Saint-Etienne (AFP)

General manager of Saint-Etienne for a year, Claude Puel celebrates Thursday in Marseille his 600th match on a bench in Ligue 1. His career as a technician, started 21 years ago, has never been a long quiet river.

Its consistency at the highest level is not, however, a record.

This remains firmly held by Guy Roux (894 matches, with Auxerre and Lens), followed by Kader Firoud (782, with Nîmes, Toulouse and Montpellier).

- Builder with a mind of steel -

If he was the player of only one club, Monaco, for whom he played ... 600 matches in all competitions (1979-1996) as a defensive midfielder, the native Castrais (59 years old) has known several coaching lifetimes during which he showed tenacity to assert his point of view.

His first months in Saint-Etienne are an example: since February he has had to manage a conflict with goalkeeper Stéphane Ruffier and organize the departure of high-paid but poorly performing players.

With in mind, as it has been able to do elsewhere, the desire to conduct a policy geared towards the promotion of young people with better economic management of the workforce.

"It's a new project, it's good to support it with results," said Claude Puel on Tuesday as the Greens, victorious in their first two matches, are aiming for the leadership position in Marseille.

"In the medium term, there is a group that is being set up which will have a future, a future for the club. That, I have no doubt," assures the technician who says he has no "requirements except standards with this group which must cross levels ".

"We have a margin and we set ourselves game goals," he insists.

But to keep them, Puel will have to avoid the transfer of young talents from the club, such as defender Wesley Fofana, requested by Leicester, ready to pay 30 million euros to acquire it.

"If we have to give up our young people at the end of a season, it is because it is impossible to progress and to cross levels", he had also warned in January.

- Difficulties and good results everywhere -

Before joining the Greens where he is a member of the management board with full sporting powers, Claude Puel began his career by succeeding Jean Tigana on the Monaco bench in January 1999.

He then worked in Lille, Lyon, Nice, Southampton and Leicester.

But except perhaps at LOSC where he was debauched by OL in 2008, all his experiences ended in difficulty: in Monaco, in Lyon where he was dismissed for "serious misconduct" without compensation, in Nice or in Southampton when his contract did not come to an end.

However, he was only dismissed once during the season, at Leicester in February 2019.

And if the course of Puel was marked by painful starts, it would also be forgetting that he had successes.

He was champion of France with ASM (2000), played in a semi-final of the Champions League with OL (2010), obtained a 4th place with Nice in 2013 and then in 2016 the year of his departure.

In England, he led Southampton to the League Cup final (2017).

In Lille, he qualifies the club twice for the Champions League with a 2nd place in Ligue 1 in the key (2005).

"I don't do things to last. If I had been in this optic, I would have disappeared a long time ago. I have never denied myself. I have always kept my honesty", he said again declared Tuesday before challenging OM at the Vélodrome where Saint-Etienne has not won since August 10, 1979 (5-3).

A great challenge for the 600th.

© 2020 AFP