Promise David delivers Union St Gilloise their first title since 1935
Promise David was the hero for Union St Gilloise this afternoon after he came off the bench to score twice and secure the side their first top flight Belgian title since 1935. Union, one of the most successful sides in Belgium prior to the Second World War, have had to wait 90 long years to add title number 12 to their trophy collection. Yet, after a 3-1 home win over Gent on Sunday afternoon, the side could finally celebrate.
At 1-1 after half-time, Promise David was introduced by Sebastien Pocognoli and made an instant impact. His physicality was too much for the Gent defence to handle and he punished them for it. Prior to this, the Buffaloes defence had appeared pretty comfortable facing Franjo Ivanovic (scorer of the opening goal) and Mohamed Fuseini. Yet David's ability to hold the ball up and turn his defender saw him create a chance with almost his first touch. The striker then slotted his first goal in the 68th minute, a fine finish into the corner. He grabbed his second in the 75th to send the Josef Marien wild with celebrations.
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Union had started the game well, taking the lead after 10 minutes. However, Gent had equalised through Andri Gudjohnsen just before half-time to make it a nervous interval for the fans and players. With Club Brugge also drawing, if Union could not find a winner then they left themselves vulnerable to a Club victory over Antwerp.
Yet Promise delivered the final blow and a well deserved title for a club that has come so close on many occasions since their return to the top flight in 2021. After their cup win last year, Union can really call themselves one of the premier sides in Belgian football once again.
GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson
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New York Times
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Emery, Vidagany and Monchi: Inside Aston Villa's power triangle
'What makes him so good is that his intuition is second to none,' says agent Kenneth Asquez. He's describing Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo, better known in football as Monchi and a man he has known for more than two decades. Monchi is among football's most renowned sporting directors, having successfully transitioned from a nine-year playing career as Sevilla's backup goalkeeper to an administrative position at that La Liga club, where he worked with a manager named Unai Emery. Advertisement They were reunited in June 2023 when Monchi joined Aston Villa, having been at Sevilla together from 2013 to 2016, and they have now formed a 'triangle of power' alongside the club's director of football operations, Damian Vidagany. Ahead of an important summer for Villa, The Athletic spoke to more than 20 people, including agents, coaches, executives and other staff, to better understand the balance of power at the club and how it impacts transfer strategy… Emery, Monchi and Vidagany share an extremely close relationship. Their offices at Bodymoor Heath, Villa's training ground, connect and the three of them eat breakfast and lunch together most days. 'Monchi and Vidagany spend so much time with Emery that they know what he thinks and what he wants,' says Asquez. 'What used to happen in England was that managers saw a sporting director as a threat. If you're a proper sporting director, you're not a threat, you're an asset. It's to help the workload.' Multiple sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, joked that whenever you see Monchi, invariably Vidagany is not far behind — and vice versa. 'Monchi goes everywhere with Damian because his English is not very good,' says one friend. Vidagany also accompanies Emery to media interviews and helps translate any questions he does not fully grasp. Though Monchi's still working on his English, he is unafraid to speak in front of audiences. Before Champions League fixtures last season, there would be a meal attended by executives from the two teams. Monchi would make a speech at these gatherings, welcoming opponents to the Midlands. He is described as an emotional and reactive character, yet quieter than Vidagany. 'Monchi's a philosopher,' one agent remarks. 'He references history, philosophy and religious books during meetings. He's a very religious deep-thinker.' Advertisement 'The football side of the club is brilliant. The Spanish are gents and top class,' one senior executive at another Premier League club tells The Athletic. While Emery is an affable figure, his huge workload means he prefers to concentrate solely on his Villa team. This is when Monchi and Vidagany step in and, especially in the latter's case, provide the conduit. The pair are responsible for keeping the club's owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, briefed and helping direct them on decisions. (Head of emerging talent and loans, Adam Henshall, is involved in some meetings and is highly thought of, too, with agents stating he could one day be an effective sporting director.) Several people we spoke to described Villa as 'two clubs' — the football department and the off-field management. The football side has amassed significant autonomy to make all sporting decisions. They work from the main building at Bodymoor Heath, just outside Birmingham. Off-field employees are dotted around the country, including Villa's central London office near Oxford Circus. The power base at Villa is different from that at Sevilla, when Emery and Monchi won three Europa Leagues in as many seasons. Fundamentally, authority was more evenly split there. With Villa, Monchi's role is to facilitate Emery's wishes. This was made clear last summer when he listed four key objectives. 'First, to find a solution for the PSR (the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules). That's the most important,' Monchi said in September 2024. 'Second, to have a younger squad. Three, to have a deeper squad. And the fourth is to be aligned with what Unai wants.' 