Thirteen months after your arrival as president of Stade Lavallois, the club is starting a new season in Ligue 2. What state of mind are you initially in?
In the best, because the work that we have implemented is carried out with our means and in our project. The boxes are checked to start the season with positive, smile, energy. Afterwards, obviously, you have to win matches. But in any case, I am satisfied with everything that has been implemented between May and now. There was the upgrading of the Francis Le Basser stadium, the recruitment of players, the reception of players. Everything that was thought of before this season has been achieved. So after that, everything has to go well. Because the goal is to win matches.
Have you set a point goal for players?
No point goal. All commentators know very well that to stay in Ligue 2 you need around 42 points. I’ve talked a lot about the “3 R’s”. Go back up, done. Stay, and above all dream. I believe that every morning, when we get up and can dream, it gives us energy, we help each other. I always aim higher, a little bit with my head in the stars and in the star that we wrote on the logo. So the goal is to stay and dream with two competitions for me, the championship but also the French Cup.
Have you set a goal in this competition?
Yes, a clear objective: to go to the round of 16 because we may not achieve feats every year. But if we can, through the Coupe de France, bring in a Ligue 1 club, make a good poster… it still remains in the collective memory and I want something to happen every year at the Stade lavalois.
Does the prospect of a championship with four runs make you more demanding?
No, because I built a budget to be in the middle of Ligue 2 budgets. So that means it’s not 16ᵉ place. It’s to be around 10ᵉ or better. The rule of the game is four runs, we knew that. I think it was better to go up this year than next year because it allows us to settle down. So the goal is not to finish 15th or 16th, it’s to finish before 10th place. I spoke about it with the shareholders, with the partners. The players are motivated on the subject.
In this budget there is a line “exceptional products“, that is to say the sums that the club can receive on possible transfers of players trained in Laval. Nordi Mukiele has signed for Paris Saint-Germain, from RB Leipzig. Do you know the amount that the club will receive? as part of this transfer?
No, we don’t have the details today. So I don’t want to give any figures at all and besides, I’ll find it difficult to put any figures forward, even once I have it, because it’s always complicated to give figures. But indeed, there is a solidarity bonus that will be associated with this transfer for Laval. We are attentive to what FIFA will give us in terms of a contractual agreement.
Ligue 2 this season can count on the presence of the Girondins de Bordeaux, finally drafted. Good or bad news ?
This is very good news, because making a championship with prestigious clubs is necessarily spectators, it is necessarily enthusiasm and it also motivates our players. I am very happy that Bordeaux has found a solution. It’s a competitor, but that’s life. If there are no competitors, there is no football.
The Goncalves file
While Bryan Goncalves publicly bid farewell to Laval supporters on social media, the central defender has still not found a club and is not currently training with Tango. Several Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 teams have shown interest by one of the best players at Stade Lavallois last season. For financial reasons, no transfer could be completed. A situation that tires everyone a little today.
“Bryan is under contract at Stade Lavallois. He’s a character player, but the Stade Lavallois institution is not nothing. And I do not mean that, because we would be tempted to make a personal decision, we do not take into account the agreements we have signed and especially a brand, an institution that is Stade Lavallois and that we must respect“says Laurent Lairy.
Asked at a press conference this Thursday morning, coach Olivier Frapolli did not want to expand on the subject. “Let’s be clear: there is a player who wanted to leave the club to aim higher, and there is no problem with that. But there are interests on both sides to see“.
Bryan Goncalves has one year left on his contract at Stade Lavallois. The possibility of seeing him train again with his partners remains intact, even if the option of leaving is obviously preferred. In Ligue 1? In League 2? Nationally?