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Jules Jackson stood at the arrival terminal at Heathrow, it was wet, cold and depressing. So much for the English summer. Why exactly he stood here was still a mystery. He had had just spent the 30 hour flight and stopover from Sydney thinking about it.
Here he was, a forty-something, divorced, loser who in his desperation to get himself out of a bad situation had landed himself in no-mans land in England. The advantage of having Belgian grandparents were enough to ensure the required European Union passport and his technical background together with a deep interest in sports (pathetic as it was for an adult with so many other issues to resolve) had led him to a role working for Sports Unlimited publishing. The role had come about due to his desperation to get out of Australia and the power of the internet where a good looking resume and job application was enough to cover over the cracks in his actual working history.
Taking a cab to his eventual destination in London was out of the question based on his research into the costs of living in England once the job offer had been made and accepted. So instead, he watched the depressing landscape pass him bye while moving slowly and inefficiently towards his non-too bright future.
Six months on and Jules was slowly beginning to pick up the pieces of his life. After living in a dump of a hotel for a couple of weeks, he found a shoe-box sized flat for what he felt was an exorbitant rent but which was regarded as very reasonable by the English acquaintances he came across. His job was also not terribly taxing and as he was working for the largest publisher of sporting magazines and newspapers in Europe, he had taken to amusing himself by apply for various football coaching/managing roles he came across.
In a far-off youth, he had soon realised that despite his interest in sport, he would never be a great sportsman due to total lack of coordination and skill. Instead, he had taken a number of coaching courses in sports as disparate as football, cricket, basketball, baseball, etc. so that he could still maintain a close relationship with sport. In England, and Europe in general, football completely dominated the sporting landscape and so in his spare time, he took whichever football coaching certificates he could access, not in expectation of actually finding a coaching position, but simply to pass the time and to dream.
As the months passed and he gained various coaching badges, he started to believe that it might not be beyond the realms of possibility that he could eventually land a job in football. He would however probably have to go abroad if he was ever to achieve that as everyone he spoke to on the coaching courses explained to him that football jobs in England was virtually a closed market. Jobs were awarded based on who you knew and as Jules knew no one, he didn’t stand a chance. That, and the fact that it was his only hobby at present, didn’t however dissuade him. Even if he never got a positioning football, everything he was doing was part of the healing process. Therefore he kept on applying to far off places such as Belgium or Germany in the remote hope that someday he might strike it lucky. The same hope that lie behind playing the lottery was what kept him going with his applications to clubs in far-off places.
He missed Australia, especially with the cold, dank, dark autumn and winter and could understand why sun-depravation could lead to depression, however, what kept him sane was the realisation that returning to the land of his birth would cause more harm to both himself and others and that despite the depressing weather, he was actually starting to like being himself once more.
After a year of this existence and in the midst of a pretty good summer, Jules finally started to feel good about himself. His job was a dead-end with no prospects of promotion but it was fairly easy leaving him to pursue his interest. He had gained a raft of coaching badges and he had started travelling around England and Europe, generally short day or weekend trips but he was starting to learn more and to appreciate more his surroundings and environment. The differences that were apparent in places no more than 50km apart in the UK and the differences in countries that could fit into a corner of his beloved NSW were startling and immensely interesting to Jules and he was happy continuing in this manner with no upheavals until the fateful day in early July when he found the life-changing envelope on his doormat.
The contents were stark and brief. KVC Willebroek-Meerhof (otherwise known as Willebroek) in the Belgian Third Division A had offered him a job as manager of their football team. While Jules had continued his practise of applying for every available football management and coaching position, it had become more a matter of habit than expectation and now that he was confronted with the option, he was scared. Scared to depart from his recently found safety and regime. Scared to put himself in a position where he could once more fail. However, the fear made the decision relatively simple, he had to take the job.
After a number of calls to the chairman Christian Mellaerts to confirm that the letter had not been sent in error and to firm up the details of the offer (including a part-time job to make up for the pathetic wage) Jules Jackson became manager of KVC Willebroek-Meerhof on the 13th of July 2005 with the remit to avoid relegation and a few thousand euro to attract some faintly co-ordinated and determined players to the cause.
Thanks for the kind words chesterfan2 and mavericktango, its much appreciated. I spend far too much time playing FM for a grown man so I decided to justify my playing time by trying to develop some writing skills.
