How would you qualify the year 2021?
“If we are talking about the first part of the year, and therefore the 2020/2021 season, I would say simply superb! [une demi-finale de Coupe de France et une qualification en playoff avec une belle huitième place, sachant que l’OLB est le 14e budget de l’élite]. Since 2011, it seems to me that it is the best season that the club has had. A great season for the professional team, but also for our Hopes team which, for the first time, qualifies for the trophy of the future, it’s the best competition among young people, so it’s really very positive to all. levels, sportingly and also humanely. It’s a great year at all levels, with the players, with the staff and with the administrative staff as well. It was very good. So we only have one big frustration over this year. It is of course the Covid crisis. So that despite all these good results, we were not able to enjoy them all together. And then, as president, it’s true that behind, financially, unfortunately, the club has not been able to have all the benefits, all the advantages of this great season, also in terms of communication. But hey, sports clubs have benefited from state aid and there is no danger in the remainder, far from it. But unfortunately, the club could not share all of this with, with its supporters, with the general public. “
And there you have it, their Orléans Loiret Basket was a very good 2020 2021 season. But it’s always the same in sport, you have to start over. Last summer you lost important players Captain Giovan Oniangue, super playmaker Brandon Jefferson. We had to rebuild a team. It started badly this season because the whole team came late and finally, we find ourselves there at the end of December, in ninth place of Betclic Elite 6 wins, 6 losses. How do you qualify this end of the year 2021? Miraculous?
“I would say it’s normal, not miraculous. It is a strategy on our part to recruit late because our budgets did not allow. Unfortunately, we had to let some players go because the salaries were a little too high for us. So we had to be patient. We had to build a team, but with complementary players and smart boys, good people, as they say I think of Marcus Paige, Chris Warren, our JFLs [joueurs formés localement], to Kyvon Davenport … Well, indeed, we recently reinforced the team with DJ Strawberry, but we already knew. Who is also someone who has no personal ambition, but who has a collective ambition and who brings all that to the team. So it’s pretty positive. So there you have it, we knew that the start of the season would be difficult. And no luck, we end up with injuries from the start of the season and then an unfavorable schedule with a lot of away games, etc. But I said “no panic, we’ll see, we’ll do the accounts at Christmas and then we’ll see afterwards”. Today, the accounts are good: we are 6 wins, 6 losses. We have one last game left at the Palais des Sports. We receive Paris [ce jeudi soir à 20h, treizième journée de Betclic Elite], but there, today, I believe that I dare to hope that the OLB is on its way to arrive at an objective which is the maintenance, or more, if it is possible “
How long are you president of the OLB for? You announced it, you had to leave at the end of last season. You have agreed, at the club’s request, to stay a bit, to do something short, as they say. You remain president until when?
There, the date is not yet really fixed. One can think that by the first quarter of the year 2022, this will be resolved. But now, I accepted to extend with great pleasure because it’s a healthy club, with good people, with very good relations with the public, supporters, subscribers, etc. It is really very, very pleasant. And it’s just on a professional and personal level that I decide to quit. But this is not the context of the club, far from it!
You’ve been president of the OLB for four and a half years: when you leave, you think you’ll leave the club on the right track for the opening of Come’t, the great sports hall in Orléans, in early 2023 ?
Yes, I think the club is on the right track to go to Come’t. But now there is some development to be done. There is plenty to see. But the club is on the right track and as long as it lasts.