From then on Roeselare fought back and they got some nice chances trough their strikers duo, Vervaeke and Troch, but they were stopped by Butina. Delplanque almost got the equaliser in the 55th minute but his attempt stranded on the woodwork. Brugge hitted Roeselare on the counter attack in the 76th minute and the game was played when Casas finished it off. Casas is really playing great as so far he scored a goal a game average.

Final score: SV Roeselare 0 â€“ Club Brugge 2

Scoreline: Casas 12 min 0-1; Casas 76 min 0-2

Attendance: 8800

Bookings: Lahousse, Delplanque, Troch; Englebert

Player ratings: Butina 9, Diogo 8, Van der Heyden 6, Clement Â© 8, De Cock 7, Aghahowa 7, Englebert 8, Kallstrom 7, Lange 7, Casas 9, Ceh 4

In the other game this evening Cercle Brugge easily won with 4-2 against Westerlo.

In other news Clement picked up a knock in our game and he will be out for 2 weeks with a gashed leg.

Monday 11th October:

Stoica entered my office and told me that he should be in the first team, if not he wants to move. I told him he would be selected when the time is right and placed him on the transferlist. The club fans started a poll if Stoica should be in the squad and the decision was 0% yes â€“ 100% no â€“ 0% undecided.

Diogo also departed from the club as he had to play with the â€“21 of his country in a couple of days.

Wednesday 13th October:

There was mid-week football planned today as everyone had a game to play.

Midfielders in action!

Club Brugge, without Clement(inj.),Diogo and Mendoza (int.), easily trashed La LouviÃ¨re with 3-0. One of the biggest reason, if not THE reason for this win were the midfielders as Aghahowaâ€™s brace and Cehâ€™s penalty goal made the difference. Itâ€™s very hard to find a good thing about La LouviÃ¨re in this game as they didnâ€™t even create a chance. Maybe Brugge is to big for Belgium, maybe itâ€™s just a lucky form at the moment.

Aghahowa played his fifth game in a Brugge shirt today and it was his best game so far. He opened the score for Brugge in the 17th minute. Langeâ€™s shot was fisted away by Proto, but it went right into Aghahowaâ€™s feet. All he had to do was score on an empty net. Mamouniâ€™s sending off for protest didnâ€™t help La LouviÃ¨re. All they could do after that was hoping they didnâ€™t conceed to much. Aghahowa scored his second goal of the game trough a corner kick from Ceh, which Julius headed in. Six minutes into the second half Brugge were awarded a penalty after de CondÃ© pushed Lange in the area. Ceh stepped up and scored it and it was game over for La Lou. Brugge shifted down a gear but they still had the chances to score. Proto prevented them, so thatâ€™s at least one good point for La LouviÃ¨re.

Final score: Club Brugge 3 â€“ La LouviÃ¨re 0

Scoreline: Aghahowa 17 min 1-0; Aghahowa 45 min 2-0; Ceh pen 51 min 3-0

Attendance: 16434

Bookings: Vangeffelen

Sent off: Mamouni (protest 2x yellow)

Player ratings: Butina 7, Maertens 7, Van der Heyden 7, Gvozdenovic 7, De Cock 7, Aghahowa 9, Englebert 8, Kallstrom 7, Lange 7 (Saeternes 62 min 7), Casas 8, Ceh 8

Anderlecht continued their good form as they easily putted Mouscron away as they won with 4-0 while Beveren was humiliated at home against Genk as they crushed to a 1-4 defeat. Germinal Beerschot won with 3-1 against Roeselare and Lierse easily won against AA Gent with 3-0. Lokeren - Standard ended two all while Oostende won at home against Charleroi with 2-1. Sint-Truiden are unable to find last yearâ€™s form as they drew 2-2 at home against Cercle Brugge. Westerlo won with 3-0 against Antwerp, who now are in last position.

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Good vs.Bad, or in other words Brugge vs Rangers

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