Marc Wilmots poses with a fan (Arnaud GI)
Just 48 hours after Belgium lost to England at Wembley, Marc Wilmots was offered the job as team coach for the national team on a two year contract. The Belgian FA wanted to give him a longer period but Wilmots declined, saying he would like to be judged at the time of the 2014 Brazil World Cup, as that would be his focus.
The ubiquitous Philippe Collin insisted that Wilmots was always their number one choice from the moment that Georges Leekens resigned for the extra cash on offer at Club Brugge. Wilmots has commented that he will not leave the position while he is under contract even for a pot of gold.
Wilmots has no record of success as a coach, he was in charge at Schalke, in 2003, for a handful of games and that experience was repeated at Sint Truiden, in 2004, when he was sacked after hardly any chance to get results. Wilmots has also flirted with politics, in 2003 he represented the centre-right Mouvement réformateur party.
When Collin announced the decision, he said that Wilmots was chosen as he had been involved in the project with Leekens for two years, as he knew the players inside-out, as he had the air of a leader from the moment Leekens resigned and because the senior players, and others, wanted him in charge.
That least point could be criticised but it seems a good choice. And one must not forget that although many ‘big’ names have been mentioned as possibilities to replace Leekens, the Belgian FA is not a rich organisation.