Everyone loves to see the little guy win, that’s a given. The unlikely success is the best kind. But the fine first half of the season of Royale Union Saint-Gilloise is not unlikely nor it is unexpected. Well, at least not to the people who have transformed the club in the last three years.Wednesday, 22.45: (1.80) Oxford (3.60) Wimbledon (4.60)Brighton and Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom has been Union’s majority shareholder since May 2018, and it would be easy to assume the club are buying their place back at the top. But it’s not the case. Union’s results are coming ‘naturally’.Another Englishman, chairman and minority shareholder Alex Muzio, who is in charge of the club’s day-to-day functioning, is a bit of a data freak. The man who came from the world of betting and analytics believed that the club should use the vast databases of players to find suitable recruits that would get the once-glorious club back to the Jupiler League, the top division of Belgium.Union are well-supported in the southern parts of Belgian capital Brussels (©AFP)When Bloom completed his purchase of Union, Muzio was itching to get started. The club, which last celebrated a title in the years between world wars, was at the time mired in the second tier. It was staffed largely by volunteers. Its training facility in the suburbs of Brussels did not have showers. It didn’t look like a club that could mix it up with the biggest clubs in the country like Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Gent or Standard Liege. No way.Muzio’s consultancy agency has access to tens of thousands of players from across the world – and the Englishman was determined to put all that data to good use. He suggested a list of potential recruits to then-manager Marc Grosjean, but the experienced coach wasn’t buying into it. Why would he accept to sign the players he never got to see in the flesh? He refused. Less than a month later, Grosjean left the club by mutual agreement. The project was get promoted with or without him.💛💙 pic.twitter.com/gbfNQ9Kc04— Royale Union Saint-Gilloise (@UnionStGilloise) December 27, 2021 And guess what? Muzio’s methods proved more than adequate. Union reached Jupiler League by finishing nearly 20 points above Seraing, the second-placed team in last season’s second tier.To the outsiders, the promotion of the once-great Belgian football club was no more than a little fun fact. A few months later, the English-owned club are making everyone take notice because they’re the top division leaders.If the title at Union it would surely be the most remarkable title win in Europe this season. But the ambitious Les Unionistes don’t want to talk about the title. They are focusing on proving the doubters wrong week after week by doing things their way.
