On Monday 16th January the traditional new years reception for sponsors, town councillors, Business seat holders, players, coaching staff and medical staff was held in the Business seats of the Herman Vanderpoorten.

About 250 people were present. As it is every year it's a good occasion to catch up with old acquaintances in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. There were of course also speeches.

Jesse De Preter gave his first New Years speech as C.E.O. He looked back on 2011. A year that was everything except boring for Lierse. A year when an important sporting success was achieved. Lierse stayed in the First Division. But 2011 was also the year in which a financial crisis was survived. De Preter never feared for the end of the club in this period, but saw opportunities to start with a clean slate. A chance to take a stricter financial lead: to spend less, more performance driven players contracts.
De Preter wants to work on a healthy future of the club, so that Lierse becomes a stable and professional club. A club which becomes again recognisable to its supporters, with more young Belgian players. De Preter didn't forget to thank Wadi Degla and Maged Samy. Wadi Degla remained faithful to Lierse in a very difficult period, and made the greatest effort in keepling Lierse stable.
Finally Lierses C.E.O. gave his thanks to all the Business clients present, they are the stakeholders of this club. Their support and income is appreciated enormously.

Maged Samy gave the closing speech. He thanked all those present for their faithful support for Lierse, and wished them the best for the new year. He also congratulated the players and coaching staff for the run of recent results which has seen Lierse pick up 7 points in 3 matches. The success of a club is largely dependent on the results on the pitch, and Samy expressed his hope that from now we can start looking up the league rather than down.