Savior of the club ten years ago, he points to the origin of the SMC’s ills

His intervention with the Weed dressing room had been one of the driving forces behind the improbable continuation of the 2015 season. Ten years later, while SM Caen finds itself in a comparable situation, but in Ligue 2, Gérard Baglin analyzes the current ills of the Stade Malherbe, and the inability of the club to revive itself for several years.

Barrageist, SM Caen is playing a crucial match in the race to remain in Ligue 2, this Friday, January 17, against AC Ajaccio, the first direct relegation. Both teams remain on a bad series of four consecutive defeats in the league. Worse, Malherbe has only taken one point out of 18 since mid-November and only has 15 points on the clock even though we have just passed the halfway point of the season.

This sad balance sheet at the end of the Christmas break was exactly the same ten years ago, with the difference that the club played in the elite! With 15 points on the same date in January 2015, Caen was last in the standings, a few months after moving up to Ligue 1.

At the time, despite the storm, the Caen leaders had renewed their confidence in Patrice Garande, and had acceded to a particular request from the coach: that Gérard Baglin, coach of business leaders, could intervene with the group and the staff.

When things don't work, in a football team or in a company, it's often because there are things left unsaid. Gérard made sure that the players could express themselves, without fear, in front of the staff, that they said everything that was on their hearts through several meetings, that relieved them.

Patrice Garande, former coach of SM Caen (2012-2018)

Following these interventions, Malherbe began a fantastic and improbable rise in the rankings, including a series of six victories and a draw. In the end, Caen held on easily, finishing the championship in 13th place.

A decade after this resounding feat, we went to find Gérard Baglin. Still active in Caen in his Psynergie office, he offers his own analysis of the current situation of the SMC, and its inability to regain stability, and the elite since its relegation.

• Gérard Baglin, in your opinion, where do the problems of the SMC come from?

Gérard Baglin: “Since 2018 and the particular moment of the ouster of Jean-François Fortin, there has been a break, a moral wound which has remained there. I remember Fortin going to see the supporters, the employees, and starting to cry… There are a whole bunch of emotional things that have remained stuck, an emotional wound that needs to be healed. And it's not by chance that we see a succession of presidents, coaches, players, without there being any results. This event may have sowed a form of division or misalignment within the club, its DNA was in some way destroyed. And that could still influence the way it operates today.”

• Does that mean there are somehow ghosts preventing the club from succeeding?

Gérard Baglin: “It's a hypothesis that I formulate and that I verify in many organizations when there is transgenerational trauma. We see it in families when there is a conflict that has not been resolved , it is transmitted from generation to generation And it is the same thing for a company, for a club As long as we have not taken care of the cause, the club will have difficulty finding this unity because of the money. doesn't do everything. love to bring together a club, because it is a place of passion and emotion.”

• What solutions do you think could be?

Gérard Baglin: “The bad results, the succession of leaders, of coaches are the symptoms of a cause, of an original injury. To treat it, it can only be done if the leaders of the present agree to reconnect things of the past I also saw that Fayza Lamari wanted to have lunch with Jean-François Fortin, that would be a good start (At the end of November, Foot Normand revealed that Kylian Mbappé's mother had initiated a meeting with the former president. Caennais during Caen – Rodez, Editor's note).

We must recognize history, identify its traumatic events and include them in a positive narrative to learn from it. It is also necessary to restore trust, promote a culture of transparency and harmony within the club. Finally, we must create a strong collective project, refocus all efforts on a common vision which gives meaning to the club, while healing past divisions.

It remains to be hoped that SM Caen quickly puts an end to its ghosts of the past, because it is clear that the club has been pursued by a certain curse since 2018. Obviously, it is possible to find more down to earth explanations: bad decisions , inappropriate choices of players, managers…

However, after having only known two coaches in 13 years, Malherbe has locked out ten in eight years. After a Fortin era that lasted 16 years, four presidents have just succeeded one another since the ousting of Manchois. For too many years, the SM Caen longship has been sailing in troubled waters, it is high time to find a course to – finally – sail towards happy tomorrows.