Current Player Thread Brian De Keersmaecker

[Carpy]

 

[Made-in-Jericho]

Shafted by BDK and shafted by the EFL - will they allow us some tiny bit of flexibility to allow the Villa lad's move?

Following the poor result last night and Premier league spending yesterday I'm feeling pretty sick and disillusioned with football at the moment.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Bristol City are sort of our feeder club, in reverse. Players that do well for us are sent there and disappear without trace.

 

[Clem]

This move to Bristol City looks to have been on the cards for months, going on BDK first words on their site.

“I had the conversation with the manager two months ago and he explained the plan. He really convinced me and I cannot wait to get started,” said De Keersmaecker.

 

[Swaby39]

He didn't spare us from embarrassment on many occasions. I remember him looking to the bench just wanting to come off in one game and his overall demeanor from very early on was one of disconnection. He didn't really try to fit in once he realized the state of the team. That's on both him and the management.

You’ve said it yourself - the state of the team. He was our big signing at the time and all the noises were that more were to follow. There is not a chance in hell we had a ~£5m budget at outset and blew it on a 3rd right back and BDK. Therefore, he would’ve expected as much as we did that we would go on to sign several more players at his level.

He should’ve been the player we built around and that is where the waste is. We wasted the player, not the money.

But nothing excuses his actions so we are where we are and I’m glad to see the back of him & the situation.

 

[Osei Yaw]

At least I can understand why he'd desperately want to go there (unlike Mills to Preston). That's the right sort of club for him. A good enough side that he'll see enough of the ball, without getting flogged every week. But not quite good enough that he will be a sub at best. With time I can see him establishing himself as a first choice player and eventually getting another move up the pyramid. It's probably what he thought he was signing up for here before the budget got pulled.

Not that that excuses him in any way from how he's behaved all summer. He could still be making the move there but off the back of pulling his weight for us and helping us on his way out, with the benefit to himself of being fully fit. Really though I'm annoyed at myself for believing Gilbert and Scotchegg up until the very last. I will feel silly picking up the new home shirt with 'De Keersmaecker' printed on the back, but at least the printing cost was so much that we may find our way out of the embargo sooner.

 

[Jaboysmith]

This move to Bristol City looks to have been on the cards for months, going on BDK first words on their site.

“I had the conversation with the manager two months ago and he explained the plan. He really convinced me and I cannot wait to get started,” said De Keersmaecker.

Yes. Fit to play on Saturday too. What a prick.

 

[tatabanya]

This move to Bristol City looks to have been on the cards for months, going on BDK first words on their site.

“I had the conversation with the manager two months ago and he explained the plan. He really convinced me and I cannot wait to get started,” said De Keersmaecker.

It's strange for him to be convinced about the manager's plans two months ago when he had no interest in leaving

 

[carefreeoufc]

Wish we’d stop saying he was “flogged”, he’s a professional f@cking football player! It’s not some random off the street we’ve thrown into Championship football.

He wasn’t flogged, he was selected to play for the club he was signed for as one of our better players. He managed half a season before his injury and we never saw him since.

The style of football may not have suited him, the quality of the opposition, the short amount of time on the ball and our weak squad compared to others in the Championship, may have made life harder to compete. But that’s not being flogged. That’s competing against some of the best players in the country week in and week out.

He obviously thinks he can hack it, hence the move back to the Championship. He wasn’t flogged, he was sold a pup and never wanted to be here.

 

[bazzer9461]

Basically a reasonable player but a complete W️

 

[Yellowmania]

I always thought what was weird about him that early on his set pieces were very good but towards his last few games when he was still taking them my 6 year old grandson could have done better.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Good luck to the lad and hopefully he can fulfill his potential with the right treatment.

Hopefully we now manage to get the young lad in on loan as long as the EFL give the ok on it.

 

[Pgyellow]

You’ve said it yourself - the state of the team. He was our big signing at the time and all the noises were that more were to follow. There is not a chance in hell we had a ~£5m budget at outset and blew it on a 3rd right back and BDK. Therefore, he would’ve expected as much as we did that we would go on to sign several more players at his level.

