The chopper fell. Seven games without a win in the league, no identity game and to end a final defeat in the derby, Sunday, October 6, in Saint-Étienne (1-0): Jean-Michel Aulas sliced Monday night and dismissed his coach Sylvinho, arrived in the luggage of the new sports director, Juninho.
The OL decided to implement a procedure that could lead to the termination of the employment contract of Mr. Sylvio Mendes Campo Júnior.
During the course of this procedure the training will be provided by Mr. Gerald Baticle under the direction of the sports director Juninho. pic.twitter.com/TMGzMwDVtI
The former Brazilian star club Rhone in his glorious time of the 2000s had chosen a compatriot to succeed May 28 to Bruno Genesio, whose contract was finally not renewed under the pressure of groups of supporters ultras.
They criticized him for the low level of play of the team and disappointing results, while with Genesio, OL was twice 3rd (2018, 2019), 2nd in 2016, 4th in 2017 with a semi-final of Europa League.
A casting error ?
With Sylvinho, the dream turned into a nightmare: the team is now completely adrift despite some 94 million euros spent on recruitment.
The two initial wins in Ligue 1 against Monaco (3-0) and then Angers (6-0) were nothing but trompe-l'oeil after a preseason season already quite catastrophic that did not alert enough the decision makers of the club (a victory against four defeats).
Like Juninho, who started in his new job ten years after leaving OL and Europe, Sylvinho (45) had never before held a number one position, either in Brazil or elsewhere.
Even more striking: a former Arsenal and FC Barcelona player, he had never played in the French championship, where no Brazilian technician has yet succeeded, and does not speak French.
OL, against nature
While Jean-Michel Aulas (71) had announced his intention to step back to let the management of the sports field in Juninho, the catastrophic sports situation forced him to return to the fore certainly certainly faster than he had considered.
Thus, while Juninho, who had come back through the front door and suffered his first failure, was crossing the mixed zone of the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium without a word and looking in a vacuum, it was Aulas who appeared before the media. Sunday night.
And his words left little doubt about the fatal outcome that awaited his coach. "We can not do nothing and all the hypotheses are possible," he had let go.
Yet Jean-Michel Aulas is not a fan of radical solutions. In 32 years of presidency, he had until then dismissed only four technicians in office: Robert Nouzaret (1985-October 1987), already in office when he had taken control of the club and he had not appointed, then his successor Denis Papas (October 1987-March 1988) before dismissing Guy Stéphan (1995-October 1996) and Hubert Fournier (2014-December 2015).
Baticle, the interim
But the situation of the club Rhone, 14th in the standings with only one point ahead of a pair of red lanterns, Dijon - that Lyon will receive October 19 - and Metz, became so urgent that it seemed difficult to wait longer .
Already assistant of Bruno Genesio, Gérald Baticle, 50 years, will lead the training from Tuesday under the direction of Juninho, maintained in his duties and seems untouchable vis-à-vis fans ultr.
Baticle should only be an interim worker pending the appointment of a technician who will be confirmed this time to complete the upgrade.
It will then be necessary to see what will be Juninho's real power in the new distribution of roles in the sports field.
Sylvinho is the third coach to lose his position in the L1 since the beginning of the season, after Vahid Halilhodzic dismissed in Nantes even before the first day in favor of Christian Gourcuff, and Ghislain Printant replaced by Claude Puel in Saint-Etienne.
With AFP