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Post by reamsofverse on Nov 21, 2021 19:49:29 GMT
Back in the First division after 48 years away, Belgium’s most historic club is now top of the table. They have just beaten Oostende away 7-1 and have a wonderful work model that teams like us should look at. While there are no big names in this squad — Anthony Moris probably has the biggest reputation internationally for his 42 appearances for Luxembourg — there are some interesting English connections. Tony Bloom, chairman for Premier League side Brighton, is a majority shareholder in Union SG and the squad features three English players. Midfielder Marcel Lewis came from Chelsea's U-23's, while defenders Christian Burgess and Matthew Sorinola both arrived from the League One ranks. The club also brought in Japanese winger Karou Mitoma on loan from Brighton over the summer. Fans are calling them the Leicester City of Belgium. They may not play the counter-attacking style of Leicester but their low-cost squad building philosophy is reminiscent of how Ranieri but his squad together, very few household names but players with bundles of talent. It's an unbelievable statistic that Union SG gained promotion last season and are battering teams in the top tier this season having not paid a transfer fee since the 1919-20 campaign. Les Unionistes are led up top by Deniz Undav and Dante Vanzeir, who have a combined 24 goals and 18 assists already this season after just 14 matches. There has only been one match this season in which either has not scored at least one goal, and they currently rank first and fourth respectively in WhoScored's Belgian Pro League player ratings. Both were brought in on free transfers prior to last season and were key members of the promotion-winning side. There is a good article here from Christian Burgess who they signed from Portsmouth. It was written three weeks ago so not quite up to date with the current stats. www.goal.com/en-us/news/brighton-owner-bloom-revive-royal-union-saint-gilloise/1k4rw6y4jrde1o2sjk2zmbh91www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/union-saint-gilloise-belgium-tony-bloom-b1959510.html |
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Post by Mundell on Nov 21, 2021 20:56:15 GMT
Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting. I hadn’t realised that Tony Bloom was yet another multi club owner. These types of story around data and football strategy are now coming thick and fast.
Also, I’m fairly sure that Chris O’Loughlin spent a few months at Charlton during the Duchatelet era.
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Post by zenga on Nov 22, 2021 15:23:26 GMT
Amazing club, amazing stories, amazing fans, unique stadium/ground (google it, worth a look), ... and they cultivate that in a smart way. They have lots of young fans, they have many foreign fans who visit Brussels, join for 1 game and then kept following them. Many expats as well, combined with the real Bruxellois.
They combined what was once was with how it should be in their unique way.
Intersting poll on (imo) the best sports site in Belgium:
Question: do you think that they will win the championship?
No, but they'll reach the play-offs (69%)
Yes, without a doubt (25%)
They'll end up somewhere mid-table (6%)
They'll end near the bottom (0%)
10.261 voters
Which makes a lot of sense to me: I'm pro play-offs but I don't think they have the substance to beat the other top teams 6x in a row. Due to the play-offs many of the bigger teams are not to worried about the first half of the season, since the points get halved. If it was a regular season w/o play-offs they'd have a pretty good chance.
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Post by reamsofverse on Jan 31, 2022 18:40:14 GMT
Their main striker Deniz Undav has signed for Brighton.
What a fabulous move for him but I'm gutted for Union as they are having a magnificent season after gaining promotion last season. I hope this doesn't derail them.
They top the Belgian League by nine points having beaten Anderlecht 1-0 in the Brussels derby yesterday.
Undav has scored 35 goals in 51 games since he joined Union in 2020.
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Post by revilo on Jan 31, 2022 19:03:52 GMT
You've certainly got an eye for these players Reams - you should be a scout!
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Post by aaronaldo on Jan 31, 2022 19:09:42 GMT
He’s staying with them until the end of the season so they should be ok!
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Post by reamsofverse on Jan 31, 2022 19:13:23 GMT
He’s staying with them until the end of the season so they should be ok! Well that makes sense, wasn't aware of that mate. |
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Post by reamsofverse on Jan 31, 2022 19:15:50 GMT
You've certainly got an eye for these players Reams - you should be a scout! I used to be for my Dad at Cardiff mate. Had me watch Phil Stant and Carl Dale back in the early 90's. They signed and scored 156 goals between them!! |
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Post by revilo on Jan 31, 2022 20:10:09 GMT
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Post by zenga on Jan 31, 2022 23:45:02 GMT
Something cool I heard a week or 2 ago in a TV show from their other forward Dante Vanzeir.
They have a rotation between 3 players for who takes the penalties (rotation changes every game). But if the appointed player already scored in that game, then the 2nd one on the list get to take the penalty. Works out really well for them.
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Post by divot on Feb 1, 2022 9:35:18 GMT
And the Sport Director of Union St Gilloise....Chris O'Loughlin. He's been there for a couple of years now.
