Bonanza

The rumours were true. Takuya Ogiwara (LB, 26) comes in on loan with an option to buy.

Shin Yamada (26, Striker) comes in on loan from Celtic https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/shin-yamada/profil/spieler/681970

Highlights of our friendly against Olympiakos

Apparently this guy is coming in on loan with an option to buy https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/takuya-ogiwara/profil/spieler/492730

Both Sory Kaba and Takahiro Akimoto have left the club. Rumour has it we got a very decent fee for both of them (between €2.000.000 and €3.000.000)

Had some bad luck with injuries if I recall correctly. Nevertheless, he had a very decent career.

Tobe Leysen and Roggerio Nyakossi most likely will be sold. They should bring in a decent amount of money. Porto and Feyenoord have shown intrest in Davis Opoku. We already signed Dani Van den Heuvel (23, GK) who's contract ran out at Club Brugge https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/dani-van-den-heuvel/profil/spieler/559320 We are also linked with Mats Rits (32, CDM) from Anderlecht and Alvaro Garcia (26, ST) from Castellon (Spanish 2nd division) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/mats-rits/profil/spieler/92164 https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/alvaro-garcia/profil/spieler/783419 I don't like the Mats Rits rumour. In my opinion he's no longer good enough to play in the Belgian 1st division.

Fairly happy. We have to be realistic and understand that OHL isn't exactly a dream destination for proven top class managers, so I think he's the best we can get at this point. We could do a lot worse in my opinion. I'm very happy the deal with Hoefkens didn't go through by the way. It will be key to build a decent squad for Simons to work with. Without a decend squad he doesn't stand a chance, just like any other manager.

Westerlo's owner is known for wanting to have a say in the team tactics and line-up. Long story short, Simons didn't play the players the owner wanted Spend last season as a pundit. His name came up a few times last season when a manager was sacked, including at OHL when Hubert left for Union, but to no avail.

Results and standings after the final round of the playoffs Champions Playoffs USG 5-1 Anderlecht Club Brugge 5-0 Gent St. Truidense 3-0 KV Mechelen Club Brugge won the league and qualifies for the League Fase of the Champions League USG will play the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League St. Truidense will play the playoff round of the Europa League Anderlecht will play the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League Gent will face Genk (winner of the Europe Playoffs) in 1 game. The winner of this game qualifies for the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League. KV Mechelen miss out on European football Europe Playoffs OH Leuven 0-2 Genk Antwerp 2-0 Westerlo Standard Liège 0-2 Charleroi Genk will face Gent (5th place in the Champions Playoffs) in 1 game. The winner of this game qualifies for the 2nd qualifying round of the Conference League. Relegation Playoffs Zulte Waregem, Cercle Brugge and La Louvière were all safe after the relegation playoffs and will stay up. Dender had to face Lommel SK (winner of the Promotion playoffs in the 2nd division) in 2 games. Dender lost 2-3 on aggregate and will drop down the the 2nd division, while Lommel will go up. Beveren won the 2nd division, while Kortrijk finished 2nd. They both get promoted the the first division. Next season's 1st division will consist of 18 team who will compete in a 'normal' competition format without playoffs

Results and standings after rounds 8 and 9 of the playoffs Champions Playoffs St. Truidense 1-1 Gent Anderlecht 2-2 KV Mechelen Club Brugge 5-0 USG Anderlecht 3-1 St. Truidense KV Mechelen 2-2 Club Brugge Gent 0-0 USG Fixtures for round 10 USG - Anderlecht Club Brugge - Gent St. Truidense - KV Mechelen Europe Playoffs OH Leuven 3-0 Antwerp Charleroi 0-1 Westerlo Standard Liège 0-0 Genk Westerlo 1-2 Standard Liège Genk 0-0 Antwerp Charleroi 1-1 OH Leuven Fixtures for round 10 OH Leuven - Genk Antwerp - Westerlo Standard Liège - Charleroi Relegation Playoffs (final standings)

Maertens' level has dropped significally due to injuries. He's no longer the player he used to be. I don't even think he's a 1st division anymore. It would be best for both him and the club to part ways. Leysen and Nyakossi have attracted a lot of interest from other clubs and will be sold for a nice fee. Verlinden most likely will also be sold, but I would like him to stay. Other players I would like to stay are Akimoto (has told the club he want to go back to Japan), Pletinckx, Lakomy, Traore, Opoku and George. I wouldn't mind if Damjanic, Vlietinck, Schrijvers, Kayo, Teklab, Kaba and Vaesen stayed, but also wouldn't be sad if they left. Players I really would like to leave: Prevot, Gil, Ominami, Dussenne, Maertens, Maziz, Verstraete, Balikwisha and Ikwuemesi I also want a new manager by the way

