Three years after a relegation experienced in a similar situation, Rennes EC this time secured their place in Nationale with their boots in the turf. For Kévin Courties, the hardest part is still to come: the second season, the one where “people don’t necessarily expect much of us” but where you really are being judged. A straight-talking interview with a coach who is already looking beyond the pitch.
“The real assessment of our level will come this season”
The Nationale 2 title and promotion to Nationale were not a first for you, but staying up by earning it on the pitch was a fine new experience. A source of pride?
Yes, we are inevitably pleased about that given our past experience. Then again, we had been able to prepare better for this adventure, and that is what allowed us to start the season better and to make more of an impression through the campaign.
Does that mean you had enough points at a specific point of the season, relatively early, to genuinely prepare for the following one?
Yes, I think that after the win at Bourg-en-Bresse we took a big step. At the same time it coincided with the troubles of Niort and Tarbes, but the home win meant that, whatever happened elsewhere, we sealed our fate in Nationale. With the means at our disposal, in a similar situation three years ago and with our relegation, it shows that we have learned and that we have improved. But the road is long, we absolutely have to confirm it in the coming season, perhaps the most perilous of all. There is always a bit of surprise when you come into a division, people don’t necessarily expect much of you, there are even a few smiles… That is less the case in the second year. The real assessment of our level of performance will come this season.
Narbonne, a “resounding” win more than a founding one
Some matches were more important than others. Was the win against Narbonne crucial for the group, for confidence?
No, because it is not an enormous win in terms of the content or the context of the match. There were small moments of play that went our way, but we could not base the assessment or the foundation of our game on that match. On the other hand, that win was hugely important because it was resounding. Pinning them back at home will remain, in inverted commas, part of the club’s history. It was balm for the heart, it gave the lads hope. But beyond that, in terms of our own output, it was not really something you could measure.
A stable budget of 1.5 million: “We are going to have to make progress in that area”
I read in the newspaper Rennes Sport an interview with a happy president who mentioned a budget that broke even with a slight profit, but said there would be no more than last season’s budget, 1,500,000 euros.
I am not responsible for the amount. What is certain is that we are going to have to be capable of making progress in that area. We have to be allowed to progress, but we also have to be capable of being active in our own region. Whether it is a club going up or a club going down, everything has to be structured, the economics and the day-to-day at this practical level. At some point it will be important for that to be one of the club’s areas of development. If we manage to do the job on the pitch, it will inevitably be because something is helping. We must not sit around waiting for each other, we have to get to work.
The new championship format: “I don’t see the point”
The new championship format, the restructuring, how do you feel about it?
A few days from the restart… Like a lot of Nationale clubs, everyone is a few days from the restart and we are going to have to pick our pre-season back up. I don’t know what the reasoning behind all this is, I don’t see the point, all the more so as clubs structure themselves according to the format of the competition… Once again, it is unpleasant. What is reassuring, if I can put it that way, is that we are not the only federation to have that kind of process.
A squad almost complete, “a nice breath of fresh air”
You were transparent very early in the season about “who is leaving or stopping”, and about the extensions. Where are you in building your squad for this season?
We still have one signing to make because unfortunately one of our players has had bad family news and he is going to have to take time for his family. Once we have sorted that out, I think we will have a team that will allow us to take the next step, the next wave. We are going to write a new story. I think we are going to have a nice breath of fresh air, with the mission of properly taking over from everything the lads who have stopped built up until now. We are going to have plenty on our plate, but I have confidence in these craftsmen of the new adventure.
Stade Commandant-Bougouin: the council “believes in our commitment”
There are now development plans in the pipeline, in particular a renovation of your Commandant-Bougouin stadium in the coming years. It seems things have shifted at council level and in the regard it has for REC.
I am not necessarily the closest to what is going on. The information I have had is that we are indeed getting a hearing that is more and more consistent. I hope they will keep believing in our human commitment above all, because they hold the keys to our enjoyment first and foremost, and if we manage to work hand in hand we have the means to be part of the influence of the city of Rennes in the future. For now, we are pushing on with our project and I really hope we can take them along with us in our story. Nationale is a great division, we want to live in that world at the very least, to be around positive energy, enjoyment, enthusiasm, the things we sometimes lack in our daily lives. Sport has the ability to generate that and I think the club has the capacity to convey all of it. I really hope people will grasp how important that is in our project.
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