When he manages Greece at the Stade de France tonight, Gus Poyet will be facing two of his former players at Bordeaux in Aurélien Tchouaméni and Jules Koundé.
The pair were brought into the fray as young players by the Uruguayan during his successful half season in the south-west of France in 2018, and have gone on to play for Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively, becoming full French internationals in the process.
The former Chelsea player’s time with Les Girondins only last seven months, but in that short timeframe he lifted the club from a relegation battle to 6th place, and a spot in the Europa League. It was in the latter competition that Poyet’s tenure ultimately fell apart though, as an explosive press conference sparked by his disagreement with the sale of Gaëtan Laborde at the start of the following season resulted in his dismissal.
Since then, the club suffered relegation to the second tier – avoiding dropping out of professional football entirely after initially being demoted even further due to administrative reasons – and have narrowly missed out on promotion at the first time of asking.
In an interview in today’s L’Équipe, Poyet recounts how difficult it was to watch his former team’s struggles from afar, in particular during the campaign that saw them finish rock bottom in the top flight:
“I have spectacular memories of Bordeaux. Since then, I’ve constantly been thinking about coming back to France. I felt at ease straight away, I loved Ligue 1. I would have liked to stay at Bordeaux, where I had a special connection with the fans and players. And let’s not even talk about the results. Bordeaux remain in my heart. I’m still in contact with people at the club, with former players. Last season, before relegation, I was worried. I couldn’t bear to watch it. I wanted to come back and help out. It was gut-wrenching. I would call my agent and say: Call the owner, tell him I want to come back, that I want to help them. I was crazy. And this year, I’ve seen all of their results in Ligue 2.”
“[On whether he is bitter about the manner of his departure] No. We were playing in Europe, we’d lost some players and we couldn’t sign anyone. Given the situation on the pitch and financially, we were always going to suffer and start the season badly. I knew this time would be incapable of keeping up and getting results every three days.”
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin