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Post by reamsofverse on Feb 1, 2022 11:18:50 GMT
And the Sport Director of Union St Gilloise....Chris O'Loughlin. He's been there for a couple of years now. Wasn't he the guy CARD/CAST got stuck into when it was rumoured he would be joining us under RD? Just goes to show doesn't it. |
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Post by divot on Feb 1, 2022 15:28:39 GMT
And the Sport Director of Union St Gilloise....Chris O'Loughlin. He's been there for a couple of years now. Wasn't he the guy CATD/CAST got stuck into when it was rumoured he would be joining us under RD? Just goes to show doesn't it. Yes. Just a decent football man, who no doubt just wanted to do a decent job. He's had quite a journey from Ireland to South Africa to DR Congo to Australia to Belgium to Charlton and now back in Belgium. |
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Post by reamsofverse on May 22, 2022 20:57:11 GMT
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise were denied the Belgian Championship by Club Brugge in the end but despite losing at home to Antwerp today, Anderlecht could only draw 1-1 against Brugge meaning little Saint-Gilloise have finished as runners-up and will now play in the Champions League qualifiers later on this summer.
A fabulous achievement.
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Post by zenga on May 22, 2022 21:24:43 GMT
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise were denied the Belgian Championship by Club Brugge in the end but despite losing at home to Antwerp today, Anderlecht could only draw 1-1 against Brugge meaning little Saint-Gilloise have finished as runners-up and will now play in the Champions League qualifiers later on this summer. A fabulous achievement. Well deserved. Just not sure if it's a good thing for Belgian Football that they have to play the CL qualifiers: the Belgian ranking is under immense pressure and needs some good results. There will be a massive exodus of Union players this transfer window. Also interesting: their squad is one of the cheapest in the league, mostly players that came for free. So next transfer window will show if this squad was a fluke or if they do have some recruitment magic. |
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Post by reamsofverse on Aug 2, 2022 20:45:33 GMT
Just sat and watched Union beat Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in the Champions League qualifiers and slowly but surely I am becoming a huge admirer of this club not just on the pitch but off it. They had to play this 'home' tie in Heverlee, a district of Stella Artois making town Leuven, 45 minutes outside of Brussels this evening as their 9400 capacity Stade Joseph Mariën stadium is not up to Champions League standard, but it proved to be no disadvantage to them as they brushed aside Rangers with ease. At half time I looked at their summer transfer activity and quite literally I am gobsmacked at the fact that despite qualifying for the Champions League during their first season in the top flight in Belgium, the players they have bought have been plying their trade at clubs like Southport, Accrington Stanley where two came in from, Wiesbaden and Ingolstadt from the 3rd tier of German football, Deinze, the second tier of Belgian football which is the equivalent of L2 over here, Virton from the third tier of Belgian football which is below the National League in England and Lausanne in Switzerland. Christain Burgess is one of their CB's too. Their top player from last season, Deniz Undav has gone to Brighton for £7m. I told you all to watch their progress ages ago and now you can see why. A superbly run football club and take a look at the links below. Like I said Ross Sykes played tonight, signed from Accrington over the summer. They even loaned him to Southport and he ha spent the last four years playing for both clubs. All of a sudden its the ECL!!! uk.soccerway.com/players/ross-sykes/451703/uk.soccerway.com/teams/belgium/royal-union-st-gilloise/266/transfers/ |
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Post by weststandfruitloop on Aug 2, 2022 21:18:18 GMT
A few years ago I researched the most left-wing football clubs in major Western European countries (eg St Pauli in Germany, Celtic in Scotland, etc) and at that time RUSG were regarded as the leftiest club in Belgium but they were flailing around in the third division on gates of a few thousand. Dunno if they are still lefty (success changes fanbases a lot) but either way I'm surprised to learn they have climbed so high. Fair play to them.
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Post by reamsofverse on Aug 2, 2022 21:51:47 GMT
I'm sure Zenga can answer that for us.
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Post by zenga on Aug 3, 2022 1:35:20 GMT
I'm sure Zenga can answer that for us. First thing I hear about them being left-wing. I'd say the fan bases of Standard Liege and Charleroi are traditionally working in the metal industry, in cities where the socialists have had an absolute majority (in a country where you have 4-5 big parties). I've never heard it being a thing here. Nor do I honestly care cq. see the relevancy. In my first reply in this thread I wrote: " Amazing club, amazing stories, amazing fans, unique stadium/ground (google it, worth a look), ... and they cultivate that in a smart way. They have lots of young fans, they have many foreign fans who visit Brussels, join for 1 game and then kept following them. Many expats as well, combined with the real Bruxellois.
They combined what was once was with how it should be in their unique way."
