Guy Hellers talks about his Standard: “Number 14 is a rare pearl”

Guy Hellers was in Sclessin two weeks ago. He had come to kick off Standard – Westerlo (2-0). The time of an evening, and a few minutes, the time to get on the lawn, some memories of his seventeen years spent at Standard came to the surface.

”It’s always a great feeling to come back to Standardexplains the historic defender of the Liège club, third most capped player in history (477 games). Seventeen years is still a lease.”

Sports coordinator in the municipality of Dudelange (see elsewhere), Guy Hellers no longer follows all Standard matches “as I was able to do as an enthusiast in the past”but he continues to keep up to date, “via the friends I still have in Liège and in particular via your newspaper”, he slips. And what he sees of the evolution of Standard reassures him.

Mr Hellers, how do you view the Standard season and the transition that has taken place there?

”With the new bosses (777 Partners), they had a great idea to keep the young people in place, to set them a goal. I worked in training, in Luxembourg, I know what it means, for a young person, to have the prospect of playing with the first team. At Standard, we must also transmit the DNA of the club. If they manage to achieve this, it will be magnificent for the young people. They also had the good idea of ​​placing Pierre Locht as director (you club). He’s the right person in the right place.”

Do you think 777 Partners’ multi-club policy is a good thing for Standard?

“It’s a good idea, yes. Wealthy people are investing more and more in this kind of models. There is a form of facility, to make transfers between clubs, without spending too much. And when there is an arbitration to be done, there is a boss, for the group, who decides.

Aren’t you worried that there is a risk that Standard will be the second or third club in the group?

“A club like Standard must play at the top of the range. I think Pierre knows what it takes for the club. If the bosses, Pierre and the coach are on the same wavelength, it can work well.

The coach, Ronny Deila, is touted as the club’s best transfer. Do you agree with this?

“He plays the game, anyway. He knows where he came from and in what context he has to work. A trainer is judged on his results, but he has been able to set a framework and enforce a certain discipline, in addition to finding his own sports organization. By removing players from the summer camp (Cafaro et Sissako), he showed who was the boss. When the club put aside Raskin and Amallah (Editor’s note: the two players did not reach an agreement to extend their contracts and were invited to train with the Espoirs), we understood that the club was above, and it is very good like that. Going back to the coach, the job he is doing is fantastic. He has found the right balance and if it is not always obvious, he manages to return to his principles. It is at the end of the season that we will do the accounts, but we cannot say that it is a bad transfer.

Among the players you saw against Westerlo, did any of them catch your eye?

“I like (Noah) Dussen. He has a lot of experience, he is a team player, he is important. If I have to pull one out, I’d say the one in the middle. Sorry, I can’t remember names. Number 14 (Steven Raise). It is a rare pearl. He has the vivacity, the vision of the game, he is always available. If he progresses a bit and gets the upper hand, he can ignite Sclessin. Another condition for success: that he does not take the big head.

If you had been told at the start of the season that Standard would be in the running for the top 8, and still in the running for the top 4 until recently, would you have believed it?

”You never know how it can happen at Standard, I learned it often when I played there. There is a certain discipline back, which was missing last season. We also see that the players know what they have to do. There are still ups and downs, but that’s normal. Their place in the rankings is not so bad (Standard is seventh) but, who knows, maybe they will do even better.”