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Posts posted by Davy Vandenbroucke
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2 hours ago, Blueshoff said:
Looks like a young Jay Rayner
Certainly food for thought.
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Looking for one for this as well.
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2 minutes ago, Tiger Shaw said:Jury’s out on that one mate
Jury’s Inn imo.
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If he plays in the OF next week, hopefully he can do-well yaaaassss
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3 minutes ago, graeme_4 said:Usually need to wait for the swelling to go down.
1 minute ago, RFC55 said:Genuinely what happens when you’re swollen.
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23 minutes ago, G.E.C. said:
Braga usually give us the full tier which holds about 4k I’m sure.
Aye even though they could just give us the minimum they always give us the full stand.
Pretty sure Shakhtar would be similar, don’t think any of the others would though.
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2 minutes ago, The Specky Forum Organiser said:
He is massively wrong.
Leagues as bad as he is making out don't have clubs beating Betis, Frankfurt and Feyenoord in the same week.
Where would Morecambe come in our league?
Not a wise question imo.
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Here are the teams we can draw in the next round, alongside the minimum allocation we’re entitled to for each ground:
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17 hours ago, G.E.C. said:
He’s a nice family man but still a wank professionally.
Going by his behaviour when he was up here, I doubt it.
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This is a QPR fan being interviewed at length by a Sunderland fan site about him, sound familiar?
What was your initial reaction when you saw the news?
I’m not surprised. One of the other candidates for the QPR job last summer, when he heard Beale had been interviewed for it, told a friend of a friend “well, I won’t be getting that one then.” Beale’s ridiculously confident in his own ability, he’s got miles of chat, and once he gets you in the room he can basically talk you into anything. QPR, execs and players alike, were absolutely wowed by him initially.
Sunderland have a young and ambitious owner, they’ve got a very young team with a development model, Beale’s record at academy level and self-assuredness meant he was always going to be able to sell himself as the man for that job and as soon as I heard he was being interviewed I knew he’d get it. Whether it’s all chat and bravado, or he is actually well suited to this, we’ll find out in time I guess.From afar it appears he was doing a decent enough job at QPR. I remember in the game at the SOL when your keeper scored that you were right at the top end of the table - so from that perspective and going back to that time, what was he doing right?
Well, it’s interesting. That game at The Stadium of Light is an excellent test case because I thought for 88 minutes there we were complete crap, distinctly second best, easily beaten, and we ended up escaping with our first goal from a direct free kick since the Cretaceous Period, and the first goal from a goalkeeper in the history of the club. That was part of an August in which we won one game, and messed up at home against Blackpool and Rotherham. In his last five games at QPR we scored one goal and took one point and, again, there were games in there (Coventry A, West Brom H) where we total garbage.
In between, we had an amazing September and October where we stuck eight wins on the board and topped the table briefly. Amongst that, at Millwall, Bristol City and Sheff Utd in particular, were some of the best QPR performances in recent times. We absolutely took Cardiff apart at ours. There were, however, some freaky events. Long range goals from the likes of Chair and Willock, odd refereeing decisions in our favour (Cardiff had a penalty and a red card awarded against them in the first half and it wasn’t even a foul).
The season subsequently crashed and burned to such an extent that everybody pined for the great times under Mick Beale, but they forget that the start and end of his brief time with us was poor, the players he brought in during the summer almost all became massive problem children for us, and things had already started to go badly awry before he left. Even when it was going well the xG evangelists were saying it would never last to that extent because you don’t score from 30 yards every week even if you do have Willock and Chair to pick from.
He’s either a miracle worker that got one of the worst QPR teams we’ve ever seen to the top of the league, or a charlatan who was responsible for putting that dreadful group together and got really lucky that all of them hit form and fitness at the same time early in the season. Obviously he wasn’t here long enough for us to be able to tell which it was, but his subsequent spell finishing third in a two-horse race in Scotland might be instructive.It wasn’t long after that he was linked with the job at Wolves - it seemed to turn his head. What actually happened?
What Mick would like you to believe is that Premier League Jorge Mendes FC decided, completely of their own volition and without prompting, that Mick Beale was going to be their new manager despite his career as a number one, at this point, consisting of a dozen Championship games with Queens Park Rangers.
