The title won a few weeks later only reinforced this idea. And practically forced President Bart Verhaeghe to stop his search for a coach of European stature for the following season. Thanking Hayen after such a spectacular comeback would have been too cruel. The former trainer, on the edge of C4 with Club NXT and promoted by default after the dismissal of Ronny Deila, deserved a real chance.
We doubted his success. We even made him the number one favorite with the unenviable label of first fired coach of the 2024-2025 season. Bet already lost since three T1s have already been kicked out (Lattanzio in Saint-Trond, Riemer in Anderlecht and Garcia in Louvain). But above all, Hayen proves that we were wrong to a much greater extent.
gullHe coaches in his own image: without fuss and without trying to make it complicated.
Without making a fuss, he resisted a complicated start (beaten in the Super Cup, one point out of nine to start the Pro League). He has settled comfortably on the Bruges bench since then. His Club is much better placed in the league than last year, with a controlled delay on Genk, and in the race for qualification for the next round in the Champions League.
In his image, he does not try to make things complicated with the workforce he has. He knows who his best players are (Jashari, Onyedika, Tzolis, Vanaken, etc.) and seeks to place them in ideal conditions. He managed to organize a serious rotation to keep as many players as possible involved, even if the rookie Siquet demanded more playing time. And he successfully launched several young players, notably allowing Seys to become Diable for a few hours, before ‘an injury doesn’t postpone the kid’s dream.
In short, Hayen is doing a good job and, even if the future of a coach always remains fragile, he proves all those who doubted him wrong, starting with yours truly. All our apologies to Nicky, who even becomes an example to follow for young, ambitious and inexperienced technicians, like David Hubert at Anderlecht.
