Last week of preparation for US Orléans before resuming the National Championship, this Friday in Concarneau. With eleven recruits, the USO intends to show a very different face after last season ended in 9th place. Interview with Brice Luce, general manager of US Orléans.
Two wins, two games and two defeats, what is your assessment of the preparation?
It is a very average preparation which is not reassuring, even if we should not draw hasty conclusions. We know that the championship starts on August 12, and that sometimes we can make good preparations and be surprised at the start of the season. And conversely, a somewhat average preparation can turn into a very good season. We have all experienced it and we have all observed it from near or far in others, so we are not pessimistic.
We were coming a bit towards the end of the cycle last season with a group that for us needed to be improved in a number of aspects – Boris Luce, general manager of US Orléans
There are eleven new players in the squad. There were five at kick-off during the last friendly match against Bourges. Why did you want to renew the workforce so much?
We arrived a little at the end of the cycle last season with a group which for us, had to be improved on a certain number of aspects, in particular individually. So we wanted to renew the squad by half with slightly more seasoned players, National/League 2 level. That’s what we managed to do, we have the squad we wanted.
Who were the priority players?
Players like Gregory Berthier (formerly Chambly). It’s a profile that we didn’t have last year in the workforce, a real number 10, good passer, good technician. Ahmad Allee also, number 8 profile. Striker Adrian Dabasse as well. I can almost name them all one by one, because we really succeeded from our point of view in improving the intrinsic quality of the players. After collectively, we will see if it gives better or not, we can never be sure.
“We have to play for the top of the table this year”
What is the club’s budget this year for this third season in a row in National?
The budget is 4.5 million euros. We lost about 1.5 million euros so we are on a decreasing budget. But we especially wanted to focus on the payroll of the first team which has not changed compared to last season. We closed the training center and we cut back a bit on the women’s team.
You left Ligue 2 the year cut short by the Covid-19, what is the club’s objective this season?
We are not going to hide behind a renewal of staff in the event of disappointing results. We have renewed the workforce, we assume. We are happy with what we have done and now we will have to live up to our ambitions. And the ambitions is to play at the top of the table. Afterwards, to climb or not to climb, there is always a part of success in a season. In any case, we have to play for the top of the table this year.