Red lantern already behind in the ranking, Le Havre entrusted, Thursday, November 12, to former defender Valérien Ismaël the task of redressing the bar sportingly while the club must also calm a troubled climate behind the scenes. “Defining himself as hard at work, insisting on the respect that everyone must have for the club and (...) believing in the HAC project, Valérien Ismaël (...) will rely on his strong experience to carry out the mission entrusted to him,” the club wrote in a press release.
Appointed only until the end of the season, Ismaël has in any case not chosen a sinecure for his first experience on a bench in France. With two draws and eight defeats over the first ten days, the oldest club is already six lengths behind the first non-relegation place, Le Mans (15th), just like Troyes, 17th and which just so happens to be its next opponent, on November 20.
A baptism of fire in the Aube which will therefore be a double or nothing for the club which has just gone through very turbulent days after the dismissal of Ismaël's predecessor, Didier Digard. Trained as a player at Le Havre until becoming the youngest captain in history, Digard retained, despite the disastrous results and worrying content, both the confidence of his immediate hierarchy and the support of the supporters. But the club's main shareholder, the American investment fund Blue Crow Sports Group, dismissed the coach on October 31, after a 5-1 home defeat against Paris SG, and without waiting for the reception of Lorient last Sunday which was to be his last chance.
Considering themselves short-circuited, president Jean-Michel Roussier and sports director Demba Ba then left the club. Last Thursday, Yacine Alaoui was inducted president, while Ba's former deputy, Quentin Rauzier, was entrusted with interim sports management for the end of the season. All that was missing was a coach to at least keep up appearances.
Alaoui explained during his presentation on Friday to look for "either (a) profile with a lot of experience, who is capable of rallying the troops and creating this group spirit very quickly, in a rescue mission over a season", or "a young, very modern coach, also very strong on the tactical part". It is therefore the former player of Strasbourg, Crystal Palace, Lens, Werder Bremen, Bayern Munich and Hanover who was selected. With less than seven months in office and an average of 32 matches managed with his eight other clubs in Germany (Nuremberg, Wolfsburg), England (Barnsley, West Bromwich Albion, Watford, Blackburn) and Turkey (Besiktas) since 2014, Valérien Ismaël actually seems to be more of a firefighter than a builder for the HAC.
