retired_mwilson

will_coleridge. I've signed youth from Belgium, usually free transfers that have been discarded from the youth programs of first or second division teams. I've also signed a couple of 17-18 year old from Holland when they were transfer listed by their clubs. I haven't signed any youngsters from France as I only have two scouts and one is concentrating on Belgium while the other is doing Central Europe but he seems to be concentrating on Holland and Germany. I haven't signed any youngster who is good enough to be a starter though.

retired_mwilson

January 2005

January started off with a bang as during the winter break Jules had managed to acquire some reinforcements for his squad as well as getting rid of some players who did not fit into his plans.

Players In
Marciano Gungadin, 17 year old central midfielder from Excelsior in the Dutch second divison. Marciano had been on the transfer list at Excelsior and when Jules made an offer to take him off their hands, they were glad to release him for free. The thing that attracted the Willebroek scouts to the youngster in the first place and the reasons for Jules continuing interest was that he seemed to have all the basic requirements to develop into pretty decent midfielder in a couple of years and he just had that little bit of flair to distinguish himself from other players his age. While the player was obviously far from being the end product Jules envisaged (or else he wouldn’t have been transfer listed by his club), Jules was happy to take him off Excelsior’s hands on the hope to developing his skills.
Denis Ismailovski, a 19 year old attacking midfielder cum forward, was signed from fellow Third Division team WS Woluwe for the grand sum of 3000 euros. Denis was a young striker with a lot of similarity to Kevin Stuckens in that he had good pace, was hard working and had an eye for goal. With the probable departure of Gilles de Bilde in mind, either in the winter transfer window or at the end of the season, Jules felt that young Dennis could fill that fourth striker role for the team and had the potential to eventually challenge Kevin Stuckens for his starter role a couple of years in the future.
Omo Monday, a 21 year old Nigerian who could play any position on the left flank was signed for 1K from non-league Ninove. Monday was signed to fill the gap left by Stefan Blommaert’s long term injury and the hoped for departures of Luc de Smet and Gilles de Bilde. While no longer young enough to be regarded as an unpolished gem, Jules was hopeful that Omo could develop into a starter in the not too distant future and depose Blommaert as the team’s first choice left back.
Daan Bovenberg, another 17 year old midfielder from Excelsior was also signed on a free transfer. In Daan’s case, Jules didn’t expect as much from him as he did from Gungadin but after numerous rebuffals from better players, developing squad depth in the critical central midfield area was preferable to doing nothing.

Players Out
After much calling and shopping of his excess players to all and sundry, Jules was happy to start January with the departures of the following players:
Thomas van Collie, 21 year old GK to non-league FC Kathelijne for 1K;
Tommy Meire, 30 year old DM to non-league RC Lebbeke for a surprising 50K;
Murat Kocak, 19 year old AM RC to non-league SK Lebbeke for 60K, Jules had tired of the players antics and decided to cut his losses and to have someone else try to unlock his undoubted talent.
In addition to the players going out, there seemed to be a fair bit of interest in the Willebroek players, no doubt brought about by the league position of the squad and enquiries were made about Axel Vergeylen, Kevin Stuckens, Pascal Vande Gucht and Tom de Craeke. Jules didn’t seriously entertain those offers but made what he regarded as highly unlikely counter-bids hoping in this was to dissuade teams from pinching his best players. What was however disappointing was despite Jules’ best efforts to acquire a couple of starting quality players, his efforts all came to naught. While the clubs were prepared to accept Jules’ offers for their players, the players themselves did not seem to regard Willebroek as a desirable home, even when offered wages well in excess of their current levels of pay.

retired_mwilson

January Matches

Sunday 08/01/2006 away to Wetteren, Belgian Third Division A
After the disappointing manner in which Willebroek had gone into the winter break, Jules Jackson was determined to start off the new year on a positive note. For the game against Wetteren, Jules decided to start one of his new signings, young Omo Monday on the left flank in place of Tom de Craeke and switched Tom to his preferred position on the right flank in the place of Axel Vergeylen. The reason for doing so was not straightforward as Axel had done very well as a permanent fixture on the right flank during the first half of the season. However, Antwerp in the Belgian Second Division had come in with a very reasonable offer for the player and Jules had decided to negotiate to see how far they would go. As a precaution, Axel was being held out of the upcoming match and therefore young Omo was getting his chance.

