Saturday, June 25th, 2011 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
By Walter Broeckx
With the signing of Gervinho looking very much on the cards (according to L’Equipe Arsenal are holding talks with in Lille since Wednesday) I will be trying to give you a bit of a view on my memory of him. Because for most readers I suspect Gervinho is a player who you have never seen play before. And so I am a bit proud to say to you that I have seen him play at “De Freethiel” in Beveren.
Most Arsenal fans will have heard the name Beveren before. As you will remember Arsenal had some kind of partnership with this Belgium club for many years. The partnership was eventually stopped by Uefa regulations but it was a great time for Belgium based Arsenal Gooners in fact.
It meant that Arsenal would come around in pre season games with what could be called a Carling cup side to Beveren to play a friendly pre-season fixture. I was always there (except when I was on holiday in that period) as it gave us a chance in those days to see a live game of Arsenal from the stands. And I remember seeing the then very young guns like Cesc, Kolo Toure and Van Persie play at Beveren.
Now Beveren itself was a rarity in Belgium football. It was a small town club with an old stadium apart from one new stand. The strangest of stadium configuration with one high, big brick wall covering almost 1/3 of the length of the pitch on one side for many years. But they managed to become champions a few times in the seventies and eighties and to win some cups. But then it went downhill until Beveren formed a partner ship with Jean Marc Gillou and the Ivory Coast link became visible.
And then we had the fact that Beveren was the first team in Belgium football history to field an “all black” team. Almost all the players came from Ivory Coast in those days and started a career in Belgium. And in some seasons they had an Arsenal player loaned to them. So I felt a bit of sympathy for this little club in those days. But the way those Ivory Coast players played the game was amazing.
They were young and fresh and brought some enthusiasm with them. They were skilful, full of trickery and always played an open and attacking game. It was a shock compared to the more boring playing style we had in Belgium in those days. Oh, and for most of the time we still have it. Many of the now well known players all over Europe played in the little town and for the little club Beveren and started their European career over there.
I must admit in those days that when I wanted to go to see a game in Belgium I usually chose to go to Beveren. And there were many clubs in the Jupiler League much closer to my home than Beveren but they had something magic about them. You never knew what you would get. From brilliant attacking to allowing very bad goals.
And in those days I have seen the likes of Eboue, Yaya Toure, Romaric, Diallo, Dissa, play over there at the start of their career.
In fact the last real player that has made who came to Beveren was Gervinho. At that time I think Uefa had stopped Arsenal in participating at Beveren (or was about to stop them) and the Ivory Coast project was fading away.
Gervinho came to Beveren as a 17-18 year old young boy. But despite his young age he became a player who was almost always in the team. He played some 61 games in his two season in Belgium and he scored some 14 goals in those 2 seasons. And what I remember of him was that he was a player with a lot of tricks and technique. Fast on the ball. But not the best finished in the world. But this was something Beveren was famous for in those days. They created a lot of chances but missed also a lot of chances. But they did managed a few famous victories in those days.
After his first season at Beveren there was some interest from some teams to get him. Utrecht was very interested in signing him. And he also could have moved to London then because …Arsenal wanted him in those days. In fact it was written in the Belgium papers that in the January transfer window the president of Beveren had been going to London and Arsenal wanted to buy Gervinho. But the manager of Beveren in those days was determined that he should stay in Beveren. And the manager won the fight and Gervinho stayed in Beveren.
At the end of his second season Beveren was in turmoil. Because of all the better players, apart from Gervinho, had been leaving in the years before and the new players didn’t have the same quality Beveren went down. And then Gervinho left them and went to France. He went to Le Mans where he also played a big part and scored a few goals. And then moved on to Lille.
And his current record at Lille doesn’t look that bad. 36 goals in 92 games so far. 1 goal in 3 games is not that bad I would think. So if he can keep up this record we should have another player who can score some 10-15 goals a season.
So if Gervinho comes it will be for most of you a completely new face. For me it will be a bit strange to think that I have seen him play at “De Freethiel” in front of crowds of some 6.000 people and now I will see him at the Emirates in front of some 60.000 people. For me it will be a bit more of seeing an old boy back who now has become a man.
And for those who wonder what happened to Beveren after their relegation. Well it got from bad to worse. Players leaving, no more money, no funds. They were very close to going bankrupt and then they even had to merge with another local team to survive. But last season things slowly started getting better again. They had a great start in the second Belgium division which secured them a play off place at the end of the season. In those play offs they finished with the same points as Bergen. So a final test game between those two had to decide who would come back to the Jupiler League. Unfortunately Beveren lost that last game. But the future does look a bit brighter over there for the moment. Certainly when compared to the years after Gervinho left them.
And for those who wonder about his current hair cut: in those days at first he didn’t have the special hair cut that he has now.
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