(Montreal) The president and CEO of CF Montreal, Gabriel Gervais, indicated that it was strategic differences that led the team to cut ties with its vice-president and CEO of sports, Olivier Renard.
Alone in front of around ten media, Gervais took stock of Renard’s departure, which was confirmed Thursday afternoon, after a few days of intense rumors.
“We ended our collaboration by mutual agreement. I would say that recently we had strategic differences regarding the application of the sporting philosophy. We had reached a point where, for the good of the club and Olivier, the best decision was to part ways professionally,” said Gervais on Friday before training at the Nutrilait Center.
Renard was hired as sporting director in September 2019, after a short stint with Royal Antwerp FC in his native Belgium. For more than four years, its philosophy seemed in tune with that of the Bleu-blanc-noir, but the disagreements have seemed more numerous in recent weeks.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Olivier Renard, former sports director of CF Montreal
At the heart of these, we perhaps find the contractual situation of midfielder Mathieu Choinière. The Quebecer reportedly requested a transaction last week, showing his dissatisfaction with the negotiations with the club.
At that moment, it was possible to believe that Renard was taking a hard line against Choinière, but a week later, the standoff was perhaps played out higher up.
“Lately, there has been a lack of consensus on certain decisions. I am not going to go into any details of confidential files, but I can tell you that it is through the functioning of the sports department, the organizational structure and the choice of players. Mathieu is an important player for us, but he is under contract for another 19-20 months,” explained Gervais.
The president of CF Montreal will act as interim sports director while waiting for a replacement to be found and he has indicated that he prefers to keep his administrative position than to spend more time on the sporting side. Gervais mentioned that he doesn’t have any candidate in mind at the moment.
If Renard’s future in Montreal was determined this week, that of Vassili Cremanzidis, the assistant sports director, is still unclear. Gervais declared “that at the last hours and according to the latest information, he is still part of the organization”.