March 18 – Club Brugge have dismissed their Norwegian manager Ronny Deila following a 2-1 defeat to STVV on the last day of the regular season, leaving the club with little to play for on the domestic front.
On Sunday, the Limburg outfit inflicted a narrow defeat on Brugge with an 85th-minute strike from Aboubakary Koita, prompting the hierarchy to fire the Norwegian.
In a statement, the club wrote: “After disappointing results and quality of play, it was decided to discontinue the collaboration with head coach Ronny Deila and assistants Efrain Juarez and Kristof Aelbrecht. In recent weeks, the club has not seen enough of Club Brugge’s DNA and the sporting management is convinced that better results should be possible with the current squad.”
Nicky Hayen and Michiel Jonckheere will take over on an interim basis after the club finished the regular season in fourth place, nineteen points behind leaders Union.
That points tally will be halved as the season-ending playoffs kickoff, but even so, it will hardly allow Brugge to compete for the title. Union also eliminated Brugge from the domestic cup in the semi-finals.
Brugge will face PAOK of Greece in the quarter-finals of the Conference League, but that European run was not enough to keep Deila in his seat.
Deila had previously coached Celtic, Valerenga and New York City FC before moving to Belgium to manage Standard Liege.
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