As he stepped off the plane at Zaventem airport, Jules tried to consolidate his thoughts before stepping through customs. This was his last chance to turn around and walk back to his warm and comfortable existence in England.
It may not be much but he had been happy in a certain sense and taking on the challange of managing a football club, even at this level, was going to bring a whole lot of new issues and problems to deal with. The potential for kinds of issues he had fled from in Australia to arise once more was present. However, even though he didn’t explicitly confront the issues, he sub-consciously realised that he would never really be happy until he confronted his demons.
He therefore took the fateful step through the door of Customs blissfully unaware of what he might face but happy to be taking the step once more. Christian Mellaerts wasn’t difficult to recognise in the arrivals hall as he carried a large sign with the name “Jules Jackson – Willebroek” on it. He looked like Jules imagined the stereotypical Belgian to look a well fed, well moustached, well dressed 50+ version of Hercule Poirot. Mr Mellaerts however quickly made clear that he was no stereotypical continental type. On the journey to Willebroek in his chauffeur driven saloon, he spoke flawless English, courtesy of an education at Cambridge. He also explained exactly why he chose Jules instead of the dozen or so better qualified persons who had applied for the job.
Mr Mellaerts briefly explained that he had rescued the club from receivership primarily because the ties between his family, especially with his father who had played for the club, and with his view to turning in into a valuable asset in his quest for a greater role in the media business in Belgium. He therefore wanted a fiscally responsible successful club that would reflect well on the family and his business interests. Football was big business, even in a little country as Belgium and a well run-football club would be an asset to Mellaerts business and political aims. He felt that Jules with no ties to the existing Belgian football establishment would better understand and be capable of helping him to achieve his goals and if not, the loss of Jules as manager would not be a major blow to his objectives as a local might be. While brutally honest, Mellaerts’ explanation made Jules feel a lot better in terms of understanding why he was here and what was expected of him.
As dusk was closing in, they neared Willebroek and Mr Mellaerts explained that Jules would have the rent-free use of an apartment close to the stadium. Coincidentally, the apartment block in which the apartment was situated also formed part of the Mellaert business empire. As Jules unloaded his meagre possessions from Mellaerts’ limo into the small but clean appartment, he tried to come to terms with where he exactly was. Jules had done some rudimentary research prior to making his hasty departure and the little he knew about Belgium in general and Willebroek in particular could be briefly summarised as follows. Belgium was as a country was roughly divided into French-speaking (the Walloons) and Dutch-speaking (the Flemish) regions with Brussels as the centre. Willebroek was between Brussels and Antwerp, the capital of the Dutch-speaking region and one of Europe’s major ports. He tried watching television to help him get a grip on his surroundings but to his disappointment, he didn’t understand very much of the Dutch of French channels despite his best attempts, although the availability of the BBC was a pleasant surprise.
The next morning Jules awoke to a bright summer day which went no end towards making him feel cheerful, happy and excited. A well stocked fridge had also allowed him to make himself a very respectable version of an English breakfast and when the telephone rung at 10.00am, it was no more than he was expecting. The voice at the other end of the phone was very guttural, very Flemish sounding and introduced itself as Jean-Pierre de Bakker, assistant manager of Willebroek. He informed Jules that he would be picking him up within 10 minutes and would take him to the training ground to start with the job at hand. Jean-Pierre was small, weedy and of indeterminate age somewhere between 50 and 70. He introduced himself gruffly to Jules who took a few minutes getting used to the accent before picking up the intonation.
The drove in silence to the stadium while Jules read through the team information Jean-Pierre had handed to him in a thick folder once they had gotten into Jean-Pierre’s old Renault. While most of the literature was in Dutch, there was sufficient information in English together with what Jules could make out from the rest to understand that the club currently had 21 players on its books and had room to bring in 3 or 4 more players.
The stadium and training facilities were very much as Jules had expected them to be, comparable with English Conference level clubs. It remained to be seen if the players were as dire as some of the collections of individuals Jules had seen in his travels around non-league football grounds in England. Jules had agreed with Jean-Pierre that besides introducing himself to the team, he would not take an active part in the training routines for a couple of days while he tried to get a grasp of the squad and staff. He had however agreed with Mr Mellaerts that while he would not engage in any rash firings, he would be putting as many people as possible on short-term contracts to give himself flexibility in the future if he managed to stick around.
After a couple of days observation, Jules had assessed his squad as follows:
Goalkeepers:
Gilles Berckmoes, 21 years old, no real strengths and no real feel for goalkeeping but he should be decent enough at this level to be a backup.
