United's relationship with Royal Antwerp

MyOnlySolskjaer

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Is this still existing? If not, why did it stop?

I don't really know the details but I guess they were our feeder club? I just remember O'Shea, Gibson and Evans once playing there.
 

Bastian

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I think it's ancient history. Did we get any players from them? I think De Laet first went to Stoke.

Do we have any official ties with other clubs?
 

groovyalbert

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Pretty sure this was just so you could send players on load whenever on Championship Manager
 

Rood

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I think the club probably decided players were better off on loan in England than abroad - in fact less youth players seem to be sent on loan in general nowadays
 

Danish Wizard

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United should look to get a club partnership again, just like the Chelsea & Vitesse cooperation. I visited Vitesse a couple of years ago, when Mason Mount where there on loan, and heard about how the two clubs worked together. So great!
United should look to get such a club to work along with in Holland or Belgium again. Would really benefit some of the youngsters to go abroad, live on their own in a different country, get first team football and mature to get back to the club.
 

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It was Royal Antwerp who reluctantly knocked the agreement on it's head because they were stuck(at the time)in the 2nd Division and felt guilty that they couldn't provide a level of football that would enable our young players to develop to a required standard.
 

Snow

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I think the club probably decided players were better off on loan in England than abroad - in fact less youth players seem to be sent on loan in general nowadays
That's not it. You could send players to Antwerp because they wouldn't get permits in England to play. Antwerp was one of many places that United had relationship with. It's a club where United knew that their youth would get football in a decent setup. Dong had to go there for example because of permits.
 

davidmichael

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I don’t know why but for some reason I’ve got a story of Ronnie Wallwork punching someone whilst on loan at Royal Antwerp and our link with them ending not long after in my head, could be wrong and can’t be bothered to look into it right now.
 

Brophs

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I don’t know why but for some reason I’ve got a story of Ronnie Wallwork punching someone whilst on loan at Royal Antwerp and our link with them ending not long after in my head, could be wrong and can’t be bothered to look into it right now.
I think he grabbed a ref by the throat and was banned for life (albeit, from memory, that was reduced later on).
 

Rood

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That's not it. You could send players to Antwerp because they wouldn't get permits in England to play. Antwerp was one of many places that United had relationship with. It's a club where United knew that their youth would get football in a decent setup. Dong had to go there for example because of permits.
Nah. It was only a few players who fell into this category - the vast majority were Brits, just check the link I posted already
 

kr1s74

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I don’t know why but for some reason I’ve got a story of Ronnie Wallwork punching someone whilst on loan at Royal Antwerp and our link with them ending not long after in my head, could be wrong and can’t be bothered to look into it right now.
While on loan in '99, Antwerp missed out on promotion after losing their playoff. Wallwork grabbed the ref by the throat and was subsequently banned from football for life (reduced to 3 years in a Belgian court)
Danny Higginbotham was involved somewhere in it too.

The loan relationship carried on to 2013 I think, but not sure on that. Fergie and Gill stepping down may have something to do with it if thats right
 

Snow

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Nah. It was only a few players who fell into this category - the vast majority were Brits, just check the link I posted already
Yeah young Brits that got to play but the option to be able to send players without work permit there was a big reason for the affiliation.
 

cyril C

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Royal Antwerp was relegated to 2nd Division in 2004 and only returned to 1st Division in 2017. What was the incentive to play in Belgian 2nd division? Even a foreign player, waiting for work permit in UK, would not like to play in Belgian 2nd division, right? Would it look well in your CV and make you stronger in your WP application?
 

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Yeah young Brits that got to play but the option to be able to send players without work permit there was a big reason for the affiliation.
I checked the list and only 2 players ever went there for work permit issues (Dong and Maman) so possibly that was another reason they cancelled the agreement as there just wasn't a need for that

There is really only 1 player (John O'Shea) who went to Antwerp and then had a decent United career. A few others did break into the first team for a while like Evans and Gibson but that's still a pretty low record of success.

Generally it's clear that the club prefers loans in Britain rather than abroad nowadays which makes sense to me



https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...chester-united-sent-on-loan-to-royal-antwerp/
 

Snow

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I checked the list and only 2 players ever went there for work permit issues (Dong and Maman) so possibly that was another reason they cancelled the agreement as there just wasn't a need for that

There is really only 1 player (John O'Shea) who went to Antwerp and then had a decent United career. A few others did break into the first team for a while like Evans and Gibson but that's still a pretty low record of success.

Generally it's clear that the club prefers loans in Britain rather than abroad nowadays which makes sense to me



https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...chester-united-sent-on-loan-to-royal-antwerp/
Yeah that all makes sense. Football also changed. Antwerp really aren't offering football that's good enough for most of our loanees that are expected to either break into the first team or fetch a price on the market so like you said, there are probably multiple reasons for it being shut down.
 

Snow

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I checked the list and only 2 players ever went there for work permit issues (Dong and Maman) so possibly that was another reason they cancelled the agreement as there just wasn't a need for that

There is really only 1 player (John O'Shea) who went to Antwerp and then had a decent United career. A few others did break into the first team for a while like Evans and Gibson but that's still a pretty low record of success.

Generally it's clear that the club prefers loans in Britain rather than abroad nowadays which makes sense to me



https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...chester-united-sent-on-loan-to-royal-antwerp/
Yeah that all makes sense. Football also changed. Antwerp really aren't offering football that's good enough for most of our loanees that are expected to either break into the first team or fetch a price on the market so like you said, there are probably multiple reasons for it being shut down.
 

Botim

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Remember seeing O'Shea play for us back in 2001 (I think). Those were the last good years for a long time.

One of my earliest football related memories as a kid is going to the European Cup Winners Cup final in Wembley in 1993. Last time a Belgian team reached a European final (we lost by the way :))

We're back in the top flight doing well now, but it has been a rough couple of decades.

Our Man United association was always a point of pride for a lot of supporters. Even if it wasn't that useful to either club.
 
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L1n0

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Royal Antwerp was relegated to 2nd Division in 2004 and only returned to 1st Division in 2017. What was the incentive to play in Belgian 2nd division? Even a foreign player, waiting for work permit in UK, would not like to play in Belgian 2nd division, right? Would it look well in your CV and make you stronger in your WP application?
And you should remember that was involved in several fixed matches so maybe United won't be related with..
 

flappyjay

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Anyone else glad to see Antwerp do so well nowadays. From the days of loaning our kids to now playing European football.
 

Botim

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Anyone else glad to see Antwerp do so well nowadays. From the days of loaning our kids to now playing European football.
It's been such a delight for the whole city. Our rival from across town Beerschot has finally made it back to the top flight too.

We've got a chairman who's not afraid to invest either (just bought Naingolan), so hopefully next step will be the title (although Bruges is still way ahead as a club atm).
 

flappyjay

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It's been such a delight for the whole city. Our rival from across town Beerschot has finally made it back to the top flight too.

We've got a chairman who's not afraid to invest either (just bought Naingolan), so hopefully next step will be the title (although Bruges is still way ahead as a club atm).
The Naingolan transfer is actually what peaked my interest and then noticing that you were in the Europa League. Hopefully one day we face each other in the champions league.