Is this the most improbable comeback of the year? Claude Puel, coach of OGC Nice between 2012 and 2016, is back on the Aiglons bench. Appointed at midday to replace Franck Haise, who left by mutual agreement with his management, the 64-year-old technician signed up until the end of the season for a maintenance mission and was presented this Monday at the start of the afternoon.
“I come for a mission, a very difficult challenge,” he confirmed to the press. “But that’s what motivates me, I like difficult things,” said Puel, urgently recalled by his former club. “We are talking about a proposal in the last 48 hours. Watching the matches, I haven’t been able to lately,” smiled the native of Castres, away from the sidelines since the end of his chaotic adventure in Saint-Étienne, in December 2021.
“They need clarity and simple things”
“I haven’t trained for four years, but it’s like cycling, it comes back quickly,” he joked. “There are always new things, adaptations. We have to take this turn but the player remains the same. Working to bring the player to his best expression is exciting. We don’t forget that in four years,” reassured Puel, also citing the example of Éric Roy, whose time on the Brest bench was crowned with success despite twelve years without coaching between 2011 and 2023.
Claude Puel, who will lead his first training session this Monday afternoon, the day the Aiglons resume after the Christmas break, will now focus on discovering his new squad. “I will rely a lot on the first training sessions, the first matches, the people in place and the staff so that they share their sensitivity with me. » The objective: “Putting simple things in place”. “You have to get to the point, not get lost, not let yourself be dominated by an abundance of information. We will try to be as precise as possible because the players need to regain confidence, they need clarity and simple things to regain the necessary confidence,” said the former coach of Monaco, Lille and Lyon.
Above all, the Nice staff will be responsible for reconnecting with the Gym supporters, in the midst of a boycott following the violent events that marked the return of the players after the trip to Lorient on November 30. A mission that Claude Puel considers himself ready to carry out.
“Drain all the loving supporters behind this team”
“For those who have followed me on my journey, especially in Nice, I have known the supporters with different facets,” he breathed, in reference to a raid by Nice fans at the training center in March 2015. “I know that they are very demanding and that they can show it harshly, I have experienced that too. There is love for the club and from time to time it goes beyond certain limits. »
According to the Côte d’Azur technician, reconnecting the link between the players and the supporters, completely broken during a catastrophic month of December, is possible. “If our supporters feel cohesion around the team with simple things, like fighting together, small directives to allow the players to find this cohesion and this confidence, this will drain all the fans who love this team. »
For Claude Puel and the Aiglons, the maintenance operation will start this Saturday January 3 with the reception in Strasbourg, on the occasion of the 17th day of Ligue 1.
