Club Brugge had its fair share of hardship before, during and after World War II, and this not only in the field of sports. The heavy weight of a loan and the payback through installments that came with it encumbered the club immensely.
This does not mean that there was much room for complaints in the players department. Club had several great players it could rely on, among which were Blancke, Masyn and Carels. Blancke was a sturdy sweeper with a decent header and two equally strong feet, Lucien Masyn was a fantastic left winger who made almost 500 appearances in the first squad between 1940 and 1958, and Berten Carels, the solid and reliable goalkeeper. Nonetheless, these ‘big names’ could not prevent the blue and black ship from sailing back and forth between first and second division.
In the beginning of 1946, Louis Versyp was appointed as coach and Club managed to get promoted to the first division again, but unfortunately not for long. Right at the time that Club got its promotion to the highest level, the number of clubs in the first division was reduced from 19 to 16, which proved an insurmountable handicap for Club Brugge and the team got relegated again to the second division. This relegation however proved not to be all bad, as it made room for the derby of Bruges, which was made possible in that season.
In the meantime, the directors of the different football clubs in Bruges made sure the stadium rose to meet spectator demands: in 1947, 26 spotlights were installed and in 1949 a new stand with 2,400 seats was made operational, making De Klokke more fit to the task, as Club was promoted again to the first division in 1949.
The position of goalkeeper in a squad is not very enviable or appealing. Not every man is fit for the job, and a true keeper is a man who was born between those two posts, and who goes about his profession like a fanatic. In the very beginning of World War II, Berten Carels managed to secure the position of goalkeeper in Club’s senior team., and proved to be an unbreachable blue and black fortress between 1941 and 1956. Marcel Herssens was his predecessor, and he was in his turn succeeded by Fernand Boone.
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