Results and standings after round 7 of the Playoffs Champions Playoffs Club Brugge 2-0 St. Truidense Gent 1-1 Anderlecht USG 3-0 KV Mechelen Fixtures for round 8 St. Truidense - Gent Anderlecht - KV Mechelen Club Brugge - USG Europe Playoffs Standard Liège 2-1 OH Leuven Antwerp 0-1 Charleroi Genk 3-0 Westerlo Fixtures for round 8 OH Leuven - Antwerp Charleroi - Westerlo Standard Liège - Genk Relegation Playoffs (finished) La Louvière 4-1 Cercle Brugge Zulte Waregem 2-1 Dender Dender will face Lommel (winner of the promotion playoffs in the 2nd division) in a home and away fixtures for a spot in the 1st division next season.

This team just has too many flaws. We lack quality and leadership on and off the pitch. Like you said: we were lucky to barely qualify for the Europe Playoffs. In my opinion we should've ended up in the relegation playoffs. That being said, we were never in any real relegation danger as Dender was just the worst team in the 1st division. According to multiple sources, the club will use this summer to completely overhaul the squad. Some big contracts are about to expire (Oscar Gil, Yousef Maziz, Mathieu Maertens,...) so let's hope this gives us some financial room to bring in the necessary quality.

Results and standings after round 6 of the playoffs Champions Playoffs St. Truidense 2-1 USG KV Mechelen 1-0 Gent Anderlecht 1-3 Club Brugge Fixtures for round 7 Club Brugge - St. Truidense Gent - Anderlecht USG - KV Mechelen Europe Playoffs Westerlo 3-3 OH Leuven Charleroi 2-0 Genk Antwerp 0-5 Standard Liège Fixtures for round 7 Standard Liège - OH Leuven Antwerp - Charleroi Genk - Westerlo Relegation Playoffs Cercle Brugge 2-3 Zulte Waregem Dender 2-1 La Louvière Fixtures for round 6 La Louvière - Cercle Brugge Zulte Waregem - Dender

Results and standings after round 4 and 5 of the playoffs Champions Playoffs USG 0-0 Gent Club Brugge 6-1 KV Mechelen St. Truidense 2-0 Anderlecht Gent 0-2 Club Brugge KV Mechelen 1-4 St. Truidense Anderlecht 1-3 USG Fixtures for round 6 St. Truidense - USG KV Mechelen - Gent Anderlecht - Club Brugge Europe Playoffs Genk 1-1 Charleroi OH Leuven 0-2 Westerlo Standard Liège 1-2 Antwerp OH Leuven 0-2 Charleroi Genk 1-1 Standard Liège Westerlo 2-4 Antwerp Fixtures for round 6 Westerlo - OH Leuven Charleroi - Genk Antwerp - Standard Liège Relegation Playoffs Cercle Brugge 2-1 Dender Zulte Waregem 4-0 La Louvière Fixtures for round 5 Cercle Brugge - Zulte Waregem Dender - La Louvière

Results and standings after round 3 of the playoffs Champions Playoffs KV Mechelen 1-2 Anderlecht Gent 0-0 St. Truidense USG 2-1 Club Brugge Fixtures for round 4 USG - Gent Club Brugge - KV Mechelen St. Truidense - Anderlecht Europe Playoffs Antwerp 2-0 OH Leuven Westerlo 1-2 Genk Charleroi 1-2 Standard Liège Fixtures for round 4 Genk - Charleroi OH Leuven - Westerlo Standard Liège - Antwerp Relegation Playoffs Dender 1-4 Cercle Brugge La Louvière 0-2 Zulte Waregem Fixtures for round 4 Cercle Brugge - Dender Zulte Waregem - La Louvière

The opinions are mixed, but personally I don't want them out. While King Power isn't perfect, we could do a lot worse. Lots of Belgian clubs who had foreign owners have gone bankrupt because the owner stopped paying the bills. They just have to be more hand-on and hold the people they appointed accountable if they don't do their job.