After its draw in Nice, Stade Brestois is runner-up in Ligue 1. Its coach, Eric Roy, analyzes this good start to the season on franceinfo.
Stade Brestois are second in Ligue 1, at the end of the 7th day of the championship, after their draw in Nice (0-0). Eric Roy, the coach of the Breton club, spoke about his team’s successful start to the season, in Club Info, Sunday October 1 on franceinfo.
Franceinfo: While maintaining it was quite difficult to achieve last season, how is it that your team finds itself co-leader of Ligue 1 this season?
Eric Roy: Maintaining it hadn’t been that difficult anyway, because at the end of the championship, we were eight points ahead of the first non-relegation team. But it’s true that since January we have had very good momentum. We scored a lot of points in the return phase. I believe that the team remained on this dynamic and kept this state of mind, it is not easy to maintain it, but the team has changed little, we have even strengthened ourselves in a few positions . We are a real group of friends on the ground, and it shows. Today, we can’t consider that we had our best match, but we had a good result in Nice, which is still a team that came away with two fairly resounding victories against Paris and Monaco. So after this draw (0-0) this evening, I congratulate the boys, we are satisfied.
You are one of the little thumbs of Ligue 1 with a budget of 48 million euros, compared to 250 million euros for Lyon or Marseille: what is the philosophy of a club like Brest?
It’s a family club but in the good sense of the word, where people work and give body and soul, with our means, and with competence where it’s needed, a sports director who is a bit of the architect of this team and who does a bit of getting by because he doesn’t have a lot of resources. We invested 500,000 euros this year in the summer transfer window, when some invested 50 million euros. I arrived here alone, but I work with competent staff, who have been at the club for a long time, with this love of the jersey and the city. I hope the team shows what the club really is.
As you occupy this place in the league, will your goals be revised upwards, or is it taboo for the moment?
It’s true that today, after seven days, the great satisfaction is to have 14 points. Last year, when I arrived in Brest for the maintenance operation, in 17 matches played, they had 13 points. We know very well that this year, with a season of 34 matches [ndlr : la ligue 1 compte 18 clubs cette saison, contre 20 en 2022-2023], it will of course be less than 42 points. So when we get closer to this balance sheet, and we are still far from it, perhaps it will be the time to set other objectives. I believe that to be able to do great things, you have to climb the steps one after the other, and for the moment, we are still at the bottom of the stairs.