He should’ve been the player we built around and that is where the waste is. We wasted the player, not the money.

But nothing excuses his actions so we are where we are and I’m glad to see the back of him & the situation.

I think we're agreeing!

 

[m]

You’ve said it yourself - the state of the team. He was our big signing at the time and all the noises were that more were to follow. There is not a chance in hell we had a ~£5m budget at outset and blew it on a 3rd right back and BDK. Therefore, he would’ve expected as much as we did that we would go on to sign several more players at his level.

He should’ve been the player we built around and that is where the waste is. We wasted the player, not the money.

But nothing excuses his actions so we are where we are and I’m glad to see the back of him & the situation.

I understand your argument but it's a bit of a moot distinction for me.

Almost by definition a player who fails to succeed is poor recruitment.

 

[Swaby39]

I understand your argument but it's a bit of a moot distinction for me.

Almost by definition a player who fails to succeed is poor recruitment.

Not if their failure is in significant part a product of the environment, imo.

Don’t get me wrong, irrespective of last season, nothing was standing in the way of BDK buckling down for us this year like the others. I’m overlooking the surgery that ended his season as I still have no idea how optional that really was.

 

[Joey]

Yet more money wasted. Big fee to get him here, must have been sold a better story to do it. No fight when things got tough. Let go on loan when he kicked up a stink. Depreciating value. Well done recruitment!

Incredibly harsh to blame recruitment for this mess. He was an early signing last season and was clearly promised more before the rug was pulled and we had to scramble around for freebies and cheap loans to patch things up, although to their credit they did manage to snag Lankshear who is clear favourite to be top scorer this season. This is last summer coming home to roost and is more on the heads of the SMT/Thohir. He was a terrific signing at the time and the fact he's got a move to a settled Championship team is evidence of his class.

Waste of money was only interested in his next move. Not our type.

All players are interested in money and career progression. Our most succesful recent period in the transfer market was when we promised to allow players to move on, otherwise we don't get Roofe, Lundstram, Rothwell, Ledson etc. The way BDK has gone about it stinks, no arguments there, but avoiding ambitious players is cutting our nose off to spite our face. Player trading is what we need to be aiming for, if done right it's mutually beneficial. The player gets plenty of gametime to show what they can do and a chance to move up and earn more money and we get a top player, sell for a profit and show that we're a club who will allow players to progress. It's a no brainer.

For what it's worth I didn't blame him for having the op in January based on doctors advice and thought Bloomfield was a bit out of order calling him out for it. It's his career and if he exacerbated the injury no one wins. That said he's acted appallingly since then and it's been incredible to see the amount of people making excuses for him or peddling the narrative that his injuries were genuine and he really wanted to get back to playing. We were told he wasn't available because he was looking after someone else's kids ffs, I've never heard such a ridiculous excuse. If it wasn't that it was "muscle tightness", and incredibly vague and impossible to prove ailment that can also clear up conviniently fast if it has to. I've no doubt people do hear things from the club but it has to worth considering track records, especially when every bit of "inside knowledge" is a positive spin on a situation regardless of what you can see is happening, and then they're regularly proven wrong anyway. Especially when the dissenting opinion is someone like @tatabanya who has been proven to know what's what regularly over several years. Only one of them ever gets asked for proof or to name their source as well, it's a much easier ride if you're sending positive spin out while popping a laughing or poo emoji on opposing posts. The manager said he wasn't interested, he never made himself available for friendlies, he wasn't training properly and now he's confirmed he spoke to them months ago. Absolute slam dunk.

BDK will do well there I'm sure because he's an excellent player who we generally surrounded with average and then lumped the ball over his head. I think we averaged something like 23% more possession with him in the team than without and he was so clearly a level above pretty much anyone else at the club. I don't know how many better footballers we've had on permanent contracts since we've been at the Kassam and the overriding feelings are anger and regret that this is the sort of level of player we could have got used to seeing if we weren't such a complete mess behind the scenes, and now we're in a situation where we're loaning him out rather than building around him or selling for multiple millions to fund the next. A generational sliding doors moment.

