Thierry Laurey sitting on the bench of the Mosson Stadium, in Montpellier RC Strasbourg in September 2018. - SYLVAIN THOMAS / AFP

  • Thierry Laurey finds the Mosson and Montpellier on Saturday evening. A special match for the coach of RC Strasbourg, who played and trained at the MHSC.
  • What memories do his former partners have of him? We asked them the question and… there are a few anecdotes!
  • Saturday, Thierry Laurey will also find in front of him Michel Der Zakarian, with whom he has long formed the central hinge of Montpellier.

"You're not from the south, are you?" "Thierry Laurey, yes. At least by adoption, since he was born in Troyes. But the coach of RC Strasbourg often reminds him by his own expressions, he spent a lot of time close to the Mediterranean. In Montpellier especially, as an MHSC player (1987-1988 then 1991-1998) then at the start of his coaching career. Saturday night in Ligue 1, his reunion with the Mosson may still be special.

"I had not planned to go there but since Thierry is coming, I may go," anticipates his ex-partner Philippe Fluklinger, who still lives in Hérault. The two know each other very well. They played in the MHSC jersey for four seasons (1994-1999). "We even went on vacation together, I had to be a little maso," laughs the former guardian, thinking back to these wild card games and the "shouting" that often ensued. "I had to pick up the game a couple of times from the floor!" Thierry, he's all the time, even in tarot. When I see him today in an interview, I tell myself that he hasn't changed at all. "

"He already had the fiber to transmit"

Competitor, lodger, a bit characteristic, the Laurey central defender was also, and already, coach at heart. “We were both the same in our way of being. We talked a lot, we helped a lot the young people around us. He already had the fiber to transmit ”, testifies the Montpellier technician Michel Der Zakarian, who for a long time formed with his Alsatian alter ego the hinge of the MHSC. In a complementary style.

“Thierry was courageous, clean and intelligent in his placement. Like Michel, he lacked a bit of speed but he compensated by his placement and his reading of the game, "recalls Jérôme Bonnissel. When he joined the pro-Hérault group in 1992, the lateral had been marked by Laurey's investment. “He was very involved in the strategy, looked at the opposing team, advised us all the time. Thanks to his experience but also his knowledge.

Thierry Laurey in the Montpellier jersey, here in the fight with the Nantes Japhet N'Doram. - Frank PERRY / AFP

“It was and still is one of his great qualities: he knows everything about football. Players, not just Division 1, tactics, etc. It was our France Football ! "Continues Philippe Fluklinger, before evoking another aspect of the personality of the current Strasbourg technician. His pedagogy. Finally, his own vision of pedagogy. "Sometimes we felt that Thierry wanted to be nice to explain something but his words didn't always follow!" "

"You have to get up early to prove to him that he is wrong!" "

"Of course he could have hard words to hear but he was very demanding, knew what he wanted and adapted his speech to his interlocutor, defends Bonnissel. It is believed like that a little crude of apple but it knows the men very well and knows with which it can speak more frankly or not. "

Racing players will not say the opposite. Some have already suffered the wrath of their coach, even in the middle of a match. “I remember that he even kicked me out of training when we had gone on vacation together the previous month and he had just become Gasset's assistant! "Laughs Philippe Fluklinger. “Thierry is sometimes the victim of his passion. He is able to get angry but will call later to bring up the subject. No apologies, huh! You have to get up early to prove to him that he is wrong! "

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“He is someone who is very extroverted and who does not go there by all means, summarizes Jérôme Bonnissel. Yes, for that, we can say that he is a real guy from the south without the accent. Maybe it will come. Thierry Laurey had entrusted it in an interview to the site of the MHSC in August 2017. “I spent twenty years of my life in Montpellier therefore this club and this city count a lot for me. It's probably a place where I will come back to live in retirement… ”

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  • MHSC
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  • Soccer
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  • Montpellier
  • Languedoc-Roussillon
  • RC Strasbourg