CF Montreal took stock on Tuesday, but it was mainly a question of the future of its coach, Wilfried Nancy.
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In his second season at the helm, the 45-year-old head coach led his team to a record year and second place in the MLS Eastern Conference.
Speculation is rife about his future as he still hasn’t signed a deal for next season, despite the club holding an option.
But if everything seems clear for the vice-president and chief sports officer, Olivier Renard, there is still some vagueness as to the return of Nancy next year.
“The coach is under contract for 2023, the option has been in our heads for a long time, insisted Renard. We would like a contract for 2024, 2025, 2026 and beyond.
If his return is obvious in the mind of Renard, Nancy did not want to confirm anything and that raises more questions than answers.
“Today is the balance sheet, so my personal situation, I’m not going to talk about it. We will have time to talk about it later,” insisted Nancy, who also declined to comment on an incident with owner Joey Saputo after a game against Kansas City.
“I don’t need to reassure the fans, they know that I love them, that my wife is Montrealer, my children are Montrealers and I am Montrealer,” he said when asked to reassure fans. supporters.
A tip to the media
So why all this mystery? We give our tongue to the cat, even if Olivier Renard provides an answer that suggests that it was Nancy who did not want to discuss.
“In agreement with the coach, he asked us not to reveal our choices.
“If a person does not want to open the discussion, what do you want me to tell you? He only told me that he didn’t want to discuss his contract before the end of the season,” added Renard, who made a small point towards the media.
“We let you do it. You wrote a lot of nonsense and one of them was that we, as a club, didn’t want to continue with our coach. He simply asked us not to negotiate and we accepted the rules of the game.
In Columbus?
During the day, mlssoccer.com insider Tom Bogert revealed that the Columbus Crew had Nancy in their sights to replace Caleb Porter, who was fired at the end of the regular season.
It was enough for Olivier Renard to ignite.
“I hope it’s wrong because there will be big problems. No club can contact our coach and even less an MLS club since he is under contract.
If by chance the Crew decided that Nancy was their man, there should then be a discussion with the Montreal staff.
Earlier in the day, we learned that it was Jim Curtin of the Philadelphia Union who won the Coach of the Year award. He had received it in 2020 too.
Nancy came second in the poll, with 23.47% of the vote to 23.57% for Curtin, whose team finished first in the East. Nancy led in the media vote, with 43.90% of the vote to Curtin’s 19.9%.
Nancy did not make much of this defeat, even if he fully deserved to win.
“It might have been abnormal for me to win because I’ve only been in charge for two years. Individual recognition is good for the ego.
“The satisfaction for me is to be recognized by my peers. I might have opened a bottle of champagne if I had won.
Investments
The team will have a different face next year. Djordje Mihailovic will notably go to the Netherlands.
The fate of Victor Wanyama remains unclear (see other text), but if he stays, he will certainly take a pay cut. He has banked three million dollars this season.
We know that CF Montreal’s mission is first and foremost to develop players, but would Olivier Renard be tempted to invest in a big name to generate interest? It seems not.
“Exciting people is it the number of numbers and zeros or is it a player who is good on the pitch? Yes, money can make you move forward, maybe faster, but it’s not the right choice.
His position could not be clearer.
A winning club
In addition, Olivier Renard is very satisfied with what his team has achieved this year, the first normal season since taking office.
“As a club, we had a lot of fun and gave a lot of emotions to our supporters.
“We are a winning club, that’s what I was asked when I arrived.”