Gilles De Bilde
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| Gilles De Bilde | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gilles De Bilde | |
| Date of birth | June 9, 1971 | |
| Place of birth | Zellik, Belgium | |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1992-1995 1995-1997 1997-1999 1999-2001 2000-2001 2001-2003 2003-2004 2005-2007 |
Eendracht Aalst RSC Anderlecht PSV Eindhoven Sheffield Wednesday →Aston Villa (loan) RSC Anderlecht Lierse SK KVC Willebroek-Meerhof |
86 (40) 46 (22) 49 (24) 59 (13) 4 (0) 44 (14) 15 (1) 34 (4) |
| National team | ||
| 1994-2000 | Belgium | 25 (2) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Gilles De Bilde (born June 9, 1971 in Zellik) is a former Belgian footballer who played as a striker. At club level, he played for K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst, Anderlecht, Sheffield Wednesday, PSV and Lierse.
At K.S.C. Eendracht Aalst, he won the 1994 Belgian Player of the Year and hit 21 goals in 33 games in 1994-95, prompting R.S.C. Anderlecht to sign the volatile De Bilde in 1995, who responded scoring 22 goals in 46 league games.
De Bilde gained somewhat of a reputation of enfant terrible, after he hit one of his former teammates Krist Porte during an Anderlecht-Aalst game. That scandal, plus another incident at a hospital, prompted De Bilde to accept a move abroad, with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven paying £3millon in August 1997. He scored 24 goals in 49 league matches.
A £3million move to Sheffield Wednesday in August 1999 settled De Bilde down. His combative style made him initially popular with Owls fans. He also became the club's leading goal scorer that season scoring 11 goals. In October, he ended a nine-month exile from the national side having walked out. De Bilde scored 13 goals in his 59 league games for the Owls, adding four games on loan at Aston Villa.
Despite an initially fruitful start to his spell with Sheffield Wednesday, De Bilde's association with the side's decline as a footballing force and the perception that he was a mercenary figure who cared little about the club's fortunes made him a particular hate figure for Wednesday fans. De Bilde became synonymous with the crop of players who received hefty salaries yet failed to perform to the expected standard. This was especially the case following the club's relegation to the old Division One (nowadays known as the Football League Championship).
Then-Sheffield manager Paul Jewell claimed that, during his time at Wednesday, De Bilde turned down a loan deal because there was no-one to look after his dogs. The striker rejoined Anderlecht in 2001 on a free transfer and played in the UEFA Champions League before moving on to SK Lierse in 2003. His love for "man's best friends" got him into trouble again in September 2006. He missed a match for his club at the time, Willebroek Meerhof (of the Belgian Third Division), due to the death of his pet dog.[1]
De Bilde played 25 times for Belgium, scoring two goals. He made the squad for Euro 2000 but only made a single substitute appearance, in the 0-2 loss against Turkey.
After retiring, De Bilde became a regular football analyst in Belgian TV-programmes commenting the Champions League and the domestic league. He also appeared as a model for Belgian fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs, and appeared regularly in TV shows around celebrity challenges like Dancing on Ice, Celebrity Shock and others.
[edit] References
- ^ "De Bilde in the dog house". Retrieved on 2006-09-24.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Pär Zetterberg |
Belgian Golden Shoe 1994 |
Succeeded by Paul Okon |
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