Also today they announced a new striker from Norway's best club Bodø/Glimt, and he apparently did pretty well there. So will see how that works out. |
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Post by weststandfruitloop on Aug 3, 2022 5:51:59 GMT
I'm sure Zenga can answer that for us. First thing I hear about them being left-wing. I'd say the fan bases of Standard Liege and Charleroi are traditionally working in the metal industry, in cities where the socialists have had an absolute majority (in a country where you have 4-5 big parties). I've never heard it being a thing here. Nor do I honestly care cq. see the relevancy. In my first reply in this thread I wrote: " Amazing club, amazing stories, amazing fans, unique stadium/ground (google it, worth a look), ... and they cultivate that in a smart way. They have lots of young fans, they have many foreign fans who visit Brussels, join for 1 game and then kept following them. Many expats as well, combined with the real Bruxellois.
They combined what was once was with how it should be in their unique way."
Also today they announced a new striker from Norway's best club Bodø/Glimt, and he apparently did pretty well there. So will see how that works out. This was about 15-20 years ago and the notion I got from my research was that RUSG were seen as the left-wing club in Brussels (but they had tiny gates, maybe 500, at the time) and maybe I extrapolated that to the whole of Belgium. I tried to make it out to a game but never managed it, but if it's the club I'm thinking of (I'm sure it is) it's only 20-ish mins walk South West from the Eurostar terminal. I had plotted out the route and always planned to go to a game, but sadly have only been to Brussels twice and they were playing away both times. |
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Post by reamsofverse on Aug 3, 2022 7:49:04 GMT
I'm sure Zenga can answer that for us. First thing I hear about them being left-wing. I'd say the fan bases of Standard Liege and Charleroi are traditionally working in the metal industry, in cities where the socialists have had an absolute majority (in a country where you have 4-5 big parties). I've never heard it being a thing here. Nor do I honestly care cq. see the relevancy. In my first reply in this thread I wrote: " Amazing club, amazing stories, amazing fans, unique stadium/ground (google it, worth a look), ... and they cultivate that in a smart way. They have lots of young fans, they have many foreign fans who visit Brussels, join for 1 game and then kept following them. Many expats as well, combined with the real Bruxellois.
They combined what was once was with how it should be in their unique way."
Also today they announced a new striker from Norway's best club Bodø/Glimt, and he apparently did pretty well there. So will see how that works out. Funny you should mention Bodo, they are another club I follow closely, relatively small but won the league last season and are thriving. The player Union signed from them is Victor Boniface who scored 23 goals and recorded eight assists last season. It's a big loss for Bodo but they will replace him I'm sure. As for Union, I will give it 12-18 months and they will be the biggest force in Belgium. |
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Post by Mundell on Aug 3, 2022 8:47:56 GMT
I’ve just re-read this article from Goal.com which Paul linked above. In the light of what’s been achieved it’s absolutely fascinating. It appears that the involvement of Brighton owner Tony Bloom has been transformational and there are striking parallels with Matthew Benham’s ownership of Brentford and Midtjylland. Many of the soundbites in the article, about style of play and the use of data, resonate with what we’ve been hearing from Thomas Sandgaard. Moreover, RUSG’s Sporting director Chris O’Loughlin spent some time at Charlton while Duchatelet was owner. I remain convinced that Duchatelet had some good, well intentioned ideas, but simply lacked competence and failed badly to execute. As far as Sandgaard is concerned, he’s saying lots of the right things. The questions are whether he really means it (or is it just spin) and whether he has the money to execute? Be interesting to hear zenga ‘s perspective on Bloom’s influence at RUSG. |
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Post by zenga on Aug 3, 2022 14:32:14 GMT
First thing I hear about them being left-wing. I'd say the fan bases of Standard Liege and Charleroi are traditionally working in the metal industry, in cities where the socialists have had an absolute majority (in a country where you have 4-5 big parties). I've never heard it being a thing here. Nor do I honestly care cq. see the relevancy. In my first reply in this thread I wrote: " Amazing club, amazing stories, amazing fans, unique stadium/ground (google it, worth a look), ... and they cultivate that in a smart way. They have lots of young fans, they have many foreign fans who visit Brussels, join for 1 game and then kept following them. Many expats as well, combined with the real Bruxellois.
They combined what was once was with how it should be in their unique way."
