This Saturday, November 30, 2024 marks one year since Pierre Sage took office at OL. What was supposed to be just an interim of a match turned into a great story, not without some turmoil. Focus on this year like no other for a coach who continues to learn the basics of the profession.
He is not the type to want to pull the cover on himself and this Saturday, November 30, 2024 will be above all anecdotal in his mind. However, on this day before the match against Nice, Pierre Sage blows out his first candle at the head ofOL. With a victory against the Aiglons late Sunday afternoon, his players would most certainly give him the best footballing gift, even if the collective impact of three points will have much more value in his eyes. Because, he is like that, Pierre Sage. Not necessarily a man who likes to take the light, but who has learned to deal with it over the past year.
It was only supposed to be three days, there have been 362 more so far. What was supposed to be just a handover between two foreign saviors has turned into a mission that stretches over time. If the word mission can still be used when a coach has been at the head of a team for a year. “I really want to settle in for the long term at this club. I am more into long-term construction than the 'one shot', he admitted on Friday. It's an important club for me, which deserves to be loved. And I want to love him for a long time.”
From the feeling of illegitimacy to that of a providential man
However, if the rescue mission was a success with flying colors, the one which is now entrusted to Pierre Sage is to bring OL back to where they belong: the Champions League. It is at the end of the ball that we will pay the musicians and this 2024-2025 season is still long. But as Nicolas recalled Puydebois Monday in “As long as there are Gone”what redemption for this club inspired by an inexperienced coach. Those who today are choosy about the content of theOL certainly cannot pay a better compliment to the Lyon coach. This is the mark of a return of ambition between Rhône and Saône, both in the results and in the game.
The result of a transfer made on November 30, 2023 and which should have been short-lived. But Football is full of these beautiful stories and Pierre Sage was a privileged witness to them. Not everything has been rosy in this year of coaching. You only have to look at the criticism that fell during the first month of this season to understand that everything goes very quickly with football. Praised for six months, the native of Lons-le-Saunier was perhaps ultimately not the man for the job.
He learned to deal with this bipolarity and this culture of the moment, to the point of “build a shell” on the subject, as those around him tell us. That doesn't stop him from talking about football and it's been a long time since his followers had experienced that. We can criticize him for his professorial side when explaining certain elements, but Pierre Sage lives, eats and sleeps football.
“He still makes mistakes, but he has this ability to learn quickly”
This has been the case since his beginnings in the world of coaching and taking charge of a professional team has only accentuated this phenomenon. Fully fulfilled in his role, the former deputy of Red Star has learned to juggle the subtleties of the high level, while maintaining a certain freshness. Certainly the carefreeness of the beginnings as in a player. However, the coach's evolution has been notable for a year now. It must be said that between being the firefighter on duty for one then three then five matches and training with a two-season contract, there is room to see further than the following weekend.
This does not necessarily correspond to the profession of coach, “but signing this contract this summer and being secure obviously helped him to be more in this position of legitimacy”we are told in the corridors of Décines. In one year, Pierre Sage has gone from the man ready to be of service to his club to the one who can help OL return to the top. On Saturday December 2, 2023, he sat for the first time on the bench facing the RC Lens.
He thought that it would be his last time, he who was only supposed to act as interim after Fabio Grosso and the arrival of another big name on the bench. This “one shot“had a tomorrow, then a day after that, until ending with the signing of a two-year fixed-term contract and obtaining the BEPF in an accelerated version. Learning at x2 speed, perhaps what would sum it up best last year by Pierre Sage at theOL. As one of his close collaborators describes it to us, “He still makes mistakes, because he continues to learn, but he has this ability to understand them so as not to make them again. That's what he's strong at.”
Today he is reaping the fruit of twelve months of work
First pragmatic then more ambitious in the game, Sage, supported by his staff, has been reaping the fruit of this long-term work for several weeks. It has been a long time since OL supporters had seen their team show such an attractive face. The fruit of twelve months of video, support and management. “Today, we are more and more competitive, this is reflected in our series. But the objective is to transform this competitiveness into assumed ambition.” During the first months, he was rather in a position of lack of legitimacy, being above all there to be of service to this club that he loves. The premise seems to have changed since the summer. We see a much more directive coach, not hesitating to send messages to his players, but also to management.
Being established with a contract necessarily helps to establish a certain authority, but in his individual transformation, Pierre Sage put aside what could be described as the impostor's costume for that of the assumed leader of men. Since the summer, he has had to make choices that he takes responsibility for. While finding the right method to avoid blowing up the locker room in the war of egos. What his predecessor had not achieved. And he relies a lot on his staff to pass certain pills more easily. “Football cannot escape phenomena that have no future” but Pierre Sage shows that this environment can also be full of beautiful stories and has learned to be loved by everyone. An individual and collective story that he leads with his staff for better and for worse. With one goal: to put OL back in the spotlight.
Sage's results at OL: 45 matches, 28 wins, 6 draws and 11 losses
