Mechelen's magic moment

By Svend Frandsen

For evidence of the harsh financial reality of modern-day football, look no further than former UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners KV Mechelen.

Grim prospects
The Belgian side, once among the strongest in Europe, today sit second from bottom of the Belgian top division and face relegation to the third division in the summer as their debts mean they are virtually certain to lose their pro-licence for next season.

Deadline approaching
Clubs are required to obtain the licence, a guarantee of their financial well-being, to stay in the top two divisions in Belgium and the deadline for acquiring this is the end of February. However, Mechelen's financial problems give them little chance of meeting the required criteria.

Unhappy destiny
It is a sad state of affairs for a club that outgunned fellow Belgians RSC Anderlecht and Club Brugge KV in the mid-1980s, winning the 1987/88 Cup Winners' Cup 1-0 against Dutch rivals AFC Ajax.

New beginning
Until then the club had led a fairly anonymous existence on the domestic and international scene, perhaps with the exception of the 1940s when the club won three Belgian titles while it was still owned by Bishop Francis Dessain. However, it wasn't until the arrival of electronics millionaire, John Cordier, at the beginning of the 1980s that the crowds finally started flooding through the gates at the Achter de Kazerne stadium.

Cordier's empire
Cordier bought his way into the club through his electronics company, Telindus, and when he became Mechelen president in 1982, he literally owned all the players and made no secret of it by prompting outside sponsors to buy shares in the club’s on-field assets.

Star-packed squad
With his business on a steady rise, Cordier had the financial means to tempt former Ajax coach Aad de Mos to join the club and he assembled an impressive squad led by Belgian international goalkeeper Michel Preud'homme, Leo Clijsters, John Bosman and Israeli left winger Eli Ohana.

Massive investments
Cordier made massive investments bringing the stadium up to a modern standard with the establishment of business seats, a reception area and fitness centre and, in his quest to become a main threat to Anderlecht and Brugge, turned the club into a finely tuned professional unit by 1984.

Bright future
This succeeded with the club winning three successive domestic titles from 1987 to 1989 and with a steady stream of high-profile players arriving at the club like Phillipe Albert, Marc Emmers and Bruno Versavel, the future looked bright for Mechelen.

Dream turns sour
However, the dream turned sour for Mechelen and Cordier when Telindus started losing market share and Cordier had to off-load five top players (Clijsters to R. Standard de Liège, Francis Severyns, Albert, Emmers and Versavel to Anderlecht), owned by himself and not the club, in order to keep his struggling company afloat.

Free fall
To make matters worse in March 1992, Cordier announced his departure and sold all his remaining players to leave the club stripped of talent and solid financial resources. Consequently the club began a free-fall down through the ranks but still managed to claw themselves back to the top flight in 1999.

Desperate straits
Since then their finances have once more taken a tumble for the worse and with their imminent relegation to the Belgian third division, it seems highly doubtful that we will ever see the mighty Mechelen challenging the best in Europe again.