Football: the former coach of the Blues Raymond Domenech new coach of Nantes
Former Blues coach Raymond Domenech in Rennes on August 19, 2017 LOIC VENANCE AFP / Archives
Text by: Tom Rossi Follow
4 min
Former France team coach Raymond Domenech was appointed FC Nantes coach on Thursday, December 24, 27 years after his last experience at the head of a club.
His arrival arouses strong criticism from supporters of the "Canaries".
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His name kept coming back over the last few hours.
It is now as sure as it is surprising: Raymond Domenech is indeed the new coach of FC Nantes.
He signed a six-month contract with the eight-time champion club of France, this Thursday, December 24.
The interested party confirmed Thursday, December 24 to France Bleu Loire Océan that an "
agreement had been found
" with FC Nantes.
"
The agreement will be finalized after the holidays,
" according to the former coach of the France team.
The formalization will take place after the Christmas holidays.
An astonishing and criticized choice
The one who will celebrate his 69 years in January will therefore take over a sinking team that has not won for eight matches.
Raymond Domenech moved from the France team, of which he was the coach from 2004 to 2010, to FC Nantes, current 16th in Ligue 1 who has not shone since the early 2000s. His last experience at the head of he football club dates back to 1993 when he coached Lyon.
That year, most of the players he will have under his leadership were not born.
Since then, the world of football has changed a lot, proof of this is the strike of the players of the France team in Knysna, during the 2010 World Cup failed in South Africa, its last story on a bench.
Raymond Domenech with Thierry Henry during the South Africa-France match at the 2010 World Cup, on June 22 in Bloemfontein.
ASSOCIATED PRESS - Luca Bruno
For all these reasons, the choice of FC Nantes president Waldemar Kita, in office since 2007, calls out.
And even more, he revolts the supporters of the "
Canaries
"
who have shown their discontent for several weeks
, after years of friction with the management of their club.
The dismissal of Christian Gourcuff on December 8
and the suspicions of aggravated tax evasion by President Kita, have only accentuated a gap which is widening even more with the appointment of Raymond Domenech.
“
13 years of nothingness to end with Raymond Domenech.
The Kita circus begins its last lap
”, could we read this Wednesday on a banner deployed at the FC Nantes training center.
On social networks, criticism is even more bitter
with the creation of the hashtag #DomenechNotWelcome on Twitter.
12/23/2020 - La Jonelière
"13 years of nothingness to end with @RaymondDomenech. The Kita Circus begins its last lap ..." # KitaOut pic.twitter.com/8TYVXNEWuT
- Meet us FCN (@rendezleFCN) December 23, 2020
Raymond Domenech, 15th FC Nantes coach in 17 years (not counting the interim staff), is therefore preparing to take the reins of a team lacking in confidence and in a very hostile climate.
After a world cup final in 2006, the Knysna fiasco in 2010, and a decade away from the players (consultants, president of the French coaches union), his return to the edge of the field promises to be very eventful.
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