 

[Swinny]

Cursed club at the moment - we just can't have shiny things can we?

As with Mills, fanciful to have hoped he might stick around to help us in L1, but the combination of the embargo and his poor attitude has led to an imperfect situation becoming bitter and toxic.

Personally think that if we see him even on the bench for them in the next few weeks then we can put all talk about his integrity/intentions to bed. Even if we had stayed up in the Championship, I think we'd be seeing a similar story - we just weren't the right team for him.

How long is his contract? What if Brizzle don't fancy taking up the option at the end of the season if it is 3 years?

 

[Osei Yaw]

Wish we’d stop saying he was “flogged”, he’s a professional f@cking football player! It’s not some random off the street we’ve thrown into Championship football.

He wasn’t flogged, he was selected to play for the club he was signed for as one of our better players. He managed half a season before his injury and we never saw him since.

The style of football may not have suited him, the quality of the opposition, the short amount of time on the ball and our weak squad compared to others in the Championship, may have made life harder to compete. But that’s not being flogged. That’s competing against some of the best players in the country week in and week out.

He obviously thinks he can hack it, hence the move back to the Championship. He wasn’t flogged, he was sold a pup and never wanted to be here.

He played 90 minutes a game for almost 5 months. It may not be the populist opinion, but that is a high workload for a central midfielder. Not impossible to do, but not conducive to the best performances. I'm also not saying he was 'flogged' because I feel particularly sorry for him (especially given how he's acted). It's all to do with our rubbish squad building, which is a result in itself of how poorly we have been run.

 

[Tobytrotters]

Waldron next to go ?

For the life of me, can’t understand how he’s still here! If there is money to spend come January, how can he be trusted on his record.

 

[werthersoriginal]

Cursed club at the moment - we just can't have shiny things can we?

As with Mills, fanciful to have hoped he might stick around to help us in L1, but the combination of the embargo and his poor attitude has led to an imperfect situation becoming bitter and toxic.

Personally think that if we see him even on the bench for them in the next few weeks then we can put all talk about his integrity/intentions to bed. Even if we had stayed up in the Championship, I think we'd be seeing a similar story - we just weren't the right team for him.

How long is his contract? What if Brizzle don't fancy taking up the option at the end of the season if it is 3 years?

If they don't pay up in January hopefully we'll recall him and ship him off somewhere that will. Maybe Kazakhstan or Turkey.

 

[Tobytrotters]

This move to Bristol City looks to have been on the cards for months, going on BDK first words on their site.

“I had the conversation with the manager two months ago and he explained the plan. He really convinced me and I cannot wait to get started,” said De Keersmaecker.

Very much all you need to know! Shocking!

 

[Ewes]

Incredibly harsh to blame recruitment for this mess.

Good quality recruitment work in any business is a great deal more than just “we’ve found this player whose stats show will improve our side”.

You need the right support structure in place, particularly when signing overseas players. Player mentors, English lessons, agreed trips back home to see their family, help with housing, banking, taxation etc.

It’s no secret that every one of our recent overseas signings have failed to have the impact we wanted, and have been moved on quickly. You could theoretically sign Messi and he would flop without the right club support, and I firmly blame the recruitment team for not getting this right. I wouldn’t trust the current team to sign anyone outside an OX postcode.

 

[tatabanya]

Good luck to the lad and hopefully he can fulfill his potential with the right treatment.

Hopefully we now manage to get the young lad in on loan as long as the EFL give the ok on it.

Rather than hinting that he's somehow the victim why don't you tell us what his Dad's told you now?

 

[werthersoriginal]

Good quality recruitment work in any business is a great deal more than just “we’ve found this player whose stats show will improve our side”.

You need the right support structure in place, particularly when signing overseas players. Player mentors, English lessons, agreed trips back home to see their family, help with housing, banking, taxation etc.

It’s no secret that every one of our recent overseas signings have failed to have the impact we wanted, and have been moved on quickly. You could theoretically sign Messi and he would flop without the right club support, and I firmly blame the recruitment team for not getting this right. I wouldn’t trust the current team to sign anyone outside an OX postcode.

