If he refused to speak during his last two press conferences, angry with the local journalists who announced his ouster in December, Antoine Kombouaré spoke this Sunday morning in Les Grandes Gueules du Sport on RMC Sport.
After the bloodshed, now comes the time for clearer explanations. This Sunday morning, on RMC Sport, Antoine Kombouaré returned to his real-false dismissal at FC Nantes:
“Honestly, I wasn’t angry. If I was angry, people would have seen it. I went there, quietly. I explained what I had to say. There are things that I have not accepted. Not the fact that people are talking about me. After the defeat against Brest, for 7 days, I had my face in L'Equipe every day (…) There are no worries. I'm prepared for that. But it’s especially when you are categorical and you say Antoine Kombouaré will no longer be the coach of FC Nantes after the break (…) You can also say that you messed up.”
Kombouaré would have pushed Franck Kita to study his replacement
And the Kanak continued: “Yesterday, we explained ourselves off the air with the local journalists, Ouest-France, Presse-Océan and all… A guy from L'Equipe called me a demago because I pretended to I don't know the methods but I even told Franck Kita that it was normal to look for a new coach since the club is in difficulty. He meets 200 coaches… It's part of his job as a manager, to anticipate and plan. I have no worries about that. I simply said that as long as I'm here and haven't been told to stop, I'll keep going. Afterwards, Franck does his job as a manager with President Kita. They meet the coaches they want but I am here, I have a contract and I love my job (…) What I criticize the media is for not having used the conditional. People have written about me that I'm pretending because it's all over behind the scenes. When you write that, what does that mean? That's what makes me angry. Why would I blame the managers for going to find other coaches when the club is 14th15th or 16th ? (…) The Kitas certainly said that it was over for Antoine. But the journalist's job is to speak in the conditional. They must be conditional and take precautions. If the president decided to fire me before changing his mind, that's the problem of the president and the journalist. I wanted a little questioning, a mea culpa. But they (journalists) don't know how to do it. They don't want to understand. We will not find an agreement. »
Finally, Antoine Kombouaré continued his characteristic attacks on the local media, announcing major divisions between them: “The journalists even told me: “but Antoine, we like you…” But I don’t care, you you are not here to love me or not love me. But write it down that you messed up (…) Only one journalist apologized. After the press conference, the press officer came to me and said: “coach, the journalist who apologized had his head torn off by the others”. “Why did you apologize?” Why did you speak? Look, we’re in the m… now.” A version immediately denied by Ouest-France journalist David Phelippeau…
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