“It gives me great pleasure to look back on those years.“The interview was to last about ten minutes. It ended after more than three quarters of an hour of discussions. Smiling and very talkative, Philippe Anziani has not forgotten anything of his Sochaux and Nantes years. having played and then trained in both clubs, the now coach of the attackers with the Marseille reserve, “very friend” with Antoine Kombouaré, has agreed to reopen the souvenir box on the occasion of the entry into contention of the two teams in the 32nd final of the Coupe de France, this Saturday afternoon, at the Bonal stadium. An interview in which he talks about his childhood, an epic semi-final return to the UEFA Cup or the famous Jonelière pit and the methods of Jean-Claude Suaudeau.
“It’s one of my first matches, in front of me there is Henri Michel, Maxime Bossis and I score”
What does this meeting between Sochaux and Nantes mean to you?
These are two clubs that are dear to my heart. In Sochaux, because I was trained there for a year and I played there before coming back as a trainer and then coach, I still spent 15 years of my life there, I got married there , I still have friends there, my in-laws and lots of memories. In Nantes, it’s also a part of my life as a footballer and that’s where, in my opinion, I really felt the best in the game, in my way of being as a footballer. Much has been said about “Nantes game“, but it is true thatwith Suaudeau, it was a hell of a game, those were the moments when you had to play in Nantes, I think.
Can we say that Sochaux is the club that allowed you to reveal yourself?
Exactly. It’s the club of my heart, the yellow and blue jersey, the lion on the jersey. I started with this team in Strasbourg when I was not even 18 years old. A year before, I was in Morocco, in Casablanca, where I spent my childhood, I played in the street. Fortunately, my uncle who was training Meaux in the honor division brought me in, otherwise I think I would have stayed in Morocco and I don’t know if I would have made a professional career. He had detected something in me and I immediately played in Parisian DH, which was huge. It unlocked a lot of things in me and today it is true that when you see the young people who remain in their category and that it is difficult to make them evolve above because they are young, I do not find that very good. Personally, it allowed me to evolve quickly and arrive at Sochaux.
– Franck Dubray
Why did you choose this club when you were requested by others?
In Sochaux, I found a family club, a training club with young people like Moussa Bezaz, Bernard Genghini, Joël Bats or Yannick Stopyra who, at 17, was already making his first appearances. It totally suited me, a small club, a small town, and this way of seeing things is a region where football is very important. It allowed me to start pro very quickly. That’s why I made this decision when, from memory, PSG wanted me too but my uncle, who took care of all that, told me that we couldn’t go there because that it was not a training club at the time.
What moments do you keep from this period during which you, among other things, finished vice-champion of France and played a semi-final of the UEFA Cup?
Carelessness and an exceptional generation of young people, as in Nantes. But my biggest memory is the European Cup semi-final against Frankfurt. You have to remember that it was an impressive team at the time with only internationals. The first leg, we lose 4-0 with a quarter of an hour from the end, everyone says to themselves: we are eliminated. Finally, we come back to 4-2. The return, I remember it very well. It was very cold, there was snow in Bonal. We had leather crampons and we had removed a strip of leather to better hold on to the points. Well, it was a little dangerous, suddenly the ancients used candle wax so that the assistant referee would not feel the spikes when he came to check the cleats. On this match, the players from Frankfurt had taken us a little high. I saw them in the hallway. We were a small band, there were people from everywhere and we beat them 2 to 0, it was fabulous. Every time I go back to Sochaux, in the street, people only talk about this Cup epic. My other vivid memory is a trip to Marcel-Saupin, one of my first matches. Nantes is first, we second and whoever wins takes a real option for the title. I go there, very young, I still have plenty of hair and I am number 9. In front of me, there is Henri Michel, Maxime Bossis and in this match, I score. In the end, we lose, but I played against this Nantes team. It was a match that marked me. Besides, I have this goal on tape and sometimes, when my children or friends ask, we watch the video.
– Michel luccioni
“Nantes was different. It was the game that came first”
When you arrive in Nantes, how do you find the football of your childhood?
We are still talking about this pit. But that’s it, it’s this rebound with the wall, the small spaces. When we talk about training, we necessarily talk about Nantes and I was just talking about this pit, last Thursday, with an educator who asked me what it was. It was the game, quite simply. Today, the methods have changed, we are trying to reinvent football. But in Nantes, it was football, quite simply. Before having you on the phone, I wrote down some information and in particular why the choice of Nantes. This club, its way of playing corresponded to my football sensibility. We have talked a lot about the Nantes game, which did not correspond to everyone. But if Messrs Suadeau and Budzynski made me come, I think it was because I shared this vision, these values and that I corresponded to what they expected from a footballer, that he be sensitive to the game , let him feel it and be technical. It was very important to me. And even if the two seasons I was at the club were not exceptional, at times, for two or three months, we played exceptional football and this is where I have asserted myself the most as a player, that I enjoyed the most.
What marked you the most during your two seasons in Nantes?
Nantes was different. It was the game that came first. Besides, we never spoke of winning, it was the game that allowed us to do it. And it leaves traces. There was Suaudeau and then, behind Denoueix in training. I saw in the corridor the young generation who arrived with the Pedros, Ouedec, Loko who were 14 years old, Dechamps and Desailly started to play with us at 16 years old. It stank of football, everywhere we went in La Jonelière, it was incredible, I’ve never felt that elsewhere.
Who is the coach who impressed you the most?
Of course, Coco was someone who marked me in terms of the game, compared to what he also advocated during training. They were always animated with this game project. It often referred to the Brazil team. He had that sensitivity and he was very interested in the affinities between players, the combined game. Sure, he had preferential patterns but there was also above all inspiration which was important.
“I never asked to be a coach”
Is it a regret not to have stayed longer at FC Nantes?
I had signed a two-year contract in Nantes and in the end, I had been approached by Matra Racing at the time and other clubs. Me, I felt good in Nantes but they [les dirigeants] have delayed. At one point, So I made the decision to go elsewhere with, it’s true, a pang in my heart, because it was a club that suited me. They did offer me to extend at the end of the season but I told them that I had given my consent to Matra and that I could not back down.
Are you more of Marcel Saupin or Beaujoire?
Marcel-Saupin, that’s clear. More than 30,000 people with an audience that was close, it was a stadium, a bit in the English style. La Beaujoire is good, but there is space behind the goal. For me, it’s Marcel Saupin and his atmosphere.
– Damien meyer
Your returns to Nantes and Sochaux on the bench were then a little more delicate. How did you experience them?
When we take stock, when I talk about my “job“, I say that I am a trainer, not a trainer. In my mind, I never envisioned myself as a trainer. I never thought of making a career of professional trainer. My assumption of duty at Sochaux happened when I was very young and it happened because I was needed but I was too young. It was then that I realized that I was certainly made to be trainer and not to coach a professional team. Despite everything, my time in Nantes still gave me a little more certainty that I could do it but I never asked to be a coach, I did it because some people asked me to. It was the case in Nantes, I didn’t really want to take over because I knew the difficulty of this task. Kita, at the time, strongly asked me to do it because he thought that I could succeed in keeping FC Nantes in Ligue 2. Anyway, for me, Nantes could not go down in National. It was not possible. On the other hand, training, I have it in me. I am made to support, grow and give to players, whether as an assistant or as a coach of the attackers, I like to share my experience and my football sensitivity.