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It was a baffling move in the first place, but Thorgan Hazard is taking matters into his own hands now and is trying to calm down the whole situation.
Apparently the whole ploy was instigated by Chelsea as a condition on the loan, although I don't think Zulte Waregem ever confirmed that. Their director only claimed it was a move to help the younger Hazard grow in some random intangible way, even though from our perspective it made almost no sense whatsoever to have a loanee take the armband from the veteran Davy De Fauw who led Zulte Waregem to a surprise second place in the league.
Unsurprisingly, things escalated from there. While De Fauw, initially quite shocked, looked to do a John Terry and just continue to lead in practice without the proper decoration, there were rumors of discontent in the camp (not all related to this matter, to be fair) and some players may even have threatened to walk out. That may seem harsh, but respect (and disrespect) is a big deal to professionals and in the eyes of many - not in the least for fellow veteran and star Mbaye Leye - it was incredibly disrespectful to depose De Fauw.
So after a weekend of turmoil, Hazard & Zulte Waregem have decided to hit the 'Undo' button:
Thorgan Hazard has given the captaincy back to Davy de Fauw. What a complete mess that was, Zulte Waregem #cfc
— The Belgian Waffle (@TheBelgianWffle) August 3, 2013
In an official statement of the club website, Zulte Waregem have apologized for all the needless commotion and ask everybody to please look at the light flashy thingie.
One thing nobody seems to be talking about however: if Chelsea did insist on making Hazard captain (as weird as that seems) and Zulte Waregem just broke that stipulation - potentially invalidating the agreement - what happens to the loan itself? Do we continue on as planned or do we press reset as well?