It will become, this Sunday afternoon, the thirteenth club to reach the very symbolic bar of 2,000 matches in the elite of French football. FC Nantes and its immense history, from Jean-Claude Suaudeau, on the lawn of the Marcel Saupin stadium to launch the adventure of the Yellows in the first division on a Sunday in 1963, to Antoine Kombouaré, in the starting lineup against Lyon on the occasion of the club’s 1,000th in the top flight and on the bench 32 years later. “The supporters gave me a little reminder that this will be our 2,000th game in the top flight against Angersblows the Kanak. But you tell me that I had played the 1,000th game.” “I think it’s a club that we made grow“, modestly says his eldest, Jean-Claude Suaudeau. Two men who like round numbers.
“This match was essential for us”
This Sunday in 1963, the Yellows put an end to more than two decades of waiting. Twenty years of trying to take the elevator to end up with the gratin of French football. “It will be hard, of coursehad assured José Arribas to his men, as Pierre Minier relates in “1943-2003, Football Club de Nantes, the dean of the elite“. Our way of playing must better adapt to football as it is practiced among the elite. Only good football pays […] In this year of transition, we must certainly think above all about ensure our maintenance, but, I repeat, without making the slightest concession to expedients and anti-game“A philosophy that Sadek Boukhalfa, Jacky Simon Rafaël Santos or even Bernard Blanchet and Philippe Gondet quickly made their own.”We very quickly realized with Mr. Arribas that the collective was importantrecalls Jean-Claude Suaudeau. He only knew this word and he pounded us with this word and the true meaning of the word collective, we know what it is.”
It was a wonderful adventure. We all wanted to grow up. We were also ambitious.
Of this first outing in front of some 12,000 spectators against US Sedan-Torcy, we will not retain the score (2-2). But the starting point of a new chapter. “This match was essential for usassures the player who wore the number 31 on his back, who arrived three years earlier from Cholet. It concerned an entire region, an entire city and they had been in the second division for so long that suddenly, finding themselves in the first with young people, it’s true that we were proud. It was a wonderful adventure. We didn’t know the first division at all, except that there were some veterans like Jean Guillot who came from Racing who told us about it. We all wanted to grow up. We were also ambitious.“It will materialize two years later for the Canaries with a first title of champion of France in 1965. The beginning of the golden age of the Yellows.
– Jean-Sebastien Evrard
“Coco Suaudeau is incomparable!”
Changed from field to “player-manager“on the proposal of his mentor, at the beginning of the 1970s,”one of my favorite moments“, he admits spontaneously today, Jean-Claude Suaudeau participates in the training of a host of talents, from Seth Adonkor to Bruno Baronchelli via Maxime Bossis, before taking the keys to the first team. And to continue to amass the titles.”On the strength of what I had learned with José, I advocated collective play“, soberly says the 83-year-old man who will be present this Sunday at La Beaujoire, alongside Bernard Blanchet and Gilbert Le Chenadec for kick off the derbywhere he will find one of his former proteges, a certain Antoine Kombouaré.
We are little coaches. They are great, they taught us everything. I have so much respect for these people.
“I consider him a bit like my father”admits the Kanak who changes his tone when discussing his relationship with the one he affectionately calls “coconut“.”When I arrived, he was the one who greeted me. Of course I started with the D3 with Raynald Denoueix as coach, but I made my debut with the pros under his command. He replaced my dad who was in New Caledonia“Memories are also intact in the retiree’s mind.”He has a great characterhe declares full of tenderness. He was feline, despite his overweight when he arrived. He was feline when he tackled and he was extraordinary when he played with his head. He had two strong points and he valued them to have this tackle which was remarkable. He didn’t hurt but he had a span in his tackle which was superb.”
On the lawn of the Gerland stadium in Lyon, March 14, 1990 for the 1,000th consecutive match of the Yellow House in the elite (0-0), Antoine Kombouaré will enter the great history of the club eight times champion of France, this Sunday . “I never imagined, arriving from New Caledonia, one day being a coach, even more in Nantes, slips the 58-year-old technician. When you see the monsters there have been here, you mustn’t compare me to them. We are little coaches. They are great, they taught us everything. I have so much respect for these people, I was fantastically lucky. Coco Suaudeau is incomparable“A man who has and who still matters to Kombouaré.”It’s a relationship I haven’t had with any other coach.he promises. Going for a bite to eat, talking about the children, the grandchildren, that goes beyond football.“But that’s where it all started.
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