On the time it felt like a shock appointment for semi-professional Haverfordwest County of the Cymru Premier.
Three years on, and with the supervisor who joined them on New Yr’s Eve 2021 main his present facet right into a Champions League knockout tie towards Aston Villa, it appears scarcely plausible.
Nicky Hayen was the primary Belgian to handle within the Welsh Premier League and stays certainly one of solely a handful of non-British or non-Irish managers to take action.
The 44-year-old’s ascent to the latter levels of Europe’s top-tier competitors with Membership Brugge, who knocked out Europa League holders Atalanta within the play-offs, has been as fast because it has been spectacular.
Now he’s being touted as certainly one of Europe’s “hottest properties”, and one pundit even prompt Hayen may very well be Arne Slot’s alternative at Liverpool.
Few of the 273 current at Bridge Meadow Stadium when Hayen recorded the largest dwelling win of his Haverfordwest tenure – a 6-1 thumping of Cefn Druids – would have predicted their supervisor could be in such dialog just a few years later.
However for Haverfordwest chairman Rob Edwards, who stays shut buddies with Hayen and shares common messages with him, it comes as no shock.
“The man was a workaholic,” remembers Edwards, whose home Hayen shared whereas dwelling in west Wales.
“I’d get up at 8am and he’d be dressed, watching clips of opposition, doing evaluation. I would go to mattress at 11pm and he’d be up, watching clips and doing evaluation.”
Hayen, a former defender who performed greater than 400 video games in Belgium and the Netherlands, reached Wales largely by way of teaching, technical director and caretaker supervisor roles in Belgium and Saudi Arabia.
His main managerial breakthrough at Waasland-Beveren resulted in Covid-impacted relegation to the Belgian second tier.
He linked with Edwards by way of a mutual contact in Belgium and, backed by a Uefa Professional Licence and stellar presentation, wowed the board throughout the interview stage.
“We simply needed to hear to each phrase he mentioned,” explains Edwards, who took over the membership in 2020 and made Hayen his first managerial appointment the next yr.
“We determined he was the individual we needed and did all we may to get him. Thankfully, he turned up.”
The expertise and professionalism Hayen delivered to the part-timers had a right away affect, taking them from second-bottom to the verge of Europe in fewer than six months, implementing a possession-based, passing method not often witnessed within the Welsh high flight.
“You might see by the affect he had on the gamers,” says Edwards. “He did not attempt to over-coach them, give them very detailed stats in regards to the opposition, [or] very detailed evaluation.
“He spent his time attending to know the gamers. He was very methodical. He requested about their welfare; he was fearful in regards to the psychological facet of the sport as effectively.
“He managed to get a very superb commonplace out of gamers we most likely did not realise had it in them.
“For me, it was a large studying curve working with somebody at that stage, however he was very calm. He wasn’t a shouter within the dressing room – he spoke and also you listened.
“Regardless of not being the loudest, most aggressive, he had an aura – you simply needed to take heed to him.”
It’s to Hayen’s credit score that he slipped seamlessly into life within the Pembrokeshire market city, regardless of having to depart his household in Belgium.
“There are 14,000 individuals who stay in Haverfordwest. It is an attractive a part of the world however a little bit of a tradition shock,” says Edwards.
“He wasn’t actually too involved about what was round him. He was centered on the soccer. He embraced the tradition and did not attempt to change something drastically. However he was simply obsessive about soccer.
“He’s a household man, does not drink, does not use social media. He simply will get his head down. He deserves all the pieces he will get.”
Edwards knew the day would come, however he hoped the membership would get a bit of longer with Hayen on the helm.
When, in the summertime of 2022, an method arrived from Membership Brugge to take over their Beneath-23s, Membership NXT, it proved unimaginable for Hayen to show down.
“It was a bit of little bit of a shock,” says Edwards. “I wasn’t anticipating to have any dialogue with a membership like Membership Brugge.”
Hayen stepped in as first-team assistant after Scott Parker was sacked in 2023, earlier than getting his probability as interim supervisor when Ronny Deila left final March.
There, Hayen discovered former Sint-Truiden team-mate and ex-Liverpool and Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet to speak in confidence to.
“When [Deila] stepped down with 10 video games to go final season, Nicky stepped in and gained 9 of them and so they got here out of nowhere to win the league. That was an actual assertion,” says Edwards.
It was throughout that run that Jan Mulder, the previous Ajax and Anderlecht striker turned pundit, made a prediction for Hayen’s future.
“Subsequent yr [he] will play a collection of matches within the Champions League, attracting the eye of Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern and Manchester,” Mulder in Could 2024.
“Nasser Al-Khelaifi of Paris St-Germain additionally joins the struggle for his signature on the final minute. Personally, I believe that the nice Nicky Hayen will change Arne Slot from Zwolle as supervisor of Liverpool inside two years.”
The primary a part of Mulder’s premonition has confirmed to be true – Hayen’s Brugge beat Villa, Sporting and Sturm Graz within the group section, in addition to drawing with Juventus and Celtic.
The Belgian champions adopted up by defeating Atalanta in each legs of their play-off for a 5-2 mixture victory.
Previous to that second leg in Italy, Hayen defined how earlier than video games he all the time talks to his mom, who handed away 4 years in the past.
“What he has achieved within the Champions League is simply unimaginable. Membership Brugge over time have had much better sides on paper, however he’s getting an unimaginable tune out of them,” says Edwards.
“He’s a workaholic, fanatical and leads from the entrance. I suppose that’s the reason plenty of these youthful gamers who’re coming by way of are working so laborious for him and having nice success.”
Hayen’s temporary tenure in Wales additionally set the platform for Haverfordwest’s future. In 2023, underneath Tony Pennock, they certified for Europe for the primary time in 19 years and solely the second time of their historical past, reaching the Europa Convention League second qualifying spherical.
“It is nice for the membership to be related to somebody like that,” says Edwards.
“It looks as if it is just the beginning for him. I’d love for him to go on. I’m positive there can be alternatives to handle even greater if he carries on.
“He’s most likely one of many hottest properties in Europe.”
