"It's not bad, we've all already touched girls": these remarks during the pre-match chat on Sunday in Montpellier, according to several sources cited by the daily newspapers Ouest France and l'Équipe and confirmed to a correspondent from AFP, shocked the locker room and beyond.

They got the better of the 54-year-old coach's weak credit, while the Ligue 1 red lantern team has not won in the league since September, has just been swept away 5-0 in Montpellier and is heading straight for League 2.

"Faced with media pressure and to preserve the club's image and the serenity of the locker room, Abdel Bouhazama announced to President Saïd Chabane that he had decided to leave his post", explained the club in a press release, without specifying in the statement. immediately who would take over.

If the setbacks of Angers began at the beginning of 2020 with the indictment of Chabane himself, accused of sexual assault by six women who were his employees at the time of the facts, this last case broke out last week, when the press local revealed the existence of lawsuits against Ilyes Chetti.

"Clumsiness"

This 28-year-old Algerian full-back, very little used since his arrival last summer, admitted touching a young woman during an evening in a nightclub during the World Cup break and is to be tried in April.

But after a series of injuries at his post, he was established on Sunday in Montpellier, for only the third time this season, and in his pre-match chat, Bouhazama had tried to put him in confidence.

Abdel Bouhazama in Angers on February 8, 2023 © LOIC VENANCE / AFP/Archives

Failure all along the line: Chetti completely missed his game, involved in the first two goals before going out at half-time, and the disclosure of the remarks showed that the current was no longer flowing between the coach and part of the locker room .

“Angers SCO unreservedly condemns the words spoken during the talk, even if they seem (more) to be clumsy than the intention to trivialize sexist words,” the club said in its press release.

In a separate statement, Bouhazama regretted that his remarks, "taken out of context, could have shocked".

Arrived in Angers 10 years ago, Bouhazama was in charge of the training center and the reserve for a long time before taking over at the head of the first team when Gérald Baticle was sacked at the end of November.

"The evil is deep"

But he made it clear that he was not leaving the club: "We have agreed with the management to redirect my functions".

The club was more evasive: "We will see with him how he now sees his future".

This may not satisfy the many supporters who have demanded his departure on social networks.

SCO Angers goalkeeper Paul Bernardoni disappointed after conceding Montpellier's 4th goal at La Mosson, March 5, 2023 © Sylvain THOMAS / AFP / Archives

"A Ligue 1 coach cannot express himself like this. An educator cannot speak like that. A man should not make such remarks", had also commented Charles Diers, sports assistant for the town hall of Angers and former club player.

The Ultras of the Kop de la Butte 1992 for their part directly targeted Chabane, called to "sell the club and disappear as quickly as possible", in a press release Tuesday morning.

"The SCO is living through a nightmarish season which shames all the Angevin people. The evil is deep and has its roots in a succession of failed choices and inhuman attitudes for several years already", they denounced by calling for demonstrations on Sunday. in front of the stadium, before the match against Toulouse.

© 2023 AFP