Thorsten Fink is a strong competitor, but the coach of the past year undoubtedly remains Nicky Hayen. Having led Club Brugge as caretaker T1 from a seemingly impossible position to the national title, with a permanent appointment as his reward, confirmation followed this season. Is the next step on the horizon?
Things are suddenly moving very quickly for Hayen, who was working at Club NXT when he took over from Ronny Deila just before the playoffs. Since then, he has had one success after another. Bruges are therefore once again on track to win prizes and in the Champions League they impress and have a chance of qualifying for the knockout stage.
Clement & Schreuder
However, things didn’t really go as planned at the start of the current season at the Jan Breydel, where Hayen was even questioned here and there due to a missed start in the league.
According to Het Nieuwsblad, however, the coach was never called into question, which president Bart Verhaeghe has also emphasized several times in the meantime. After the chaos that reigned between Ronny Deila, Scott Parker and Carl Hoefkens, he is delighted that the carousel has stopped and that peace and stability reign once again on the Bruges bench. It remains to be seen how long this will last.
After all, previous champions, including Philippe Clement and Alfred Schreuder, left for AS Monaco and Ajax.
Hayen towards the exit?
If he can maintain the current trend, Hayen could well follow the example of his predecessors. According to the newspaper, it remains to be seen whether he will remain in his post for much longer.
“Because when you aim high with a Belgian team in the Champions League, all of Europe is watching you,” we can read. According to reports, Hayen is not yet thinking about saying goodbye to the club, where he is attached for an indefinite period. However, according to Verhaeghe, the 44-year-old coach may well have bigger ambitions in the – who knows – near future.
