Le Bris, from enchantment to disenchantment
Régis Le Bris is no longer the coach of FC Lorient since yesterday. His first experience at the highest level will remain very mixed. He nevertheless reached an agreement with Sunderland (English D2)
- Sunday West France (Finistere)
- 23 Jun 2024
- Baptiste COGNÉ.
Régis Le Bris will therefore have managed 76 matches for a record of 24 victories, 18 draws and 34 defeats (championship plus Coupe de France). From his appointment, on June 27, 2022, to his ouster, on Saturday, June 22, the Breton technician, who arrived at the Morbihan club in 2012, as director of the training center, experienced a turbulent tenure. From adored coach in his early days, to unwanted and reviled coach (notably during the last match against Clermont where he was targeted), this first experience in Ligue 1 will not have been a smooth ride for the 48-year-old from Finistère, whose home even remained under protection for a few days after the championship.
Everything started like a fairy tale. First match on the bench, first victory in the derby against Rennes (1-0), his former club. The dynamic continued: Lorient was in second place, behind Paris SG, after its success in Brest (2-1) during the 10th day. Le Bris thus became the first French coach to accumulate so many points (25) during the first ten matches of his career within the elite.
The Breton, still unknown to the general public a few months earlier, made a strong impression. Both in the pleasant game displayed by his team, as well as in his refreshing speech and the quality of his analyses.
The euphoria and the “Le Bris hype” faded to give way to the first clashes and disagreements between the coach and the president. During the January 2023 transfer window, the FCL lost its two best offensive elements (released against two large checks): Dango Ouattara (Bournemouth) and especially Terem Moffi (Nice). “We cannot be competitive in Ligue 1 with dignity by losing three attackers in the same season (Laurienté, Ouattara and Moffi). We would be dramatically weakened. It would be nonsense,” Le Bris declared, a few days before the Nigerian’s departure for the Côte d’Azur. The FCL never recovered. The coach has echoed this all season. This 2022 winter transfer window marked the tipping point towards an accumulation of bad choices and a slow descent... into Ligue 2!
Despite the extension of his contract (as well as all his staff), in March 2023, until June 2027, the relationship has never really become more fluid with his president since this episode. At the end of the 2022-2023 season, he had cast a cold shoulder and left doubts about his future.
Then he expressed his desire to leave, pointing out several dysfunctions at the club. Loïc Féry finally blocked his departure (to Nice) last summer, before granting him full sporting powers. A few weeks before the start of hostilities, the 2023-2024 season was already not opening with the greatest serenity...
And the exercise that has just ended has been nightmarish from start to finish. Failed summer transfer window (B. and F.Mendy, Bakayoko, Tosin, Touré), which he completely validated, to the catastrophic productions on the field, Régis Le Bris got his feet caught in the carpet. He will probably have lacked humility, and like his team, he certainly saw himself as too good after the tenth place obtained the previous season.
As the weeks went by, criticism arose against a coach who was no longer unanimous internally, and who seemed to have lost control. Its method and operation were also surprising. His management, particularly among group executives (Laporte, Le Goff) has also been singled out. And he will never have succeeded, either, in creating a united group.
“We have not always been a committed, cohesive team, linked by common values”, he notably admitted at the end of the season.
If he had not been disembarked after the debacle in Brest (0-4), at the end of last December, he will ultimately have "resisted" six more months. At the end of long negotiations with its president on severance pay, Le Bris left, through the back door, a club where he stayed for twelve years.
His future ? It will quickly bounce back, because it is made official in England, with Sunderland (D2). While at FC Lorient, a new page will open with Olivier Pantaloni.
