FC Nantes, play-offs in L1, confirmed the replacement of Jocelyn Gourvennec by Antoine Kombouaré as coach on Tuesday, and Kanak said he was “on a mission” to save the Canaries’ place in the elite. “I know that I am on a mission, there are eight matches to seek maintenance,” launched the former Nantes defender, who had already held this position between 2021 and 2023. “We know that it is going to be very complicated, but if I am here, it is because (…) I am convinced that we will be able to maintain ourselves”, he added, during his presentation to the press.
Seven consecutive home defeats
Dismissed in May 2023, four days from the end, before Pierre Aristouy saved the club on the last day, he returned ten months later in place of Gourvennec who himself replaced Aristouy after 13 days this season. The defeat against Strasbourg (1-3) on Saturday, the seventh in a row at home, which left the Canaries in 16th place after 26 days, was too much for Gourvennec. Kombouaré’s express return to the Nantes bench nevertheless surprised even the main person concerned.
“It was a surprise when Franck (Kita, the club’s general manager) called me on Saturday evening to say: ‘can we meet?’. I didn’t think I would come back here and even less come back so soon,” said -he explained. But after having, a few days earlier, in The Team, mentioned his wish to find a bench, he could not refuse the offer of his favorite club. “I spent my best years as a coach here in Nantes,” he assured.
An unfortunate final in the Coupe de France under the Kombouaré area
In two years and three months, he had brought Nantes to a victory and an unfortunate final in the Coupe de France, as well as a play-off for the round of 16 in the Europa League. Relations with Waldemar Kita, the club’s owner and Franck’s father, had been stormy, but the two men decided to bury the hatchet for the good of the club. “I think Antoine will give a lot of energy to everyone and we will find a way of operating that suits us,” explained Franck Kita.
The latter also estimated that Nantes, which has fought for its maintenance during three of the last four seasons, has “great experience” in this area which will allow it to “remain calm, serene, work hard and not too much worry about the results of other clubs. The choice of Kombouaré was also dictated by his good knowledge of the squad, since he has already had 17 of the 25 players in the pro group under his command. “Now, this is not a guarantee of success, but it will help to go faster,” underlined the coach.