I must admit that I have never followed Belgian football very closely, but I remember this team being one who would often qualify for Europe when I first started taking an interest in European football as a young boy. I now see they are not even in either of the top two divisions in Belgian football. Can anyone fill in the gaps for me as to how they have fallen so far back?
They had a great manager back then, John Cordier, but after he quit, the team got worse and worse. That must have been about 1990. They sold almost the entire Uefacupwinning team to Anderlecht, including coach Aad De Mos and bought themselves a new team wich didn't perform that well. Then, I think '96 or '97 they relegated and started anew in second division, with Franky Vercauteren as coach. They promoted with a team that existed mainly out of youth players (most famous one being Joos Valgaeren, nowadays playing at Celtic Glasgow) Then Vercauteren left to become assistant at Anderlecht (that's the reason why youth gets a chance at Anderlecht lately) and Willy van den Wijngaard (big boss of cookie factory Boffin) became chairman of the board. It was a whole soap, a lot of loyal people getting fired, rumour being that Willy was manipulated by his wife. He invested about 3 million euros (in different terms) to solve the debts but then concluded he had already given too much to the club and whithdrew. The supporters were angry and put up an action, (this was two years ago) with the help of a tv celebrity who is a big fan, to keep the club alive. They were relegated to 3th division and even had to start with a minus on points (can't recall how many). Now they have planned to go for the title and get back were they belong: in first division. Detail: One of the most famous players of KV Mechelen was Lei Clijsters, father of tennis star Kim Clijsters.
That was last season. This season is different. They are currently fourth with 6 points the the 3rd division.
What I remember from those days (I was only a little boy) was that everyone was either fan of Anderlecht or KV Mechelen. I reckon they really belong in first division.
Was Molenbeek a big club? I know they reformed to be FC Brussels, but I seem to remember Molenbeek way back when.
The 3rd division is divided in two series all clubs have played four games. Divison 3A 1. Denderhoutem 10pts 2. Torhout 10pts 3. Inglemunster 9pts 4. Cappellen 6 5. Waregem 6 6. Wetteren 6 7. Wevelgem 6 8. YR Mechelen 6 9. Maldegem 6 10. Turnhout 6 11. Denderleeuw 5 12. Bornem 4 13. Nieuwkerken 4 14. RC Mechelen 3 15. Evergem 1 16. Lyra 1 Division 3B 1. Leuven 12 2. Overpelt 10 3. White Star 10 4. La Calamine 7 5. Diegem 6 6. Walhain 6 7. Tienen 6 8. Bocholt 4 9. Kermt 4 10. O.Charleroi 4 11. Sprimont 4 12. Tongeren 4 13. Namur 4 14. Francs Borains 3 15. Veldwezel 3 16. Seraing 2