Arriving on the Lusitanian bench three years ago, Mouloud Merabti agreed to start from scratch to relaunch a once again ambitious Portuguese club from Bourges (R2), before welcoming Amilly (R1) this Sunday for the fifth round of the French Cup.
Three years have passed since October 5, 2021, the date of the first training session led by Mouloud Merabti with the Portuguese from Bourges. The former Saint-Germain-du-Puy coach then joined a team lacking confidence and, if he did not immediately succeed in stopping the dynamic, he very quickly instilled a new state of mind. “And I also did a big clean-up of the workforce,” assumes the technician.
“Bring the club back to Regional 1”
The Portuguese from Bourges made two successive descents until they found themselves, last season, in Regional 3, but that was undoubtedly the price to pay to restart the machine. It took a few months before the “Merabti method” bore fruit on an accounting level. At the end of 2022, the beginning of 2023, the successes began to come one after the other, it was almost nothing to obtain maintenance in R2. The success in the final of the Coupe du Cher 2023 validated this long-term work that the 2023-2024 season – champion of R3 and finalist of the Coupe du Cher – only confirmed. “I want to bring the club back to where I found it, where it belongs, that is to say in Regional 1,” Mouloud Merabti says today. But this can only be done through seriousness and by approaching match after match. »
premium Regional 2: stability of stake for the Portuguese of Bourges
Despite the work at the Grands Beauregards stadium, which involves matches on the Rimbault annex and training at Creps, the Portuguese have not changed their guideline. “It’s not easy because many boys are also youth educators and have to train on the Justice field and cross the city to go to Creps, but we get through it through desire. »
Saint-Doulchard dominates the Portuguese of Bourges and wins the second Coupe du Cher in its history [revivez le match]
And the results have been flawless so far. Three victories in three championship matches and qualification for the fifth round of the Coupe de France. This Sunday against Amilly (R1), the Portuguese from Bourges will not be favorites, but not resigned either. “Between a mid-table team from R1 and a top-of-the-table team from R2, there could be a match,” anticipates Mouloud Merabti who sees the Cup as “a bonus for the players but not a priority for the club”.
Antonin Bisson