The return match against Wetteren started out very differently to their previous match earlier in the year when Willebroek flogged them 4-0 at home. On their own ground, Wetteren showed that they were determined not to be pushovers and they came out playing aggressive attacking football which was duly rewarded in the 23rd minute when Stefan Staelens slammed the ball into the net from a dead ball opportunity just outside the Willebroek box. While the goal was unwelcome, Jules could not quibble with it being a fair reflection of the match up to then. The best thing about going down a goal was that it seemed to galvanise the Willebroek players into action and they responded by trying to wrest the initiative from Wetteren. Within minutes the changed attitude bore fruit when Jan Huygens, in a typical move for him closed down the Wetteren goalkeeper. Unaware of the danger, the goalkeeper tried to bring the ball under control before clearing it, however, in a twinkling of an eye he had been robbed of the ball and it was calmly deposited in the back of the net. All square once more and now it was game on!

The rest of the half was a battle with neither side being able to dominate and when half-time was reached, both teams could be relatively satisfied with the status of the match. The second-half resumed as the first had ended with both teams battling for control with no clear winner. The balance was tilted in Willebroek’s favour in the 66th minute when in a counter attack, Giles de Bilde who had just come on as a substitute, put Jan Huygens through with a quick ball from the halfway line. Two touches were all that were required, one to bring the ball under control and the other to beat his marker, before Huygens scored his second of the afternoon. The players had barely had time to recover their breath when from the kickoff, Giles de Bilde played another hopeful long ball forward, this time substitute Hugo Zeghers, being the freshest man on the park, got on the end of the pass and calmly passed the ball past the goalkeeper and into the net. The two goals in two minutes broke the back of the Wetteren resistance and although they tried valiantly to get back into the match, Willebroek adopted a more defensive approach and played out the rest of the match relatively easily.
Wetteren 1 – 3 Willebroek


The days preceeding the next Willebroek match was taken up by various too and frowing between Willebroek and Antwerp regarding their interest in Axel Vergeylen. By this time it was clear to Jules that Antwerp were serious in their interest, and having seen young Omo Monday come through unscathed in the match against Wetteren, Jules was seriously weighing their offers as he still wanted to make some noise in the transfer market before the window closed at the end of the month.

Eventually, the grand sum of 150K euros was agreed as a price for Vergeylen and Jules was glad as he felt that he should be able to get 2 players similarly talented to Vergeylen for the same price. The day before the match against WS Woluwe was a sad one on the Willebroek training ground as Axel Vergeylen had been well liked by his teammates. However, everyone understood that Jules could not turn down the offer and that it was a very good move for Axel as he would be playing in a higher division and making substantially more money.

Sunday 15/01/2006 home vs WS Woluwe, Belgian Third Division A
The early season match between Willebroek and WS Woluwe had ended in a boring 0 – 0 draw and Jules was hopeful that the return encounter would be more lively, especially at home. The match itself turned into a bit of an anti-climax though, the only real excitement coming from an early goal in the 7th minute from the Woluwe’s Congolese striker Blaise Issankoy who nipped in between the Willebroek central defenders to get on the end of a long ball and deftly chip the goalkeeper for an early WS Woluwe lead. Woluwe tried to sit back then but the Willebroek reply came from Dennis Ismailovski in the 19th minute when he got on the end of a far post cross to head home. Thereafter, the match turned one-sided with Willebroek hold the Woluwe goal to siege resulting in an Omo Monday goal in the 44th minute when he shot from a wide angle after a goalmouth scramble. It took until the 83rd minute to put the final nail into the WS Woluwe coffin and it came courtesy of Giles de Bilde who managed to hold off his man long enough to drive a left footed sizzler past the hapless Woluwe goalkeeper to essentially kill the match off.
Willebroek 3 – 1 WS Woluwe.

retired_mwilson

Sunday 22/01/2006 away to Kapellen, Belgian Third Division A
With two wins from the same number of matches on resuming after the winter break, Willebroek approached its next match against Kapellen with lots of confidence, especially in light of the 5-0 thrashing Willebroek had handed out to Kapellen the last time they had met. Kapellen, in its turn game out aggressive and attacking in an effort to wipe away the memory of the previous meeting between the two teams. It was therefore no surprise when Kapellen midfielder Cedric Garni received a straight red card and was sent-off in the 24th minute for throwing an elbow. Instead of the sending-off opening up the floodgates for Willebroek, it simply seemed to motivate Kapellen more if possible and the rest of the half was played out as a physical midfield battle until a minute before half-time when Pascal Vande Gucht got on to the end of a cross and put the ball in the back of the net after wonderful lead-up play by Willebroek. With the score 0-1 to the visitors and Kapellen down to 10 men, Jules instructed his players to play sensibly but not over cautiously for the second half as he was confident in the ability of his team to play the match out.