They did this without ever speaking to his agent or representative, who he does not have, nor interviewing Mick personally, and were somehow still so confident he was their man that they went around briefing journalists at The Athletic, Telegraph etc that it was all done and dusted and they were just waiting for our midweek game with Cardiff to finish before getting it all tied up in time for their weekend game with Leicester. When an official approach followed, Mick turned them down immediately because he felt it was the right and honourable thing to do for the club that gave him his managerial break, and important to do without meeting them because how would it look if he’d asked everybody to buy into his QPR project if he was the first to jump ship? He hadn’t, however, felt the need to communicate this steadfast desire to stay with QPR and turn Wolves down at any point during a fevered week of speculation, despite suggestions from the QPR media team that it might help, because… well just because. And if you believe any of that then please take a friend with you when you go to buy a used car.
Jacqui Oatley and other Wolves-based media report that he met with the club twice (there’s that ‘getting them in the room’ thing again). We understand it wasn’t the first club he’d done so with either, despite him only being at QPR a few months. Ultimately he turned them down either because QPR were completely out of hand and top of the league at that stage and he thought he had a chance of getting a promotion to the Prem on his CV, or more likely his mate Ross Wilson up at Ibrox had tipped him the nod Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was on his last legs and the Rangers job would be coming up shortly. QPR fans took a flag with his face on saying “loyalty will always be rewarded” to a Friday night defeat against Birmingham, and the day after that he Instagrammed his big day out in the director’s box at Ibrox – “showing support to Gio and the boys”.
I thought he might have wanted to maybe go and watch one of the teams we had coming up, but I’m hopelessly idealistic like that.He then ended up at Rangers in Scotland and I can remember your fans weren’t overly pleased by the way he conducted himself - why was that?
I think QPR fans are fairly well aware of our place in the modern footballing world, much as it pains those of us who remember us being fifth in the Premier League and getting top cup finals in the 80s and what have you. We’ve largely been left behind by the modern sport, mainly through our own incompetence and poor decisions over the years.
If we have a player (Ebere Eze, Charlie Austin) doing bits here we know he’s going to attract interest and will want to further his career somewhere else. In fact, the way FFP is for non-parachute payment clubs, we need that to happen quite regularly to finance our squad building. Eze is loved and revered at Loftus Road still, even though he’s playing for Palace, and when Austin scored on his Southampton debut at Man Utd the Crown and Sceptre went nuts.
We obviously take the piss out of the four fixtures a year with Ross County, and oh my God if we miss the 12 noon Old Firm derby we might have to wait until the 12.15 Old Firm derby, but Rangers are a big club with enormous support and European football. If Beale had stayed and lost another three or four games on top of the five he’d already bollocksed up we’d probably have been talking about sacking him anyway. But there are ways of going about these things.
To come out and give it all that chat about “loyalty and integrity”, trotting out fanciful lines about how he’d felt it important to turn Wolves down without even meeting them, and then walk out a month later anyway… Well, how would you guys have taken it?In terms of style of play, what can we expect?
I actually think it could potentially be a good fit, annoyingly. You’ve got the sort of players who would fit really well into the style that was working briefly when we were doing well last September and October. I’ve seen a good deal of angst from your fans online and I understand that, but I begrudgingly do wonder whether this could go pretty well.
He’s got it all laid out for him there, the base work has been done, it’s annoying to see him fall on his feet like this to be honest. He likes the ball on the deck, he likes to attack, it’s always a back four, it’s usually 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1. Nothing revolutionary but attractive enough. Not at all dissimilar from what you’ve already been playing when I’ve seen you.
Some harbingers of doom to watch out for…
- Do not let him anywhere near the recruitment. He basically came into QPR and insisted on bringing all his own boys in, lumbered us with a crock of injury prone shite, all of whom he’d very conveniently worked with before, and they all downed tools the moment he left. If he’s lucky enough to get another big job like this, he should be doing so under the proviso he works with the players he’s given.
- Players arriving with great long stories about how he first coached them when they were eight-years-old, or went to school with their mum, or attended their Christening, or knows from the local youth club or some such horse shit.
- Leon Balogun. If that guy shows up, turn off all the lights, close all the curtains, hunker down low and pretend Sunderland FC never even existed, until he fucks off far enough away for it to be deemed safe for you all to come out again. Like planting your garden up with Japanese knot weed.
