Kombouaré's long clarification after his rant against journalists

The day after the draw obtained by FC Nantes in Lille (1-1), Antoine Kombouaré was the guest of Grandes Gueules du Sport this Sunday on RMC. He returned to his notable charge against the press, which had announced his departure during the holidays.

Antoine Kombouaré does not budge. After the draw obtained by FC Nantes on Saturday in Lille (1-1), on the occasion of the 16th day of Ligue 1, the Kanak technician once again made an express visit to a press conference. Annoyed by these media who he accuses of having announced his dismissal just before Christmas, without taking a grain of salt, according to him, he did not want to answer their questions. He had already settled his scores for the first time, Thursday, with a muscular clarification during a two-minute monologue.

After thinking of Sergio Conceição and Habib Beye to revive a team badly beaten in Brest (4-1) on December 15, the Nantes management finally decided to continue with Kombouaré. By simply making a few adjustments within its staff. For Kombouaré, the fact that he was still in office at the time of the resumption should have pushed the journalists to apologize to him. This is what he took the time to explain this Sunday in Grandes Gueules du Sport on RMC.

“I didn’t accept certain things”

“I'm not angry. I calmly explained what I had to say. I didn't accept certain things. After Brest, I had my face every day in L'Equipe for seven days. We still won the Coupe de France match behind… But no, it continued. They were categorical, they said that Antoine Kombouaré would no longer be the coach of FC Nantes after the break. be hypocrite. It can't be like that. They were wrong, they have to tell the story yesterday (Saturday) with the local journalists. They didn't understand. from L’Equipe even called me a demagogue…”, he testified.

If he blames the media, Kombouaré is well aware of having been – at least for a time – in the hot seat. “I said to Franck Kita (the general manager): 'Today we are poorly ranked, it's normal that you meet coaches.' It's part of his job to anticipate and plan, I have no problem. I simply say that I continue as long as I am not told to stop. He does his job as a manager and I do. at work. I blame the media for not speaking in the conditional. They even went so far as to say that I was pretending when everything was over behind the scenes… What does that mean? anger, I do not blame the leaders for going to find other coaches,” he explained.

And to add on the relations maintained between his management and the press: “The Kita discuss live (with the journalists). It's not a problem, they have always worked like that. They certainly said that it was finished for Antoine But the journalist's job is to speak in the conditional In the end, they turned their shirts around. The journalist must use the conditional and take precautions. of concern. If the president decides to fire me before changing my mind, that's the president's and the journalist's problem.”

Back to normal next week

However, the situation could calm down between the local press and the 61-year-old technician, who returned to the club last March after being fired in May 2023. “I'm not angry. I heard that it was a war and that I was going to go on a media strike until the end of the season. It's not serious. I'm going through with it. But everything will return to normal from next week. I wanted a little discount in question, a mea culpa But they (the journalists) don't know how to do it. They don't want to understand. I wanted to mark the occasion without creating a buzz, we will move on this week. next.”

While there has been very little talk of football in Nantes in recent days, the partners of Matthis Abline have therefore reassured themselves by going to take a point in Lille, while the calendar promises to be busy in the weeks to come between the reception of Monaco next Friday, a trip to Brest in the Coupe de France and a shock of poorly classified in Saint-Étienne which promises to be decisive for maintenance. “It’s very interesting, we’re lucky,” Kombouaré concluded on RMC. “It's a series of Champions League matches. We have to be at the level and show that we can compete with these teams. It's exciting, we can make an impression.” Before the end of the 16th day of Ligue 1, his FCN is in 15th place in the ranking and could be overtaken by Angers.