He is one of the two big names recruited by President François Ventrici to restore the image of Thionville football. Julien François, a former midfielder of character trained at FC Metz, passed through Le Havre before playing extra time on the sunny shores of Ajaccio. A professional who rolled his bump, a captain with natural authority, a born trainer.
For the football enthusiast foreign to the Thionville context, seeing the former assistant of Albert Cartier at Gazélec d’Ajaccio sit on the bench of a Regional 2 team would sound almost like an anomaly: “It’s true that ‘until recently, I was supervising Ligue 2 teams in Dijon, Auxerre, etc. Today, I find myself watching clubs like Fameck or Uckange. From the outside, it may sound like a regression, but I don’t see it that way. “
The future will tell if Julien François was right to take up the Thionville challenge. For now, the results are there. The US Thionville / Lusitanos prances ahead of its hen. With nine players disembarking from CSO Amnéville and therefore of the National 3 caliber, how could it be otherwise?
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A beautiful epic?
It could be. Keeping a group alert too, perhaps even too talented for an amateur division is in itself a difficulty: “We have to fight against any feeling of superiority that can win the team. Every weekend, we have this favorite sign that motivates our opponents. “
The other big challenge for the coach is to structure a club born from a merger. There is no doubt that the expertise of his deputy, Stéphane Borbicon i, the other great name of professional football once chanted in the stands of Saint-Symphorien, is of great use to him: “Steph ‘, beyond being my friend, he is also a former player from Thionville. He knows the local context. “
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Find an identity
Charge to the duo to give an identity to a training which aims, in the medium term, the National: “It does not be done in three months”, warns the former trainer of Amnéville. But time is always accelerating thanks to the Coupe de France. An epic in this competition unites a group and loves the public.
That’s good: this Sunday, October 17, at 3 p.m. at the Guentrange stadium, the US Thionville / Lusitanos will play a 5e fierce turn against AS Prix-lès-Mézières. A team of National 3 which, in normal times, would largely favor the forecasts. Normally…
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