Anderlecht manager Brian Riemer has admitted he “had no intention” of leaving Brentford, before the Belgian side offered him the head coach position in December.
Riemer brought an end to a four-year association with Brentford at the end of last year when he departed for the Belgian giants, who had targeted him as the permanent replacement for Felice Mazzu.
He had been with the Bees since 2018, working as the assistant manager to Thomas Frank after a spell working with FC Copenhagen in his homeland.
He was a key part of Brentford’s success in recent years, working alongside Frank as they and Brentford secured promotion from the Championship in 2021 and then impressed in their first campaign in the Premier League last season.
The move to Anderlecht is his first step into senior management after only managing at youth level previously, but it seems it was a step he was not intending to make at this point.
“I had no intention of leaving at all,” he told Het Laatste Niuews, relayed by Voetbalkrant.
“I didn’t feel like my work was done. But then that phone call from Anderlecht came and I started thinking. The project really appeals to me.
“I would not have gone into it if Anderlecht had won the title in the past three seasons. But fixing something that is broken, that is my biggest motivation.
“I did it in Copenhagen, I did it at Brentford and now I’m going to do it in Anderlecht.”