- “Set piece coach Harry Watling”. Not a conspicuous success, Seny Dieng equalisers not withstanding.What’s he like as a character?
He’s basically this generation’s Harry Redknapp.
For the Sunderland fans reading this who might not be sure about this appointment, what would you say to them?
Don’t get too attached.
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The actions spoke louder than words for Fashion Sakala. In the end, he didn’t even get to say goodbye to Rangers as his Ibrox love affair ended in an abrupt divorce.
Four months on from his exit, the manner of the move to Saudi Arabia still hurts. Sakala believes that he deserved better, and it is hard not to agree. The Zambian is as aware of his limitations as a player as the supporters who took him to their hearts but both parties were denied the chance to bid farewell at the end of a career that could have delivered much more.
There is no point in holding grudges given the passing of time, but Sakala still harbours regrets. His first major interview since that exit - held exclusively with the Rangers Review - feels like the chance for him to get some issues off his chest.
The trademark wide smile fills the screen as Sakala joins via a video link. You don’t have to be close to the 26-year-old to know of his endearing personality, the lust for life that made him such a boisterous presence within the dressing rooms at Auchenhowie and Ibrox.
Yet there is a serious side to Sakala, too. He is ebullient when the conversations centres on his relationship with Steven Gerrard, the way he bonded with the fanbase and the achievements during his time in blue. He does, though, adopt a more sombre tone when addressing his final weeks spent in Glasgow.
Sakala returned to pre-season training in the summer with a renewed vigour and focus, determined to become a mainstay of the new-look forward line that Michael Beale was assembling. The reality quickly dawned as the dream turned into a nightmare. Sakala was part of the squad that Beale took to a training camp in a German forest. He was not part of the plan, though, and he soon found himself in the wilderness.
“I went back to pre-season in Germany and it was a big surprise because my pictures were not taken,” Sakala tells the Rangers Review. “I was scoring beautiful goals and my goals were not published. I could see my friends celebrating goals. When we had a team meeting, my answers were not allowed to be published. People started asking if I was there in pre-season. I was there from the beginning to the end. It was a hard one to take for me. Even if there was a club that wanted to buy me, I could have at least been respected a little bit and left the club in a good way. To be told not to train with the team for no reason… I have never had a discipline issue with the club. It was hard for me. Rangers was a club that I felt was like my home and receiving that treatment was so hard for me.”
To many, Beale included, the sale of Sakala made sense from football and financial perspectives. The former KV Oostende forward was deemed surplus to requirements in the Ibrox attack and Beale utilised some of the £4million fee received, and decent profit banked on a free transfer recruit in the summer of 2021, to complete moves for Danilo, Cyriel Dessers and Sam Lammers.
The point has been made on more than one occasion in the months since that Sakala would have offered just as much, if not more, than those that Beale put so much faith in. The chance to prove it never arrived for Sakala. Beale rhymed off platitudes about his rapport with Sakala – describing it as ‘really close’ and ‘maybe even stronger than with anyone else in the group’ – but the man himself lived a very different reality.
“That was the hard one,” Sakala adds of his deteriorating relationship with Beale. “When I was coming back for the new season, I thought the coach would trust me and want me there for the new season. He didn’t talk to me about anything or any transfers. He clearly showed me that I wasn’t part of his plans without telling me anything. The time I received a call from Mick Beale was when he told me not to come to the training ground anymore. That was hard for me because I didn’t do anything. Players leave clubs but they are not told not to go to the training ground, not told not to be part of the team. You can have clubs that can come in for you but still, you are training with the team. I stayed without training with the club for almost two weeks.”
By the time that call arrived, Sakala knew that the writing was on the wall. Rumours of Saudi interest had been persistent over the summer and the deal eventually suited all parties as Sakala packed his bags and started a new life in one of the most talked about leagues in the world. His move to Al-Fayha may not have been greeted with the same fanfare as the ones that saw Cristiano Ronald join Al-Nassr or Karim Benzema leave Real Madrid for Al-Ittihad, but it was another notable transaction in an intriguing window. He laments the loss of fitness he suffered as a result of being banished by Beale and admits that it impacted his start in Saudi as he had to ‘start again’.
Now, life for Sakala is good. He beams that he is having fun and that - ‘by the Grace of God’ – things are ‘moving fast’. He has become well accustomed to quick changes on and off the park. His only wish is that he could have had time to take stock.
“I think I deserved much better, I deserved to be respected at least,” Sakala says. “I can leave the club, but don’t tell me not to train with the team, don’t tell me not to go to the Rangers Training Centre anymore, as if I did something wrong. I understand you want to sell me to get money to buy new players, that is fine. But let me just be part of the team, let me say goodbye nicely to my teammates. When I received a call that I shouldn’t go to the training ground anymore, I didn’t see any of my teammates anymore. It was hard to say goodbye in such a bad way to people who looked after me so well – Tavernier, Goldson – I had to talk to them on phones when it was time to leave. It was hard for them to believe that I wasn’t allowed to go to the training ground anymore.”
Sakala has not been back in Glasgow since. Given the affection that he has for the club and the supporters, it is clear he would love to pull on the blue jersey once again in the future. That fate is not in his hands, but neither will it be Beale’s decision.
The Englishman was the third and final manager that Sakala played under at Ibrox. His relationship with the second, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, was not exactly smooth, either but the man that signed him still has a place in his affections. Indeed, when he was reunited with Gerrard earlier this season, the warm words and warm embrace said it all.
It was Gerrard who took a chance on Sakala, who offered him the platform to progress in a career that had taken him from the poverty-stricken streets of Chipata to Ibrox. His first season with Rangers delivered 13 goals and three stand out. It was a sliding doors moment, but not in the manner that Sakala hoped it would be.
“When I look back when Gerrard was there, I became an important player immediately when I joined the club,” Sakala suggests. “I remember I watched a few games on the bench and Gerrard told me ‘I want you to keep watching because I know you will start playing. I want you to understand how we want to play as Rangers’. He called me into his office and said he thought that I was ready and that tomorrow I would be starting. That was the game against Motherwell and I scored a hat-trick. It was special, it was special for me. I believed that this man got me for a purpose, without knowing that he would be leaving in the next few days. When he left, the new manager came in, I was back to the bench and that was it.”
Gerrard believed that Sakala was a rough diamond that could be polished into a Rangers player. Van Bronckhorst, and then Beale, had different opinions on him as a forward and Sakala was never able to hold down a regular starting spot, and certainly not in his preferred role as a striker.
His term ended with the joy and pride of a Scottish Cup medal and the sense of what might have been in Seville. Introduced as a substitute against Eintracht Frankfurt, Sakala believed he would be a penalty taker. As it transpired, he was replaced by Aaron Ramsey. No further details are needed.
A dozen goals were netted in the second season. Sakala was on the scoresheet as Beale’s side beat Celtic at Ibrox and finished the campaign with a strike against Hearts and brace in the victory over St Mirren. It proved to be his final minutes in blue.
“When I look at my statistics, I was coming from the bench but I was scoring goals or making an assist,” Sakala reasons. “It was sad the way I said goodbye to Rangers, it is very sad. I know the fans didn’t understand the role they were playing with me, but they really helped me a lot. The favour I wasn’t getting from the managers, I was getting it from the fans, I was getting it from the players. Sometimes I was going to games very frustrated but knowing that the fans were there. I was pushing myself every day and working hard every day to do it for them because when I did it, I knew they would be very proud of me and would be singing my song and pushing me. They played a bigger role for me there than some of the coaches I worked with at Rangers, to be honest. For me, the fans were more important than some of the coaches there. Except Gerrard, he was special.”
The bond that Sakala had with the man who masterminded 55 proved to be short-lived. Regardless of whether it was Gerrard, Van Bronckhorst or Beale in the dugout, Sakala had an affinity with the Ibrox crowd that lasted until his emotional departure.
The Zambian was serenaded to the tune of ‘Waka Waka’ by those on the terraces throughout his time in Glasgow. The Shakira hit was a catchy addition to the repertoire, and it meant a lot to the man who lapped up the adulation.
“That was special, that was special,” Sakala smiles. “I love Rangers fans. I have played for a few clubs and I have never felt the love that I felt in Glasgow, that was special. I have seen players be there for years but never get a song but I went there for only a few months and my song was already out. It was very special and I love them. I would like to go back to Ibrox and say goodbye nicely to them because they played such a big role in my life and my career. Honestly, I am here today and I still respond to Rangers fans, I respond when they send messages because I am in love with them. They did so much for me.”
