Life is never a long calm river at the Stade Français.
But, if the Parisian club has accustomed its supporters to sudden crises, to unexpected door slams, the timing of the announcement which has just set fire to the changing rooms and the stands of Jean-Bouin is certainly a first.
Four days of the championship, a team that is slowly making its mark, without genius but with more certainty and promise than last season, and this bomb that explodes.
Midi Olympique
reveals that Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal, respectively coaches of the three-quarters and the touch of the XV of France, are very close to engaging with the Stade Français.
Expected drop date: December 2023, after the World Cup, with Labit becoming sporting director and Ghezal head coach.
Stupor and tremors, therefore.
Players and, above all, staff learn from the press of this decided change of direction when the current season has only been underway for a month.
And that manager Gonzalo Quesada, his assistants Julien Arias and Laurent Sempéré, are under contract until June 2024.
“Being replaced is part of the job.
But learning about this change from the press is not very pleasant to live with.
I didn't get much sleep last week,”
the Franco-Argentinian technician
told
Le Figaro .
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A manager placed in front of an unprecedented situation: to spend practically the whole season with players who know that he is going to leave.
The president-owner of the SFP, Hans-Peter Wild, has indeed since confirmed this.
"Gonzalo remains at the helm until the end of the season and then he will leave the club."
Here he is damn fragile, with the risk of losing all authority over his players.
The businessman says no, that they are paid to be loyal, that they have assured him that they will not let go of Quesada.
Promises only bind those who believe them, the saying goes...
Existential questions
The first post-media revelation release seems to confirm this.
The Parisians atomized (a second team from) Perpignan 52-3.
A record win.
And gestures towards the bench to show "it's for you".
A bench that hid less and less its jubilation at each of the eight trials registered.
But will the Stade Français be able to last the whole season with resentment as fuel?
Won't some players, especially underused ones, be tempted to let go of a manager who won't be around next June?
Existential questions for the future of a Parisian team which has no margin.
A trifle can make her go from applying for the final phase to being shipwrecked in the fight for maintenance...
It will depend on the professionalism of the locker room.
But not only.
This early change of sporting boss also results from a war of influence within the club between the sporting boss, Gonzalo Quesada, and the general manager, Thomas Lombard.
Relations between the two men gradually deteriorated.
And each of the two then worked hard to obtain the favors of the German Swiss owner.
The caller in the direct line to lather or complain, sometimes even posing as a relay for players who are unhappy with the decisions of the other.
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An episode crystallized the annoyance of Hans-Peter Wild.
Players' families benefit from seats in the presidential stand at each match.
To be able to accommodate more partners during the derby against Racing 92, they were exceptionally asked to move to the sides.
Refusal of players.
Supported by Quesada.
The manager got his way, certainly gained a bit more recognition from his dressing room.
A Pyrrhic victory.
If Doctor Wild reframed Lombard, he showed Quesada the way out.