Coucke sees new start at Anderlecht after Vandenhaute's departure
MONDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2025, 16:05 - lajoya
INTERVIEWS With the end of another turbulent year in sight, Marc Coucke (60) looks back on his break with Wouter Vandenhaute and the restructuring of the management at RSC Anderlecht on VTM NIEUWS. The club chairman resigned in September and sold his shares two months later, bidding a final farewell to the purple and white.
For Coucke, that departure primarily meant peace. It had been clear for some time that the partnership between Anderlecht's owner and Vandenhaute was under high tension. In the VTM NIEUWS studio, Coucke called the departure a logical step. "It was a positive development. No one can deny that Wouter had been fully committed for years. But sometimes you have to admit – and thankfully, he came to that conclusion himself – that it's not working."
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Continue reading After Vandenhaute's departure, Coucke began a thorough restructuring of the club's management. "I'm satisfied with how that process went," he says. "Against my nature, I consciously distanced myself and remained in the background. From there, I spoke with many people. This led to a new management structure, with Michael Verschueren as chairman and Kenneth Bornauw as CEO. They now handle the day-to-day management. And honestly, since that adjustment, we're already achieving better results than in the preceding months."
Coucke took over Anderlecht at the end of 2017, but the past few years have been anything but smooth. Major investments have yielded little tangible success so far. Yet, he doesn't regret his decision. "Absolutely not. I'm active in several companies, and not everything pays off immediately. That's part of entrepreneurship. The unfortunate coincidence was that Anderlecht—the project with the most visibility—was also the most challenging."
"Not everything you undertake immediately turns to gold," concludes Coucke. "You need talent, but also luck and the right people in the right place. We hadn't found that combination yet. I'm confident that the mix is there now."