However, even the best of plans sometimes goes awry and when Laurens Melotte was sent off in the 62nd minute for his second yellow card, the match was back to being a contest with 10 against 10. With the rain pounding down, Jules brought on his reserves to tighten up his defence in response to the renewed energy and attacking play from Kapellen. These moves appeared to bear fruit as the increasingly frantic attacks from Kapellen were easily being dismantled by the Willebroek defence. In the 72nd minute, disaster struck as a panicky backpass by Tom de Claeke to Johnny Lebegge was intercepted by Joris de Tollenaere who with no defender in site slotted the ball pass a stranded Lebegge. Scores level and while a fair reflection of play, Jules was furious as it seemed that opposition goals were increasingly due to lack of concentration and sloppy play instead of well worked chances. Willebroek regrouped well though and despite the rampaging Kapellen attack, the match was heading towards a draw when in the 90th minute a rebound off the post found Joris de Tollenaere unmarked in the 6-yard box and he scored his second of the afternoon. If that was not enough to make Jules Jackson tear his hair out, insult was added to injury when another goal was scored by Kapellen, this time by Steef Yousfi to bring to a close a memorable victory for Kapellen.
Kapellen 3 – 1 Willebroek

retired_mwilson

Sunday 29/01/2006 home vs RC Waregem, Belgian Third Division A
The match against RC Waregem offered the possibility of redemption to a severely embarrassed Willebroek team after the debacle against Kapellen. Jules Jackson spent the seven days between that defeat and the current match trying to place the defeat in context. Was the defeat against RC Waregem simply a reflection of the by now well defined problem relating to Willebroek’s inability to perform up to its ability away from home or was this sign of a deeper problem with concentration as both the recent defeats had featured goals in the latter part of the second-half. Also, did these defeats point to mentality problem where Willebroek were great front-runners but lacked the fortitude to fight back from adversity.

The game opened with a bang with young Gbana Wende opening the scoring for the visitors Waregem in the 2nd minute. The goal was the result of a brilliant cross which gave the youngster position on his defender and he didn’t hestitate with his snapshot, putting the ball past Lebegge before he had a chance to react. While watching the events unfold, Jules Jackson was asking himself what kind of reaction his team would provide. He wanted to know if they would fight back without any intervention from himself or whether they would creep into their shells. The answer to his question was inconclusive as an easily given penalty led to Pascal Vande Gucht equalising in the 10th minute. Thereafter, Willebroek moved into high gear, peppering the Waregem goal from all angles resulting in goals for Peter Smolders in the 31st minute and Jan Huygens in the 36th minute. With a good lead at halftime, Jules decided to give his reserves an extended runout and the second-half turned into a exercise in possession defending for Willebroek. Waregem tried but never really mounted a believable challenge and the final score remained unchanged.
Willebroek 3 – 1 RC Waregem

With the end of January also heralding the end of the second period title which was also won by Willebroek, the final 3rd of the season saw Willebroek on top of the Third Division A with a six point lead over its nearest rival Aalst and a 375K kitty for strenghtening the squad in the offseason.
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retired_mwilson

February 2006

04-02-2006
Omo Monday, the youngster Jules Jackson had signed from Belgian amateur club Ninove was called up for the Nigerian under-21 squad much to Jules’ surprise. While he was aware that the youngster had already won a cap at the U-21 level for Nigeria, Jules hadn’t thought that the Nigerian national setup would take much notice of a player in the third rung of Belgian football. While Jules was overjoyed for the youngster (and mentally patting himself on the back for signing him for the next 3 years), his thoughts immediately turned to how he could achieve the best return for the club from this unexpected event. He had heard the conflicting views in Belgian football about one or more of the second division clubs stocking its squad with cheap Ivorian players in the hope of later selling them on and while Jules was not that mercenary, he felt that having an informal route into the Nigerian football setup might be a major advantage to the club if it could be appropriately leveraged.

Jules called the youngster into his office the next morning and informed Omo that he had been called up. He then asked the youngster how he had experienced his first month at the club. Omo replied that he really enjoyed being there, especially as this was a step up for him and it could be the start of a real career in football. He informed Jules that his parents in Nigeria were old and not very well and the opportunity offered by a passing Belgian scout, even for non-league football, was an offer his family could not refuse. As Monday explained, even if he did not make it in football, he would probably be able to gain Belgian residency and get a job which would enable him to support his parents and extended family in Nigeria. As young Omo had had a very good first month for Willebroek and seemed to be dedicating himself to being successful for the club, Jules informed him that he felt he had a real shot at being a professional footballer especially in Willebroek were to gain promotion in the next couple of years. When Jules popped the question asking Omo to scout his Nigerian teammates and to see if any other Nigerian-based players might be interested in joining Willebroek, Omo immediately agreed and told Jules he would hurry back as soon as his Nigerian commitments were over to report back the results. When Jules told the youngster to stay an extra couple of days to catch up with his family, he immediately had a loyal convert to the cause.

retired_kristinb9184

There's something fishy about filling up a squad with Nigerian's...

What if they all get international call ups!!!

retired_mwilson

Will, at this point, all of them think they are better than a team a my level but who knows, young Omo could be our mole in their camp.

retired_mwilson

Saturday 04/02/2006 away to Torhout, Belgian Third Division A
Jules and his teams approached the match with some confidence borne out from their previous encounter when Torhout were dispatched relatively simply on the end of a 4-0 loss. However, with the ongoing problems Willebroek were experiencing away from home, Jules made sure to temper his team’s confidence before they went out on the field and impressed on his players the need to get the job done on the field and to hopefully close down the match as quickly as possible. The Willebroek players then went out followed the plan to the letter, being cautions early and then once they felt that Torhout was more interested in saving face at home by not losing rather than wanting to win, they took the attack to their opposition. Despite the attacking intentions from Willebroek, the teams entered the dressing rooms at half-time without having bothered the scorekeepers. Jules was sure to caution his players at half-time to be aware of the Torhout counter attack as Willebroek had falling for the sucker counter attack on a couple of occasions to date. His fears were however for naught as Torhout resumed where they left off in the first half playing a very defensive game and when they had an opportunity for the counter attack, they were too cautious to be effective. Unfortunately, Willebroek for all its endeavour, was unable to penetrate the Torhout defense and the match ended scoreless.
Torhout 0 – 0 Willebroek


Sunday 12/02/2006 home vs SW Harelbeke, Belgian Third Division A
Approaching the match against SW Harelbeke, Jules felt that his team was just loosing a bit of its edge in recent weeks. The unexpected defeat against Kapellen, the draw the previous week against Torhout all seemed to point towards the team loosing its momentum slightly. With that in mind, Jules hoped that the match against fellow promotion contenders SW Harelbeke should give a better indication of where Willebroek currently stood as a team. The match against Harelbeke was a typical encounter between contenders with both teams willing to take their chances as they arose but neither being willing to force the game and impose their will on the other. With both attacks also have an off date, the final outcome of a scoreless draw didn’t shed much light for either manager as what the future held in the battle for promotion.
Willebroek 0 – 0 SW Harelbeke


Sunday 19/02/2006 away to Diegem, Belgian Third Division A
After the poor returns in recent weeks, Jules was determined to go on the attack against Diegem who were fighting their own battle against relegation. For once, Jules was determined that his team would try to go out and dominate the opposition and hopefully pick up an early goal which would allow them to return to their normal game. Jules was granted his wish and the first goal was scored in the 17th minute, unfortunately for Willebroek it was scored by Dimitry Delmotte for Diegem when he was played though by a wonderful through ball and found himself one-one-one with the Willebroek goalkeeper and he calmly took his opportunity. To Jules’ relief, the reply was quick in coming and Omo Monday levelled the score in the 22nd minute by sneaking between the Diegem defenders to get on the end of a low cross to volley the ball pass the defenceless goalkeeper. The rest of the half was fairly tight and the 1-1 score at half-time was a fair reflection of the play to that point.

