Richard Orlans
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Richard Jérome Orlans | ||
| Date of birth | 6 October 1931 | ||
| Place of birth | Ghent, Belgium | ||
| Playing position | Left winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1946–1949 | ARA La Gantoise | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1949–1961 | ARA La Gantoise | ||
| 1961–1962 | Cercle Brugge | ||
| 1962–1964 | RSC Anderlecht | ||
| 1964–1965 | KSV Roeselare | ||
| National team | |||
| 1955–1958 | Belgium | 21 | (5) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1965–1969 | Zwevegem Sport (speler-trainer) | ||
| 1969–1971 | KSV Roeselare (speler-trainer) | ||
| 1971–1972 | AS Oostende | ||
| 1972 | Excelsior Moeskroen | ||
| 1972–1974 | Zwevegem Sport (speler-trainer) | ||
| 1974–1976 | AA Gent | ||
| 1976–1978 | RRC Gent | ||
| 1982 | Zaïre | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Richard Jérome Orlans (born 6 October 1931) is a former Belgian soccer player from Ghent who played as a midfielder. He played in the Belgian First Division in the team of AA Gent, Cercle Bruges and RSC Anderlecht and played 21 games in the national team of Belgium. After his playing career, he was also a soccer trainer.
He is also the father of soccer manager Patrick Orlans.
Career
In First Division
Orlans joined AA Gent in 1946 at the age of 15 and played in all of the youth teams. In 1949 he debuted as a midfielder in the first team of the team. Orlans acquired a place in the permanent team in the 1950/51-season and finished in second position in the league in 1955 and three times in third position (1954, 1957 and 1958). Orlans remained a player until 1961.
In between 1955 and 1958, the strongest era of AA Gent, Orlans played 21 games in the Belgian soccer team and scored overall five goals. His best game was on 3 June 1956 in the game Belgium-Hongary which was won with 5-4. After 45 minutes, Hungary was winning 1-3, but in the second half, the Belgium could return and even won, with the 3th and 5th goal of Orlans. In the same year, Orlans finished second in the referendum of the Belgian Golden Shoe, honouring the best player in competition. The winner then was Vic Mees.
1961 Orlans went to the newly promoted team of Cercle Brugge and managed to ensure the maintenance in the Belgian First Division. Orlans played a good season and was selected another two times for the national team, but he never played in the team.
The strong performances of Orlans in the team of Cercle caught the eye of coach Sinibaldi of RSC Anderlecht and Orlans made the transfer to the Brussels team. In his first season, Orlans played a strong European campaign. In the 1962–63 European Cup with Anderlecht he reached the quarterfinals setting aside, among others, Real Madrid. In the next season, Orlans was Belgian champion with the team. After this, Orlans finished its period in First Division. He played 320 games all together and scored 50 goals.
On a lower level
Later on, Orlans played on a lower level in the team of SK Roeselare in Third Division (1964–1965). He performed as a player-coach in the team of Zwevegem Sport in Third Division (1965–1969) and afterwards again at SK Roeselare (1969–71).
After he obtained his coaching certificate at the coaching school at the Heizel in 1970, Orlans became a coach at AS Oostende in the Belgian Second Division (1971–1972), a job he didn't fulfill completely, as he resigned himself. Orlans left for Excelsior Moeskroen but the degradation to the Belgian Fourth Division couldn't be prevented. Orlans returned to Zwevegem Sport in Fourth Division and still acted two seasons as a player-coach. (1972–1974)
1974, Orlans became the coach of AA Gent, which was in the meantime fallen to the Belgian Third Division. Already after his first season, the promotion to Second Division could be celebrated and he stayed for one year longer. 1976 Orlans applied to succeed the national coach Raymond Goethals, but it was Guy Thys who became the new coach of the national team. After this, Orlans was two more seasons coach of RRC Gent in Fourth Division and he shortly was the national coach of Zaire in 1982.
Sources
- "KAA Gent". kaagent.be. Retrieved 2015-07-25.