Many supporters will still keep tabs on Sakala’s fortunes as he plies his trade in the Saudi Pro League. From his base in Al Majma'ah, Sakala is a regular viewer of the action at Ibrox. Another change in the dugout resulted in Philippe Clement’s appointment as manager and Sakala is well aware of what the Belgian will bring after seeing his successes at Genk and Club Brugge at close hand.
Silverware is non-negotiable for Rangers this term. Sakala only had that single medal to take with him from Scotland to Saudi as he arguably found himself in the right place at the wrong time. He wishes nothing but success for those that he has left behind.
“There were times when I had bad moments on the pitch, maybe I didn’t deliver the way they expected,” Sakala admits. “That is what I could have done for them at that moment. I was moving because of them putting confidence in me. I wasn’t trusted by the coaches, I could play two or three games good and then if I played the next game bad I would be out. That shows that I wasn’t trusted. They didn’t see it that way, they played a big role for me because the players and the fans were the main targets for my hard work and my confidence. The coaches, since Gerrard left, it was the fans and the players that were there for me.”
Sakala believes Clement will deliver silverware to Ibrox as the Belgian prepares for his first shot at glory at Hampden this weekend. Clement will look to guide his side into the knockout rounds of the Europa League when Rangers face Real Betis in their final Group C clash on Thursday evening. But it is the showdown with Aberdeen that takes precedence for Rangers this week as they seek to end their long wait for League Cup glory.
Sakala watched on as Clement delivered Pro League titles with Genk and Club Brugge during his time on the continent with Oostende before he made the move to Glasgow. And the Zambian believes the 49-year-old is the man to bring titles and trophies back to Ibrox.
“When I saw that Rangers had signed him, I said ‘They have got the right man, they have got the right man’. He is what was missing,” Sakala explains. “He needs time, of course, but I think everything will change at Rangers.
“I follow Rangers, I can see the results, see the way they are playing. It is not the same Rangers. I think he needs time to make his own signings and things will be much better. It is a club that deserves to win.
“I would be proud to see the club win again, as a former player I would like to see them win every season. I check the results and if I see they have won the game, I am happy. For the new coach, I think Rangers have got the right person and he will give them the results they deserve. He will bring back the smile on the fans.
“Being there, it is special. The love of the fans is far better than other big clubs. When you go to Ibrox, even for a friendly game, you have pressure like it is a final. The fans always want to win, the passion they have for the club, the love they have for the club is just massive.
"They just want the club to win and hopefully, Rangers keep winning and win trophies. I would be very happy to see them lifting more trophies.”
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Reportedly out until April.
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1 minute ago, BlueSuedeSambas said:We got a great deal for Sakala tbh.
Seriously though, imagine how much of a cunt you have to be to fall out with a guy like Fashion Sakala
He’s like the happiest person ever.
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4 minutes ago, psb07158 said:Astounded that VAR never gave a penalty for that “block” by Johnston. He’s not even looking at the ball, has thrown his body at it and his left arm has stopped it going in the net. You can’t say that’s in any way, a “natural” position for a defender to be in.
Well done Killie though, saw the highlights and they actually just aggressively went for it. Exactly what we should have done at Ibrox but that mole-faced prick has the football IQ of an eight year old and fucked us.
The form table for the last eight games has us five points clear of them.
In essence, if it wasn’t for Beale so spectacularly fucking up the start of our season, we would probably have a decent lead at this point.
Honestly, I can’t stand that fucking cunt for the mess he left us with.
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13 minutes ago, RFC55 said:
Good feedback for the poster in question not so much at your end
merry Christmas bronzy
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The clique ganging up on a mod, sad to see tbh.
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1 minute ago, RFC55 said:
Very shite and tenuous link there. Standard of mod on here has deteriorated
Poor feedback imo.
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*****the official Bheggars v The Famous RFC ******
in Jimmy Bell's Kitroom
Posted
Surprisingly not that downbeat, definitely doesn’t feel the same as the defeats under Gio and Beale - think the only real difference was the finishing and general play upfront of each team, as well as some horrendous officiating.
Feels like when we lost 2-1 in 2019 under Gerrard, or when they lost 1-0 in Postecoglou’s first OF. Despite the result you get a sense that the tide is turning.