Going into the second-half, Jules was determined not to vary his gameplan and wanted his team to try and impose their will on the opposition and the team went out and executed the gameplan flawlessly with Hugo Zeghers in the 51st minute putting Willebroek in front after a well timed run from midfield. This was followed by goals from Jan Huygens in the 56th minute and Denis Ismailovski in the 65th minute to put the game beyond Diegem. Jules was sure to complement his players after the final whistle and stated his hope that the win would be the start of another streak for Willebroek.
Diegem 1 – 4 Willebroek


Sunday 26/02/2006 home vs Nieuwkerken, Belgian Third Division A
The match against Nieuwkerken seem like the perfect opportunity to continue the good form rediscovered against Diegem. After the embarrassment of the 4-0 defeat of their previous league encounter this season, Nieuwkerken was determined to offer stiffer resistance this time. The first thus quickly settled down into a pattern of Willebroek trying to force the issue with smart attacking play while Nieuwkerken defended stoutly and tried to take advantage of any counter attacking opportunities that came their way. Just before half-time in the 43rd minute, with Nieuwkerken breaking out of their own area on one of their sporadic counters, the ball was crossed into the near post and Sebastian Ressart, in his eagerness to defuse the attack, misjudged his clearing header slightly and the ball went into his own net. Half-time therefore saw the completely unjustified scoreline of Willebroek 0-1 Nieuwkerken.

Jules calmed his players down at half-time and assured them that the own goal was simply one of those random occurrences that could happen to any player and that if they continued to play their own game, Willebroek would almost certainly end on top at the end of the game. However, the expected equaliser to open the floodgates never came and when Nieuwkerken striker Steijn de Keukelaire rose to head the ball goalwards from a corner in the 72nd minute which evaded the gloves of Jan Lebegge, the shocked Willebroek home crowd were faced with the possibility of their club registering the second home defeat of the season. Despite the best efforts of Jules and his men, the score remained unchanged up to the final whistle and the Nieuwkerken players left the field celebrating as if they had won the competition.
Willebroek 0 – 2 Nieuwkerken

February ended as a disappointment in so many ways with 2 draws, 1 loss and a single win being Willebroek’s worst monthly return yet. Despite these returns, Willebroek remained at the top of the Belgian Third Division A with a 4 point lead over nearest rivals Aalst due to the main rivals also experiencing less than stellar February campaigns. With 6 games to go in the regular season, Jules and his team were starting to devote serious thoughts towards direct promotion to the Second Division, even though no one was about to start explicitly voicing those thoughts.

retired_mwilson

March 2006

With a couple of weekends being scheduled for international matches and the latter rounds of the Belgian cup, March was going to deliver a light playing schedule for Willebroek with only 2 matches scheduled. Jules Jackson tossed up whether arranging a friendly match or two would be worth the while but at this stage of the season with niggling injuries and late season fatigue setting in, he decided that he would rather try to get his team prepared for the promotion race which was now entering its final stage.

Sunday 12/03/2006 away to Bornem, Belgian Third Division A
After the two week break since the loss against Nieuwkerken, Willebroek could not ask for a better opponent that Bornem against which to regain confidence. The Bornem team was stuck to the bottom of the Third Division A table and their attack was anaemic only scoring 12 goals all season thus far making them easily the lowest scoring team in the league. It was therefore to the great surprise of both the opposition Willebroek players and his own Bornem teammates when Sven Verhulst doubled his season scoring tally by opening the scoring for the home team in the 17th minute. The shock on the Willebroek players faces was evident as despite their own less than stellar recent form, the majority of the players had obviously expected a relatively easy match against lowly Bornem.

Normalcy was restored though when Kevin Stuckens evened the scores in the 34th minute but the expected deluge of goals from Willebroek stayed out and the score remained unchanged at half-time. In the dressing rooms, Jules Jackson impressed on his players not to get impatient and set themselves up for the counter attack as he was certain that the disparity in talent and confidence would eventually tell and that the goals would then come. On the resumption, Willebroek resumed the attack and Bornem took up its favoured defensive stance. When the 70th minute passed without any addition to the score, Jules started asking himself whether he believed his own confident words at half-time as it definitely seemed that his team was wilting slightly, whether that was due to the pressure of leading the league or whether it was simply physical and mental fatigue as could be expected in the final third of the season, he wasn’t yet sure. Fortunately for Willebroek, the cavalry eventually came to the rescue in the form of Denis Ismailovski who scored in the 83rd minute after nice lead-up work from Tom de Craeke to give Willebroek the lead and the remainder of the match was played out without any significant incident despite the feeble attempts by Bornem to get back into the match.
Bornem 1 – 2 Willebroek