It had become inevitable. The slap suffered at Auxerre last Sunday (4-0) could only lead to the dismissal of Julien Stephan (44 years old). With a meager total of eleven points in ten days, for a club with European ambitions, the score was not there. The technician was dismissed this Thursday, like his deputies Denis Zanko and Bouziane Benaraïbi.
Winner of the Coupe de France, first and only coach in the club's history to have qualified his team for the Champions League, at the end of the 2019-2020 season truncated by Covid, Stephan did not experience the same success in this second stint, which did not last a year… Returning rather unexpectedly, after the equally surprise departure of Bruno Genesio on November 18, 2023, the former Strasbourg coach will have gave a breath of fresh air for a few months to a group then in small form.
An already complicated end to last season
But it didn't last. The spring, which followed its extension until 2026, was a long way of the cross for Rennes supporters, eager to move on: two victories, a draw and five defeats, a sad 10th place at the arrival, with 46 points. Some players seemed to have completely lowered their heads after the technician's extension… Without European qualification last spring, after a habit born in 2018, Stade Rennais experienced the departure of its then sporting director, Florian Maurice, and a colossal project in its workforce.
In ten days, Guy's son, assistant coach with Deschamps, will have used three different systems (4-4-2 in a diamond, 3-4-3 and again 4-1-2-3) and above all will not have installed no certainty in the minds of its players. Praised to the skies after 2019 and his success in the Coupe de France and today relegated to the rank of ex having failed to rekindle the flame, Julien Stephan will have to reinvent himself to continue his career. Far from Rennes.
France
Soccer
