Fabien Gengenbacher, who was still the manager of FC Grenoble in Pro D2 a few weeks ago, will become sports director of LOU in Top 14 from July 13. He will succeed Xavier Garbajosa, dismissed from his post on June 12, a few days after the end of the season and the defeat in the play-offs of the Lyon club at home against Union Bordeaux-Bègles (25-32).
Garbajosa, who arrived in the Rhône in the summer of 2022, had cut himself off from part of his locker room throughout the season and some players had felt that they could not continue the adventure with him.
His successor has a less extensive CV, but he knows the house a little for having worn the jersey in 2005-2006. After a long career in Grenoble (2006-2017), Gengenbacher had taken on the duties of manager of the Isère team in 2021. The first season will have been complicated, the maintenance in Pro D2 not being assured until the end of the Championship. The second, on the other hand, was a great success, with a second place at the end of the regular phase.
Gengenbacher competed with Jono Gibbes and Michael Cheika
However, this rebound is as surprising as it is unexpected. The Savoyard, who had taken the Isérois club to the Pro D2 final a few weeks ago (lost to Oyonnax) then in the play-offs for accession to the Top 14 (lost this time against Perpignan), was to take, on July 1, the presidency of FC Grenoble.
But the financial worries that led to the provisional relegation to National 1 of the Grenoble team, as revealed by L’Équipe on June 6, had pushed the club to reorganize and leave the post of president to Patrick Goffi, investor-savior . The latter had explained that he did not want to leave Gengenbacher alone at the helm, which would have been anything but a gift.
Gengenbacher, who appeared in a reduced list along with New Zealander Jono Gibbes and Australian Michael Cheika, seduced the Lyon leaders over the contacts initiated in mid-June. A last meeting this Tuesday morning with Olivier Ginon, the majority shareholder of LOU, via the company GL Events, finished closing the file.
