Rennes (AFP)

Several years in Ligue 1, a brand new stadium, a dive to the honor division then a slow ascent ... This time, Le Mans found the Covid-19 on its way: truncated season and relegation to National . But the club assures him, his future is among the elite.

Hope was born last week: the general assembly of the League (LFP) had accepted the principle of a League 2 to 22 teams next season, an enlargement which would have made it possible to recover Le Mans FC, 19th in L2 at the time suspension of competitions due to pandemic, and Orléans, 20th. But the Federation rejected the reform on Wednesday.

"This is another blow," said Support'R Club co-president Clément Coulon, 25, who accompanied the team over two decades of a cruel yo-yo, to AFP.

He experienced the 2000s and the gradual installation within the elite of professional football, also punctuated by three semi-finals of the League Cup. Years that were good enough for the city to launch in 2009 the construction of a modern stadium with 25,000 seats, at an official cost of 104 million euros.

- Liquidation -

No luck: during the inauguration in January 2011, the club already went back down to Ligue 2. And in 2013, a liquidation brought him to the 6th national level.

Thanks to coach Richard Déziré, who arrived in 2015, and to president Thierry Gomez, former president of Troyes who arrived in 2016, the club rises, step by step, to this goal in the 97th minute a year ago in a match Dam return to Ajaccio which reopens the doors of the L2.

The craze is real, as when the MMArena refueled for an eighth finals of the League Cup against Paris SG (1-4) in December. But the reunion is difficult, and at the end of February, Richard Déziré, who had never progressed higher than the National 3 before officiating at Le Mans, was thanked.

Réginald Ray, former striker of the club, with whom he was crowned top scorer in D2 in 1998, then has 11 games to raise the bar. The first, on March 6 in Chambly, ended in a frustrating 2-2 while 25 minutes from the end, the Manceaux led 2-0 and played 11 against 10.

- "The objective is immediate recovery" -

There will be no second game for Ray: the health crisis ends the championship and Le Mans, on equal points with Niort but exceeded at goal difference, prepares to plunge again, even if recourse is still possible.

"Today, above all, we need to regain energy and devote it to the club's project, to best prepare for the next season, which will be a complicated season. We will be expected everywhere", assures Mr. Gomez at the AFP. "It is the strength of the sport. We lose a weekend and we are very unhappy but from Monday we plan on the following weekend to prepare to win."

This will not be simple: the budget of 11 million euros will "at least be halved, not to mention the negative impact of the Covid on the end of the season, which can be counted in the hundreds of thousands of euros," explains the manager. First consequence of relegation: Réginald Ray packed his bags Thursday morning ...

Especially if Mr. Gomez claims to have received signs of solidarity from partners and local authorities, it is still too early to know what funding he can count on, while the consequences of the pandemic and containment weigh on all budgets.

Thus, the mayor of Le Mans Stéphane Le Foll (PS) expressed his disappointment on social networks on Wednesday: "I bring my full support to the club, to its leaders and to the players." But requested by AFP, the town hall did not wish to make more comments.

The club can at least count on its supporters: "We remain mobilized. We will go there with the will to win, in each match. The objective is immediate recovery. The club's project is professional," concludes Clément Coulon.

© 2020 AFP