Do we have any evidence of any of this? They all seemed physically incapable and fragile but I'm sure Brian and Romeny at least were in no need of English lessons.

 

[holdsteady]

Some of our fans would sell out a family member for a reply off of a player on social media.

 

[Up The Manor]

Poor business he should of been sold if Bristol City value the player .

Another rotter of monthly payroll is a positive.

 

[SamLongSlidingTackle]

There are definitely people on here who need to find more hobbies

I can show you my slides of 18th century street lamps if you like.

 

[bazzer9461]

Incredibly harsh to blame recruitment for this mess. He was an early signing last season and was clearly promised more before the rug was pulled and we had to scramble around for freebies and cheap loans to patch things up, although to their credit they did manage to snag Lankshear who is clear favourite to be top scorer this season. This is last summer coming home to roost and is more on the heads of the SMT/Thohir. He was a terrific signing at the time and the fact he's got a move to a settled Championship team is evidence of his class.



All players are interested in money and career progression. Our most succesful recent period in the transfer market was when we promised to allow players to move on, otherwise we don't get Roofe, Lundstram, Rothwell, Ledson etc. The way BDK has gone about it stinks, no arguments there, but avoiding ambitious players is cutting our nose off to spite our face. Player trading is what we need to be aiming for, if done right it's mutually beneficial. The player gets plenty of gametime to show what they can do and a chance to move up and earn more money and we get a top player, sell for a profit and show that we're a club who will allow players to progress. It's a no brainer.

For what it's worth I didn't blame him for having the op in January based on doctors advice and thought Bloomfield was a bit out of order calling him out for it. It's his career and if he exacerbated the injury no one wins. That said he's acted appallingly since then and it's been incredible to see the amount of people making excuses for him or peddling the narrative that his injuries were genuine and he really eanted to get back to playing. We were told he wasn't available because he was looking after someone else's kids ffs, I've never heard such a ridiculous excuse. If it wasn't that it was "muscle tightness", and incredibly vague and impossible to prove ailment that can also clear up conviniently fast if it has to. I've no doubt people do hear things from the club but it has to worth considering track records, especially when every bit of "inside knowledge" is a positive spin on a situation regardless of what you can see is happening, and then they're regularly proven wrong anyway. Especially when the dissenting opinion is someone like @tatabanya who has been proven to know what's what regularly over several years. Only one of them ever gets asked for proof or to name their source as well, it's a much easier ride if you're sending positive spin out while popping a laughing or poo emoji on opposing posts. The manager said he wasn't interested, he never made himself available for friendlies, he wasn't training properly and now he's confirmed he spoke to them months ago. Absolute slam dunk.

BDK will do well there I'm sure because he's an excellent player who we generally surrounded with average and then lumped the ball over his head. I think we averaged something like 23% more possession with him in the team than without and he was so clearly a level above pretty much anyone else at the club. I don't know how many better footballers we've had on permanent contracts since we've been at the Kassam and the overriding feelings are anger and regret that this is the sort of level of player we could have got used to seeing if we weren't such a complete mess behind the scenes, and now we're in a situation where we're loaning him out rather than building around him or selling for multiple millions to fund the next. A generational sliding doors moment.

To true and people should wake up to the fact that we are a mess

 

[bazzer9461]

Poor business he should of been sold if Bristol City value the player .

Another rotter of monthly payroll is a positive.

It depends on how much Bristol city are contributing to his wage

 

[yellowyellow]

Good player on his day but clearly thinks very highly of himself and no respect for us, very glad he’s gone.

I’m aware it’s not the be all and end all but it’s quite rare to see so little social media interaction for his move from our players. Helik and Bradney liked the post, Kioso, Romeny and Roosken commented. Nothing else as far as I can see, which would strongly suggest the bulk of the squad wanted him gone.

Good riddance, let’s hope Bradney gets some minutes and Andrews looked good last night

 

[Up The Manor]

It depends on how much Bristol city are contributing to his wage

Let's hope it's not like the Stuart Findlay loan .