Also today they announced a new striker from Norway's best club Bodø/Glimt, and he apparently did pretty well there. So will see how that works out. This was about 15-20 years ago and the notion I got from my research was that RUSG were seen as the left-wing club in Brussels (but they had tiny gates, maybe 500, at the time) and maybe I extrapolated that to the whole of Belgium. I tried to make it out to a game but never managed it, but if it's the club I'm thinking of (I'm sure it is) it's only 20-ish mins walk South West from the Eurostar terminal. I had plotted out the route and always planned to go to a game, but sadly have only been to Brussels twice and they were playing away both times. So I called my dad who used to play for Racing Brussels ( later merged with - and I don't know the particular order - with Whitestar and Daring Molenbeek - also know as RWDM who were top in Belgium in the late 70s) and asked him about it. He couldn't remember it being tied to a political party or it having a political color, but he definitely said that it was a 'volkse club', which would be loosely translated as a club of the regular folk, the opposite of Anderlecht which was the elite. He said he always liked playing against St-Gilles, as opposed to Anderlecht which he still hates with a passion. I remember a story my grandpa told me about Anderlecht coming to their home to sign my dad when he was 16/17. Something you Englanders don't know, but Hyacinth Bucket (Patricia Routledge) was modelled after my grandma (not really but think Hyacinth Bucket and then add a layer or 2). So she was beyond excited for my dad to join Anderlecht, as it was her ticket to the beau monde of Brussels (in her mind). My dad refused and joined a rugby club behind her back. First game of the season she went to see my dad play with the Anderlecht reserves (she never attended a football game before), only to discover that he never signed.  And that's how his football career ended. |
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Post by zenga on Aug 3, 2022 14:56:18 GMT
Be interesting to hear zenga ‘s perspective on Bloom’s influence at RUSG. Mixed feelings, someone said it wasn't Union who ended up being 2nd in our league but Brighton. St-Gilles could have never achieved what they have achieved without his financial support, and I'm not a big fan of that. On the other hand they achieved way more than what one would expect with the money that was available (as opposed to what e.g Antwerp is doing now). It's not like he injected a shitload of cash and bought any player they wanted. I do think a good amount of luck was involved that everything gelled together. We'll see if they can repeat what they did last year (top 5 would be a confirmation for me). I'm still sceptic for 2 reasons: 1) if the lower league players they signed don't perform they don't really have a fall back plan 2) they lack the infrastructure to compete with the rest The Belgian league has become incredibly competitive, with traditional clubs St-Gilles and Antwerp doing well; Anderlecht finally being run by competent people again, Club Bruges (and I hate to say it) and Genk making a lot of money with their transfers, AA Gent became a contender and build a new stadium all without a rich owner; so did KV Mechelen (FC Malines), ... it's not always the most exciting football to watch, but the quality has definitely gone up. And the way the academies work nowadays are really top. But then on the other hand we'll have to wait what the consequences of the big scandal from a few years ago will do once that goes to court. Anything is possible there really. Which might be to the benefit of a club like St-Gilles. |
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Post by zenga on Aug 3, 2022 15:05:37 GMT
Funny you should mention Bodo, they are another club I follow closely, relatively small but won the league last season and are thriving. The player Union signed from them is Victor Boniface who scored 23 goals and recorded eight assists last season. It's a big loss for Bodo but they will replace him I'm sure. Yeah I've been watching the Norwegian league a bit during the past months cause of a Norwegian football journalist I'm friends with and who tells me who to bet on. But I still don't know what to make of that league. He says about Boniface that it remains to be seen if he can play in a system that is different from Bodo's, since apparently not many players who have left Bodo have been very successful. |
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Post by reamsofverse on Aug 3, 2022 16:26:36 GMT
The Norwegian league is one of the easiest to bet on zenga. It rarely lets me down. Have you seen their second division? Brann Bergen relegated last season are absolutely running away with it. Score for fun every weekend and won all nine away games while being unbeaten so far home or away.
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Post by zenga on Aug 3, 2022 17:19:29 GMT
The Norwegian league is one of the easiest to bet on zenga. It rarely lets me down. Have you seen their second division? Brann Bergen relegated last season are absolutely running away with it. Score for fun every weekend and won all nine away games while being unbeaten so far home or away. Can't say I have. I follow someones value betting advice, i.e. bet only the games he thinks the bookies underestimated. So far so good. I'm not freak enough to watch all those games in every league in the world myself everyday. Last night at 3 am he had me watching Toluca vs Puebla in the Mexican MX league ffs. |
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Post by reamsofverse on Dec 21, 2022 19:11:41 GMT
Deniz stats for Brighton tonight. He'll make Inniss look the joke of a defender he is.
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Post by bigandy99 on Dec 22, 2022 0:00:05 GMT
Deniz stats for Brighton tonight. He'll make Inniss look the joke of a defender he is. Ye of little faith, Paul… every dog has its day.. |
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Post by legacyfan on Dec 23, 2022 9:18:41 GMT
Really interesting articles. I knew very little about them until yesterday when they fleeced me for two players (Boniface has been awful! for me) on Football Manager and then I saw this thread this morning.
Not really sure how I feel about the multi club system, obviously they are having great success at the moment but is it worth being essentially a feeder club. I'm not sure.
Edit: Just googled their stadium as Zenga suggested, a brilliant throwback.
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