INTERVIEWS Anderlecht's CEO spoke to the press this afternoon about the dismissal of Olivier Renard and the search for a new coach and sporting director. “Reaching European competition remains our goal,” he said. “It was a big surprise for us. He informed me on Friday and since then we've had many conversations.
I asked him to focus on the match in Genk. Originally Edward was supposed to take charge of the two-legged cup tie and the match against Genk, but he insisted on travelling to Watford today. Very unfortunate, but we only want staff members who are completely focused.”
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Continue reading “I have a lot of respect for him, but we did not see him as the right person for this position for the club's future. In some areas he did good work, for example in the sale of a few players. There were also shortcomings. We need a stable team on the pitch that can deliver, and that has not always been the case. We worked together on the winter transfer window, but we need a different profile.”
“Ideally you first appoint a sporting director and then a coach. At the moment, however, a new coach is the most urgent matter. In the short term we need someone; our aim is to reach an agreement with a new coach by the end of this week. We need someone with strong leadership qualities — someone who brings confidence and gets Anderlecht playing again.
The search for a new sports director has started, but that is more of a medium-term task.” “We are still fourth and two matches away from winning the Cup. Our objective was to qualify for European football next season and that ambition remains. The outside world sees us as very vulnerable — I don't. This is the moment to start rebuilding.”
