Barcelona stunned by 'fanatical workaholic' who coached in Welsh Premier League only THREE years ago

Club Brugge are making their presence known in Europe's premier club competition this season.

The Belgian side defeated AS Monaco 4-1 during the opening round of matches and came agonisingly close to an historic victory over LaLiga giants Barcelona more recently.

Club drew 3-3 at the Jan Breydel Stadium and if not for a late VAR intervention ruling out a fourth home goal, would have taken all three points from Hansi Flick's side. Instead, the spoils were shared, although the Belgians could be prouder of their performance than their Catalan counterparts.

Nicky Hayen goes from Cymru Premier to facing Barcelona in three short years

At the time of writing, Club are second in Belgium's top flight trailing champions Union Saint-Gilloise by three points, and are on course to make it to the Champions League knockout rounds.

Star names include ex-Manchester City winger Carlos Forbs, who dazzled against Barcelona, and Christos Tzolis, a Greek international forward who spent time at Norwich City before catching fire in Germany's second tier with Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Club's manager is Nicky Hayen, who had a relatively uneventful playing career in Belgium, before taking up coaching and whose reputation doesn't yet extend far beyond his homeland.

The 45-year-old is onto his ninth permanent club coaching job and has worked his way up through the regional leagues to earn the right to go toe-to-toe with Barcelona and kind.

Along the way, he's led amateur clubs, semi-pro teams and hasn't always been successful. With fourth tier Belgian side Berchem Sport, Hayen lasted just seven matches, losing six during his brief tenure.

A caretaker stint in charge of hometown club Sint-Truiden saw him win one in six, losing four, before landing the Waasland-Beveren job. Nine wins and 21 defeats in 38 outings, followed by COVID-enforced relegation spelled the end of his tenure there and Hayen was left with a dilemma.

His reputation as a head coach wasn't exactly glowing by this point and what many would have done is return to assistant coaching or managing youth teams, both of which he had experience of.

Hayen, though, chose to pursue a career as a head coach - in Wales.

Aside from brief spells as an assistant in the Middle East, Hayen's entire career had been in Belgium. Undeterred by this, he applied for the manager's positions at Cymru Premier side Haverfordwest County.

Hayen wowed the semi-professional club with his diction and presentation skills during the interview process and was duly offered the position. Over the festive period in 2021, Hayen left Belgium without his family and moved to Pembrokeshire.

Even more bizarre was the living arrangement Hayen found himself in, as a house guest of Haverfordwest chairman Rob Edwards.

"The guy was a workaholic," he told the BBC.

"I would wake up at 8am and he'd be dressed, watching clips of opposition, doing analysis. I'd go to bed at 11pm and he'd be up, watching clips and doing analysis.

"There are 14,000 people who live in Haverfordwest. It's a beautiful part of the world but a bit of a culture shock.

"He wasn't really too concerned about what was around him. He was focused on the football.

"He is a family man, doesn't drink, doesn't use social media. He just gets his head down. He deserves everything he gets," Edwards added.

Hayen turned the part-timers' fortunes around in no time at all, taking Haverfordwest to the cusp of European qualification within a matter of months.

Even on Wales' isolated west coast, Hayen's efforts didn't go unnoticed. Before long, Club Brugge approached Edwards and the Haverfordwest board, seeking Hayen's services to lead their reserve team Club NXT, who compete in Belgium's second tier.

Upon arriving in Bruges, Hayen made Club NXT competitive, both domestically and in the UEFA Youth League. Before long, the role of first-team assistant manager was added to his duties.

Ex-Celtic boss Ronny Deila came in and Hayen returned to focus on Club NXT but Deila's spell was a short-lived one, leading to Hayen's appointment as caretaker boss.

"When [Deila] stepped down with 10 games to go [in 2023/24], Nicky stepped in and won nine of them and they came out of nowhere to win the league. That was a real statement," Haverfordwest chairman Edwards, who remains a close friend of the Club boss, said.

In Hayen's first full season in charge, the team qualified for the Champions League's knockout rounds, defeating Atalanta over two legs before bowing out to Aston Villa, whom they had previously beaten in the league phase. Hayen has also helped the team to domestic cup success on two occasions already this year, in the Croky Cup and Belgian Super Cup.

"What he has achieved in the Champions League is just incredible. Club Brugge over the years have had far better sides on paper, but he is getting an incredible tune out of them," Edwards told the BBC.

"He is a workaholic, fanatical and leads from the front."

As for Haverfordwest, Hayen's stint helped the club upskill themselves significantly; with his successor leading the team to the qualifying rounds of European competition for only the second time in the club's history.