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Wouter Vandenhaute has decided to take a step back and convert his mandate as executive chairman into one of non-executive chairman. He announced this to the Board of Directors of Anderlecht on Friday. Vandenhaute leaves the day-to-day management to the two CEOs, Kenneth Bornauw (Non-Sports) and Jesper Fredberg (Sports).
“The Board of Directors regrets the commotion that has arisen in recent days around Jean Kindermans,” it says in a statement from the Purple & White. “The board members unequivocally endorse the importance of the youth academy for the club and the merits of Jean Kindermans, as well as the need to continue to innovate. Within this ambition, it is the intention of the club to continue working together with Jean Kindermans on the future of Neerpede.”
“Despite a tough week for everyone who cares about the club, the Board of Directors, shareholders and management are united about the future. The club hopes that the supporters will also close ranks and stand behind the club as one man.”
Vandenhaute: “Mazzu’s appointment was an error of judgment”
In a video, Wouter Vandenhaute looks back on his time as chairman of Anderlecht. “One of the first decisions I made was to appoint Vincent Kompany as a trainer. I still fully support this because we were completely on the same page. We wanted to bring back the Anderlecht pride. I think we did that very well in those two years, because Kompany was a very good coach. There were good and less good moments, but in the end we reached Play-off 1 two years in a row. Last year we reached the cup final again. It seemed like we were really back.”
“However, I have had to conclude that the chemistry has been somewhat less in recent months,” Vandenhaute continues. “We talked about this together and came to the conclusion that it was better to end the collaboration. Vincent was able to leave for Burnley in a very serene atmosphere.” (Read more below the photo)
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“After Vincent, we wanted to bring in an experienced coach who also knew the Belgian league. That’s how we ended up with Felice Mazzu. In the first phase this worked well and we had a good start to the competition. We also reached the European group stage. But after that it quickly crumbled and it turned out that Mazzu’s way of working was quite at odds with Vincent’s very modern way of working. That is a serious miscalculation. We also drew conclusions from that and in retrospect I should have done more to keep Kompany with us.”
Finally, Vandenhaute spoke out about the appointment of new coach Riemer. “With the arrival of Brian Riemer, we are now going back very quickly to what we have built up with Vincent in those two years. Brian is a very modern trainer, but already has a lot more experience than Vinnie. He is already tried and tested in the Premier League, but in terms of ideas he comes from the same school as Kompany.”