'Monchi would tell you openly that the best manager he's had at Sevilla was Unai,' says a close contact of the sporting director, 'because he's the manager who would get the highest performance out of players and that allowed him to sell at peak prices. He (Monchi) was more in charge at Sevilla, but now his role is to assist and provide Emery with options.' Advertisement That said, Monchi does have a leading influence when signing 'project players' — ones who may be initially unknown to Emery. Especially during a transfer window, Monchi — who is supported by family members working at the club, such as his son, Alejandro — will be spotted on his phone at all hours, even taking calls outside the Villa dressing room after matches, or in regular meetings abroad with players' families and agents. Broadly speaking, his approach has two recruitment phases: gross tracking and net tracking. The former is in the months before a window, scouting widely to forge a picture of the standout players. Gradually, this is refined into a definitive list of players to pursue as the process moves into the net tracking phase. Player tracking includes studying home and away games, against varying strengths of opposition and also international matches if applicable, with Monchi leaning on members of his recruitment team to watch players at different stages (seeing them six or seven times), hoping to remove biases and ensure neutrality. '(Former Brazil full-back) Dani Alves wasn't picked out with data before he joined Sevilla,' says a close contact of Monchi. 'That was through watching him. He has a large but close circle of friends whom he trusts and they would tip him off. He doesn't use data to point the finger at a player. The data is information that allows him to be present at many stadiums. 'Monchi went to sign Kevin-Prince Boateng at Hertha Berlin, but the asking fee was more than what Sevilla wanted to pay. On the way home from Germany, Monchi stopped in France and they bought an unknown Lens player called Seydou Keita. A year later, he joined Pep Guardiola's Barcelona.' Vidagany and Monchi are integral cogs in the overall operation, but they are assisted by a cohort of analysts, scouts and recruitment staff. In the wake of global director of football development Johan Lange and head of scouting Rob MacKenzie moving to Tottenham Hotspur in October 2023, along with some other personnel, Villa remain in the process of revamping their scouting system. One change under Monchi is that department staff are now being asked to focus on specific regions. Under the previous regime, it was more fluid, with them mixing across different parts of the world. Advertisement Villa are also reshaping the upstairs rooms at Bodymoor Heath. The plan is to move the data insights department into the office next to Monchi, encouraging effective collaboration and making it easier to discuss private matters. Head of recruitment Bryn Davies is in charge of the data team and their work feeds into Monchi. Emery, Monchi, Davies and the latter's staff will present and discuss potential signings. Vidagany does not have a say on which players Villa bring in, his job is to act on who the recruitment personnel decide to go for. After Emery speaks on the positions he wants, those targets are then whittled down. It is not uncommon for Villa's recruitment team to initially have a hundred possible targets for one position. Emery will select a few who interest him and ask for further checks. At other times, he will bring a player to their attention. Data is important, but it's used to inform, not dictate. It can help flag players who are on the system, which, if the numbers are good, allows Villa to watch them live, accompanied by background checks on their character, mentality and whether they suit Emery's environment. In the case of Marcus Rashford, their winter-window loan signing from Manchester United, Villa made calls to close observers. Background checks came back favourably. Monchi and Davies are deft at discussing targets with Emery, who will, at times, cede ground if some of the players he wants do not show up well on reports. Emery tends not to care how old they are or what league they play in, so long as they are good enough. If a player he does not know is presented well to him — Jhon Duran's acquisition from Chicago Fire of MLS at age 19 being a case in point — he will sanction the move. Like Emery, Monchi is receptive to the new wave of data if the case is presented effectively. Often, the best way to do this is with presentations using fewer words and more images. He will, however, challenge the numbers shown to him. He then has a wealth of connections to take mooted deals forward. 'He is absolutely spot-on and has an aura,' says one colleague. 'He is the best I've worked with and has a good heart.' Vidagany is Emery's eyes and ears, a bridge between all footballing departments and between the dressing room and management. He met Emery at Valencia, where he was manager from 2008 to 2012. Vidagany, a journalist in his previous life, worked in the club's media and marketing section. Today, his office sits between the manager's and Monchi's. Advertisement 'Damian can make people feel 10 feet tall,' a Villa employee says. 'He is a great communicator, can put an arm round a player, explaining why they were left out, or rave about their performances.' Vidagany wants every staff member to enjoy coming into work. If they do, he reasons they will be more effective at their jobs, more accepting of long hours and create an upwardly mobile culture. Staff approach him with issues or just to chat. To boost morale, he encourages regular internal promotions to ensure the British workers feel as valued as Emery's Spanish contingent. This is to guard against any sense of a divide at Villa. In truth, Vidagany's remit is all-encompassing, ranging from meetings when Emery organises them — sometimes at short notice and sometimes when he has to be strong enough to calm the manager down — to discussing logistical dilemmas around Bodymoor Heath or knowing the costs of renovations. He also takes seriously the need to defend Villa when they sense they are under external scrutiny. Last season, Vidagany regularly posted online after he felt Villa were under pressure from other clubs or on the wrong end of officiating decisions. Vidagany is in charge of negotiations, which is regarded as his strongest attribute, but he is also an engaging, talkative character and makes an effort to invite contacts to the training ground for breakfast or lunch. 'He is a great host,' says one agent. 'Damian has a good awareness of players' emotions. He has apologised to players in the past if he feels Villa have made an error, but doesn't sugarcoat anything.' Players' families also appreciate when Monchi and Vidagany are involved in contracts and there are instances of them stepping in at the latter stages of academy-level deals if required. Every few days, the pair update the owners, who ask to be kept informed on transfers and contracts, whether it's about the first team or junior age groups. Villa's power base is undoubtedly geared around Emery. Monchi and Vidagany are facilitators, there to implement footballing strategy. And though the club's transfer windows can be volatile, largely owing to PSR, there is now a stable framework for on-field success.
