The sudden departure of Bruno Genesio marks a break in the Stade Rennais project, which relied on the return of Julien Stéphan to redress the situation.
It’s not just the weather to remind us that summer is far away in Brittany. A few months ago, the Breton club clearly affirmed its ambition to qualify for the Champions League by declaring the podium as the main objective through its sports director Florian Maurice.
“ The idea is to do much better than last year, with the podium, the Champions League, the leader said in comments given to TV Rennes. We must have important objectives. Obviously, it can put additional pressure on the group, but we want that, we always want it. Afterwards, we must not forget that there are other clubs who are working, who will have a transfer window and it will be a fight. But we can consider that today Stade Rennais must have this ambition.”
Water has flowed under the bridges since then. And despite an honorable run in the Europa League, Rennes got stuck in the soft underbelly of the championship. Worse, the club, thirteenth, only has 2 small victories at this stage of the season. An extremely disappointing assessment which led to the sudden departure of Bruno Genesio. While the French technician seemed set to stay, the management of Stade Rennais changed its position by pushing him towards the exit to recall a certain Julien Stéphan.
Why was Genesio fired?
There is the official version. In its press release, Stade Rennais mentioned “particularly personal reasons” “Bruno Genesio is leaving his position as general coach of Stade Rennais FC, he will be replaced by Julien Stephan,” we read in an official press release from Stade Rennais. By mutual agreement with Stade Rennais FC, and for personal reasons in particular, Bruno Genesio leaves his position as general coach. »
Unofficially, this decision finds its origins in several well-identified causes. The results, of course, but also the game. After expensive recruitment, Bruno Genesio was criticized for not finding the right formula to optimize his squad. The locker room executives were behind their coach, but the public support shown by Benjamin Bourigeand was not enough.
Furthermore, relations between Bruno Genesio and Florian Maurice were no longer in good shape. The two men, who have known each other since their time in Lyon, saw their long collaboration altered by disagreements over the construction of the squad. Maurice will now have to find the right mode of operation with Julien Stéphan.
