For some, the Cup is a one-night stand. For Nicolas Colarec, it’s extra of a launching pad for initiatives. On the bench, Plabenneca will play his sixth spherical of 16 towards Grenoble (Ligue 2) in lower than ten years, with a 3rd completely different staff (after Concarneau in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018, then La Montagne in 2021). Good revenge after a burnout that sidelined him for a yr.
When it comes to consistency in efficiency, particularly throughout golf equipment, it makes me notice my skill to develop initiatives by means of these competitions. However I do not need to put on a specialist costume as a result of the Cup stays so random. After which humility is without doubt one of the values you want to move on to your staff, so it begins with me. You do not put on a yellow shirt your self.
You first point out the undertaking when the Cup appears reasonably doomed to brilliance at first look?
Once I began at Concarneau, we determined to make the Cup a objective to resize the membership economically and provides it extra energy. It was a detonator, it generated enthusiasm within the stadium, it made folks need to observe us and thus it allowed them to cease. Concarneau advanced with the Coupe de France.
“The cup is sort of ‘simple’ cash, a option to preserve the membership going. »
Lastly, does the idea of “cup magic” nonetheless come into play due to the stakes?
You shouldn’t be bored with this expression. This summer season in Plabennec we had been administratively downgraded to R1. The financial context is tough. The cup is sort of “simple” cash, a option to assist the membership. When you’re conscious of this, you need to make the gamers accountable, to grasp that they’re actors in their very own “enterprise”, within the destiny of their membership.
What different levers do you activate along with your gamers as these matches method?
I consider in giving them an urge for food, psychological stimulation. Within the pre-match chat, we’ve got to search out the suitable phrases, contact the gamers’ delicate factors. I speak to them about money. I haven’t got a prescription in any respect. In a match you additionally want to note to settle down typically when it is tense or flip up the amount if vital.
Within the 1/8 finals we’re getting into a brand new competitors with the potential for enjoying for giant golf equipment. That is what you want probably the most?
The Cup half is nasty once you’re not on the suitable aspect of the gun once you play the minor. You need to be robust and present that you’re above. At first you’re the hunted, and in some unspecified time in the future you grow to be the hunter. You possibly can play with the gun to shake up the hierarchy, with a aspect of sophistication battle as statuses can bounce.
From the primary outing, you probably did fairly effectively towards Concarneau, leaving FC Nantes with a outcome with out attraction. Is it nonetheless robust feelings?
It was my coronary heart membership, my metropolis’s membership. Reverse Nantes, even in D2, it was nothing. I bear in mind telling the gamers that if we undergo the primary quarter with out conceding a objective, we are going to beat them. We had been the proper entice as a result of they had been in unhealthy kind within the league. We beat them 3-0, clear and honest, in a cheerful stadium.
“We selected this second by telling the gamers that they solely have fifteen minutes to symbolize the membership collectively and do nothing on the pitch. »
You have had different feats below your belt, together with a 2015 epic culminating within the quarterfinals towards Guingamp. what do you bear in mind?
It could be pretentious, however the mileage is sort of obscure as we mixed three stunning editions in a row. I bear in mind we took down Niort Régis Brouard after which Dijon Olivier Dall’Oglio. Within the spherical of 16, we kindly decreased the match to penos, as a result of it was the one option to win it. We then introduced 18,000 folks to Moustoir, 1 / 4 of the town’s capability. I understood that we’ll not win this match… In spite of everything, it was Claudio Beauvue’s header on the very finish of the match that put an finish to our streak.
You had been Tom Thumb on this situation, what does that imply?
It stays a gorgeous reminiscence in my profession, you need to earn it. It is a federal highlight. It’s an honorary title that’s enjoyable and touching, rewarding the membership’s want to win the Cup. On this event, we had been invited to the Stade de France for the ultimate, we needed to make a passage on the garden. The gamers got a free hand and arrived… drained. We selected this second by telling them that they solely had fifteen minutes to symbolize the membership and never do something on the garden.
“It is like a Cup specialist label, I do not need to be seen as a burnout coach. »
One of many highlights of your teaching profession is once you needed to put soccer apart for a yr after struggling a burnout halfway by means of the 2019 season. Do you need to speak about it in hindsight?
Sure, to point out that it would not simply occur to different folks, and in addition as a result of I’ve completed it earlier than. But it surely’s just like the label of a Cup specialist, I do not need to be seen as a burnout coach.
How did you uncover it?
I could not do extra. It’s exhaustion to the purpose that there is no such thing as a longer any means to work. From the start of the yr I felt that issues weren’t going effectively, however I continued as a result of the remaining was not prepared in Concarneau. However in some unspecified time in the future I did not need to cheat anymore, I needed to gasp and breathe. I put a couple of knee on the bottom, I lay on the bottom. However we’ve got obligations, we get fired, we fall, we stand up. I’ve a household, kids, I’ve my worries like everybody else and I do not cry.
What about immediately?
I’m shifting my life ahead in the suitable route once more. You might want to rebuild your self and remember that it takes time to maneuver ahead. What I used to be in a position to do at La Montagne allowed me to regain religion in my skill to maneuver the undertaking ahead. And Plabennec is a part of the rebuilding course of. I am not too pleased with this comeback.
Interview by Alexandre Le Bris
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