CF Montreal announced late Monday the appointment of Sandro Grande as head coach of its reserve team. He will be supported by assistant coach Patrick Viollat.
From the outset, in a press release, Grande returned to the incidents that made headlines at the start of the decade.
“I am very grateful and happy to have the opportunity to return to the club that I have loved since my childhood,” said Grande. I made some serious mistakes several years ago and I’m deeply sorry for disrespecting anyone. I learned a lot from them and I know that I am joining an organization where the values of inclusion and diversity are fundamental. I think it’s important to use our personal experiences to continually improve and correct our past mistakes. »
Grande was first released by the Impact in July 2009 after grabbing teammate Mauro Biello by the throat during training. Then in 2012, this message was published on his Twitter account, in reaction to the attack in Métropolis targeting Prime Minister Pauline Marois: “The only mistake the shooter made last night was to miss his target! ! ! Marois! ! ! Next time dude! I hope ! “.
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Sandro Grande was released by the Impact in July 2009 after grabbing teammate Mauro Biello by the throat during training.
Grande has always claimed to have been hacked. However, he acknowledged the authorship of a message on Facebook insulting the sovereignists. He then spoke of the “people of the North” who would have voted for the sovereignists by calling them “colonists” (“hillbillies”). He claimed that the “separatists are so stupid it is unimaginable”.
The leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, reacted in the evening on his twitter account. “The PQ strongly denounces this unacceptable appointment. […] I read his excuses today which are insufficient and which fail to mention the group he was targeting (the sovereignists) or the person he wanted to see killed (Pauline Marois). Rather, he says he wants to conform to the club’s “diversity” values. Grande did not make a single banal error or one tweet too many one evening, he repeatedly made filthy and criminal remarks targeting more than 2 million separatist Quebecers. This tacit guarantee by CF Montreal is untenable and extremely uncomfortable. »
His classes
“I have worked with local clubs, at Collège Montmorency, with boys and girls, and I am confident that I have acquired maturity and a great experience, added Grande in the press release. This background allows me today to accept these new responsibilities and to return to the Club to contribute to the CF Montreal project. »
“He is a quality coach who has gained a lot of experience and has grown over the last 10 years. Through our two-year collaboration with FC Laval as a partner club, he has shown us his professional maturity. He is passionate about our sport and training, in addition to having this club very close to his heart,” said the director of the CF Montreal Academy, Marinos Papageorgopoulos.
Grande had held the position of technical director of FC Laval since October 2021. He had previously been technical director of the club Les Étoiles de l’Est, from 2011 to 2019. He also held the position of manager of the men’s and women’s soccer programs of the Collège Montmorency, from July 2017 to January 2021. During his playing career, Grande played for the Montreal Impact during the 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2009 seasons, in the USL.
Viollat was technical director of the Concordia Regional Soccer Association.
CF Montreal Reserve plays in the First Quebec Soccer League (PLSQ). In its inaugural PLSQ season last year, the team finished sixth in the standings with a 12-8-2 record.