Johnny Lebegge, 26 years old, average all around and a decent starter at this level. His contract expires at the end of the season (as do most of the players on the squad) and if he does well in the first half of the season, he was one player whose contract should be extended as he should be good enough to be a backup at a higher level.
Thomas van Coillie, 21 years old, too short, bad hands and a lack of overall skills means that he would only be called upon in an emergency. Contract ends at the end of this season so will serve as emergency backup until then but hopefully will not get close to the first team.
Defenders
Frank Rits, 25 years old, right sided full back and midfielder, who lacked pace and wasn’t very likely to “take one for the team” but at this level, a competent starter.
Laurens Melotte, 19 years old left back. Wild, woolly and weak but with pace and an feel that he may possibly have some talent as a footballer to make a career out of it.
Jelle Geerits, 26 years old central defender. Typical lower league defender with not much agility or skill but hard and determined enough to be a pretty decent player at this level. A potential captain for this squad if he wasn’t so quiet.
Carl Meseure, 36 year old central defender. Old slow and hard as nails. A natural leader for this squad but the squad would not be progressing if he was still playing an important role at the end of the season.
Sven van der Heyden, 23 year old utility defender. Weak as water and with no real discernable skill. If he could be gotten rid of, this would be someone to move asap as the longer he stayed, the more inclined you might be to believe that he could be of some worth.
Stefan Blommaert, 21 year old left sided utility player. Lacks pace and other physical skills but probably a decent versatile backup at this level.
Midfielders
Tommy Meire, 29 year old defensive midfielder. Can’t run, tackle or pass the ball and doesn’t seem very inclined to want to play either. One to discard if the opportunity arises.
Luc de Smet, 23 year old left winger. Classical winger in that he was pacy, lazy and uninterested in doing anything except dribbling and crossing. May be useful in a 442 but strictly backup material.
Tom de Craeke, 26 year old winger. Decent player, will be a starter, can play on both sides. One of the most valuable players and highest earners and may be looking for move to a higher level.
Murat Kocat, 19 year old right-sided attacking midfielder. Nothing special but okay as a backup. Could possibly be more if he didn’t constantly look scared.
Steve Hercor, 22 year old right winger. Mirror image of Luc de Smet in that both are fast, lazy uninterested ball hogs.
Alex Vergeylen, 26 year old right-sided midfielder/forward. Pretty frail but decent all round player, probably the starting right winger if a 442 is played.
Pascal vande Gucht, 28 year old attacking midfielder. A physical speciment but slow and not very skilled either. He may however have to start on this team due to the lack of any realistic alternatives in central midfield.
Forwards
Kevin Stukens, 25 year old right sided forward who brings pace and shooting to the side but little else. May be valuable if Willebroek play a counter attacking game this year and nice option to have off the bench in the last 20 minutes.
Giles de Bilde, 34 year old left-sided forward. Jules was surprised to find someone of his reputation and notoriety on the squad. He had played for clubs such as Anderlecht, PSV, Sheffield Wednesday and even Aston Villa on load. Was known for both his disinterested approach as well as his wild temper which had led to a number of unsavoury incidents throughout his career. Was probably on his last legs but if he could still bring up the effort, even at this stage of his career he was likely to be much better than 95% of the players at this level.
Jan Huygens, 28 year old forward. Decent skills for a player at this level but nothing special physically. Possible starter at this level and decent backup at worst.
Kristof de Voegt, 28 year old speedy striker who had slightly better skills than Kevin Stukens and probably will be a starter or first man off the bench.
Peter Smolders, 20 year old young striker. Still needs to fill out a lot to play successfully at this level but one of few players on the squad with the potential to get any better.
After assessing the squad, Jules reached a number of conclusions about his approach and tactics for the coming season. He decided to go with a 4-4-2 formation as that is what his personnel were best suited too. The defence and attack looked to be decent for this level of competition although that view was yet to be tested. The central midfield was the are most in need of immediate reinforcement and with that in mind he turned his attention to his scout Bart Verjans to ask him to keep an eye out for any central midfielders who might be worth some attention. However, when he sat back and tried to absorb all the information he had gathered over the past couple of days, Jules was quite upbeat, believing his squad to be comparable to that of a English Conference-level club with a couple of players who would probably hold their own in the English League Two.
Hopeless and Clueless in Europe 
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