Everything is flat for the Canaries, recent winners of their fourth Coupe de France and Stade Rennais, or almost. Since April 8 and the establishment of a curfew from midnight at Nantes-Atlantique airport, the club must resolve to land the Embraer 145 which transports staff and players on the move, in Montoir-de-Bretagne, near Saint-Nazaire. A logistical puzzle that the Yellows will still experience, on the night of Saturday to Sunday when they returned from Lyon. And which will multiply next season due to the qualification of FC Nantes in the Europa League.
After Marseille, the players arrived at La Jonelière at four o’clock
“It’s a handicap for everyone except me, slips the Yellow and Green coach, Antoine Kombouaré, all smiles. I am 10 minutes from home so if we could land in Saint-Nazaire all the time, I would be happy. They will make the mouth but that’s how it is.“The mine was indeed not very happy on April 20. Delayed at the Stade Vélodrome by the police for security reasons, the team did not arrive until around four o’clock at the center of training where all the cars were parked, an inconvenience with which the Yellow House will have to deal more and more.
Not so simple either for the club’s logistics team. It is now obliged to anticipate all the away matches which take place at 9 p.m. by contacting the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) which must detach an air traffic controller in order to land the jet of about fifty of seats. The only night flight in Montoir-de-Bretagne. Which, at present, does not seem to pose a problem for the DGAC. “From time to time, services can be set up“, we explain on the side of the administration attached to the Ministry of Ecological Transition. “We are therefore in discussion with the DGAC to secure this runway all year round.“, we breathe at FC Nantes. Because the other solutions are called Rennes or Angers, the runway at Ancenis aerodrome being too short to land Embraer 145s.
Future discussions with the prefecture?
The recent qualification for the Europa League of the Yellows will certainly encourage management to initiate discussions with the Pays de la Loire prefecture to try to negotiate very punctual late landings. “It’s our wish“, slips an employee. But this may not be to the taste of the inhabitants close to the Nantes-Atlantique track. In the meantime, the logistics team is adapting. “We do not have a choice“, we let go internally.
A bus with a larger capacity than the one in which the players usually circulate is therefore rented in order to allow all the staff and equipment to return to the Jonelière training center from Saint-Nazaire. A puzzle that risks handicapping the training of Antoine Kombouaré, next season, who will play Thursday in the European Cup, will return on Friday, before possibly flying back the next day for another trip. In the league this time.