When he begins to visit Jean-Bouin’s renovated offices for us, Thomas Lombard takes care to put on the jacket with the club badge. “The Stade Français is 130 years of history and we must be proud of this heritage,” said the general manager of the premises, in office since November.
Since his return to the Stade Français, Lombard, 45, has been busy restoring order and color, literally and figuratively, in the house. Even if he never played with the Stade jersey in the new Jean-Bouin, the former international (12 selections) did not recognize the club with which he won four Brennus Shields (1998, 2000 , 2003 and 2004). “In the life of a company, the past gives body and meaning to a club, there is no reason to blush. When this past is beautiful, we must not hide it. “
“It looks bad, doesn’t it?” “
This Wednesday, the DG presents the result of the beautification work started the day after his arrival and completed during the confinement period. For 80,000 euros, most of the partitions fell and the walls were repainted in blue and pink, the colors of the Pink Army.
Replicas of the 14 Brennus Shields won by the Stadium sit at the entrance to the club’s headquarters, located on the first floor. “Before, it was naked and completely impersonal, and all the offices were closed, as if screens separated the players in the locker room. There, it has a face, right? Asks Lombard, pushing open the glass door of the meeting room where he had “your destiny, to be champion” written, the motto of Max Guazzini, its former president for eight years.
“The idea is not to plagiarize others, but to reinvent something,” specifies the old center, also passed by Racing. Use your past to restart, to be reborn. “
At the exit of his office, old people’s jerseys were hung on the walls. That of Nicolas Raffault rubs shoulders with that worn by Raphaël Poulain. Further on, in the corridor leading to the sports sector, these are photos of actions that take you back to the heyday of the past. Christophe Dominici, Diego Dominguez or Sylvain Marconnet walk towards glory.
“The past must not be a prison”
“The alumni are VIPs for life here,” says Lombard, who notably had the “bar of legends” redesigned for them in the upper space reserved for 40 boxes. When your life as a player ends, you become aware of what it represents, of lack. If it can give new people strength, motivation and inspiration, it should not be denied. I tell each recruit: Guys won titles, rest on it, use it and write more … The past should not be a prison but a base that allows people to come together. To build a family, you have to see yourself. “
Having retired from lawns for five years, Pascal Papé stayed with the family. He heads the training center and reveals that he got his hands dirty to cool the place by meeting the boss in the corridors. “With my young people, we played with a brush but we must not look too much at the details”, smiles the old 2nd line, presenting his new workspace and his team of 12 people.
Thomas Lombard continues his visit, one floor below, with the hallway to the changing rooms. The dark walls are lined with all the team photos since the merger with CASG in 1994 and LED lighting will accompany the players’ exit on match nights. “Here, it had become a storeroom, the big anything that should even make our opponents laugh,” says Lombard before opening the saint of saints: the cloakroom of the pros. A place that will remain secret as the DG politely orders our photographer but hints at a serious facelift with the installation of new wooden lockers. “We will now ask players to customize the walls (sic) “Concludes Lombard, determined to revive his Stade Français from the ashes.
At the gates of Pro D2 this winter, the Ile-de-France club and its new trainer Gonzalo Quesada, champion of France in 2015, have “now a nice gift package” according to Lombard, who concludes: “Hopefully there will be results inside… ”
