Peter Maes played champion with Willem II. He sees it as the highlight of his career, after all the misery he experienced.
Maes won four titles and a cup as a player at Anderlecht. As a coach, he was promoted with KV Mechelen and won the cup twice with Lokeren, but the promotion with Willem II to the Eredivisie is still the best moment of his career for him.
The circumstances of the ‘Clean Hands’ case certainly have something to do with this. Maes reached a settlement with the tax authorities last year and then went to work for Willem II in the Dutch second division.
“I still find it very difficult to cope with the way in which I was written off by the media and the football community after that case broke out. So this is a kind of revenge, yes,” he points the finger in Het Belang van Limburg.
No chance in Belgium
“I didn’t get another chance in Belgium, so I immersed myself in a completely different football culture in the Netherlands. To experience and put this down, just before my sixtieth birthday and after everything that has happened in recent years, does something to a person.”
Maes’ contract expires next month. There has been no discussion of an extension for the time being, but he hopes to continue working in Tilburg. “I started a mission here in September and I succeeded. Now we have to see if we can write a sequel to this beautiful story,” Maes concludes.
