| Wouter Vrancken 15:20 - Jun 25 with 1792 views | WolfieAtTheBack |
Belgian football's manager of the year is new head coach at Hearts.
Wonder if we knew anything about him given the Bloom based data thing. |  | | |  |
| Wouter Vrancken on 15:26 - Jun 25 with 1709 views | hype313 |
So he's gone from one Mickey Mouse league to another. |  |
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| Wouter Vrancken on 15:30 - Jun 25 with 1684 views | Axeldalai_lama |
I doubt he would have whet any appetites. Looks like a journeyman who has managed half the lesser Belgian league teams. Scottish league is more similar to the Belgian I imagine. Coming anywhere close to a job here would have been a massive step up. |  | | |
| Wouter Vrancken on 15:31 - Jun 25 with 1667 views | soupytwist |
You would hope that in the big long list of places to look for future managers, there's a heading of "Is there anyone who appears to be outperforming their expected results outside the big European leagues?" and his name would have appeared there for his work at Genk and Sint-Truiden.
Might not have been the best idea to get him in though. Sint-Truiden, according to their Wikipedia page "commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV or by their nickname De Kanaries". |  | | |
| Wouter Vrancken on 15:43 - Jun 25 with 1554 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
Or we just decided that GON is a better candidate.
The fact that guy got a gig in the SPL, probably tells you hes not at the required level. |  |
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| Wouter Vrancken on 15:52 - Jun 25 with 1484 views | soupytwist |
| Wouter Vrancken on 15:43 - Jun 25 by Marshalls_Mullet |
Or we just decided that GON is a better candidate.
The fact that guy got a gig in the SPL, probably tells you hes not at the required level. |
Given that Tony Bloom owns a significant chunk of Hearts (and has been heavily involved at Union Saint Gilloise) I think it's not quite right to dismiss Vrancken as just being SPL level.
If any of the other clubs in the SPL had appointed him, then maybe, but Bloom has a good history of choosing somewhat off the wall candidates at Brighton and them being successful.
Perhaps some of the other elements of the Hearts set up, also enabled by Bloom, will increase his chances of success.
Maybe Vrancken will be the one we go for in two years once O'Neil has kept us in the Premier League. | | | |
| Wouter Vrancken on 16:51 - Jun 25 with 1190 views | Hermann_eats_puffin |
| Wouter Vrancken on 15:52 - Jun 25 by soupytwist |
Given that Tony Bloom owns a significant chunk of Hearts (and has been heavily involved at Union Saint Gilloise) I think it's not quite right to dismiss Vrancken as just being SPL level.
If any of the other clubs in the SPL had appointed him, then maybe, but Bloom has a good history of choosing somewhat off the wall candidates at Brighton and them being successful.
Perhaps some of the other elements of the Hearts set up, also enabled by Bloom, will increase his chances of success.
Maybe Vrancken will be the one we go for in two years once O'Neil has kept us in the Premier League. |
Yes agree with the above and although we may not know much about this manager the influence of Tony Bloom and Jamestown Analytics is all over what Hearts are doing and so this will be a calculated move for them. |  | | |
| Wouter Vrancken on 17:13 - Jun 25 with 1068 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| Wouter Vrancken on 15:52 - Jun 25 by soupytwist |
Given that Tony Bloom owns a significant chunk of Hearts (and has been heavily involved at Union Saint Gilloise) I think it's not quite right to dismiss Vrancken as just being SPL level.
If any of the other clubs in the SPL had appointed him, then maybe, but Bloom has a good history of choosing somewhat off the wall candidates at Brighton and them being successful.
Perhaps some of the other elements of the Hearts set up, also enabled by Bloom, will increase his chances of success.
Maybe Vrancken will be the one we go for in two years once O'Neil has kept us in the Premier League. |
I know Bloom has an interest. But you can take more of a chance in a league like that, because relatively small player investment will have a huge impact.
A bit like when we appointed KM in L1. | |
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| Wouter Vrancken on 17:43 - Jun 25 with 955 views | WolfieAtTheBack |
| Wouter Vrancken on 15:52 - Jun 25 by soupytwist |
Given that Tony Bloom owns a significant chunk of Hearts (and has been heavily involved at Union Saint Gilloise) I think it's not quite right to dismiss Vrancken as just being SPL level.
If any of the other clubs in the SPL had appointed him, then maybe, but Bloom has a good history of choosing somewhat off the wall candidates at Brighton and them being successful.
Perhaps some of the other elements of the Hearts set up, also enabled by Bloom, will increase his chances of success.
Maybe Vrancken will be the one we go for in two years once O'Neil has kept us in the Premier League. |
This Bloom does seem to get quite a lot of it right, including trying to attract our now ex manager.
Tony knows exactly what we all need. | | | |
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| Wouter Vrancken on 18:08 - Jun 25 with 870 views | bsw72 |
The Belgian league ranks 11th based on the EUFA Country Coefficients for 2025/26, however this does not make it the 11th best league in Europe, as potentially second tier leagues such as Championship etc may actually be considered more challenging.
He was also Golden Shoe coach of the year in Belgium in 2022, but no club outside of Belgium has taken a punt on him and he has never been mentioned "in dispatches" with other clubs.
I would much rather have O'Neil next season than taking a gamble on a manager who would need to come up to speed with the PL as well as building a PL squad. |  | | |
| Wouter Vrancken on 18:16 - Jun 25 with 842 views | WolfieAtTheBack |
| Wouter Vrancken on 18:08 - Jun 25 by bsw72 |
The Belgian league ranks 11th based on the EUFA Country Coefficients for 2025/26, however this does not make it the 11th best league in Europe, as potentially second tier leagues such as Championship etc may actually be considered more challenging.
He was also Golden Shoe coach of the year in Belgium in 2022, but no club outside of Belgium has taken a punt on him and he has never been mentioned "in dispatches" with other clubs.
I would much rather have O'Neil next season than taking a gamble on a manager who would need to come up to speed with the PL as well as building a PL squad. |
I think the underlying point of this thread is an established PL operator like Tony B has more reach in many many markets. Options if you will for the short, medium and long terms. | | | |
| Wouter Vrancken on 18:47 - Jun 25 with 764 views | armchaircritic59 |
Not exactly a monumental achievement given that the Belgian top league is rated behind the English Championship on Opta's latest league rankings ( today ). Non the less I congratulate him on that achievement. He should find it a walk in the park, considering the top league in Scotland is rated at number 43, ( Belgium is 7th ) and behind the likes of the English League1 and the might of the Cypriot League1 ! |  | | |
| Wouter Vrancken on 18:49 - Jun 25 with 751 views | NthQldITFC |
We couldn't have hired him - his name sounds too much like "What a w**ker!" Imagine the chants! |  |
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| Wouter Vrancken on 21:35 - Jun 25 with 547 views | bsw72 |
| Wouter Vrancken on 18:16 - Jun 25 by WolfieAtTheBack |
I think the underlying point of this thread is an established PL operator like Tony B has more reach in many many markets. Options if you will for the short, medium and long terms. |
It’s just Bloom influencing how to use his “managers” across his minority clubs, less use of data and more about his money, no different to how Chelsea owners leveraged their investments elsewhere. Our access to Jamestown Analytics has probably been ended following our promotion anyway.
I have to admit I know less about Bloom than I do about Matthew Benham, I remember him from my days at Deutsche before he went into the gambling industry. Now he is a very clever chap. | | | |
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