Angers SCO, a shipwreck in 10 dates: How the club took a wrong turn

February 5, 2020: Chabane indicted for sexual assault

His first nine years at the head of the SCO were synonymous with success. A return to L1 in 2015 for Angers, twenty-one years after his last season in the elite, a Coupe de France final in 2017 then a club stabilized in the top 15 for seven years. So much for Said Chabane’s first sports report. On the transfer market, the 58-year-old manager also performed with great capital gains made thanks to the sales of Jeff Reine-Adelaïde (25 million in 2019), Nicolas Pépé or Karl Toko Ekambi (18 million in 2017 then 2018) .

“At the start, the results were good because everyone was in their placeconfides to us a former member of the club who preferred to remain anonymous. As president, he did some very good things. But I think he wanted too much to meddle in the field (note: after the dismissal of Olivier Pickeu). We realize two years later that president is not the same job as technician.”

April 10, 2020: “Things turned when Pickeu was fired”

When Olivier Pickeu arrived in 2006, Angers SCO was languishing in National with accounts in the red. Thanks to the network and the clever recruitment season after season of its general manager, the Anjou club managed to return to L2 in 2007 and then to join the elite eight years later. A know-how which notably attracted Saint-Etienne, Monaco and even OM a few months before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Apart from the recruitment of Azzedine Ounahi in the summer of 2021, Sébastien Larcier then Laurent Boissier have not had the same successes as Olivier Pickeu on the various transfer markets. And the SCO is also paying the price today.

May 5, 2020: El Melali prosecuted then sentenced for sexual exhibition

The Algerian international winger was sentenced on October 29, 2020 to six months in prison suspended with a probationary suspension of 18 months as well as a fine of 2000 euros. Since then, Farid El Melali has gleaned playing time (30 L1 matches over the last three seasons) without succeeding in chaining and being decisive to the chagrin of SCO supporters. He will be out of contract on June 30.

October 28, 2020: Seven months suspended prison sentence for Bahoken

Arrived free in Angers in 2018 to replace Karl Toko Ekambi, Stéphane Bahoken made his regularity speak for itself (for a club in the second part of the table) for four years, despite competition from Rachid Alioui or Sofiane Boufal, by scoring 28 goals in 120 matches. But his Angevin adventure was tainted by extra-sporting facts… also reflecting on the club’s image.

March 26, 2021: Moulin announces his departure

“He did not want to continue under these conditions. His departure was another turning pointconfides to us an ex-SCOist. After his departure, the cleaning was done in the locker room and that was also fatal for the club” His replacement Gérald Baticle, who remained in office for sixteen months, managed to maintain the club in 2021/2022. Before being laid off last November for lack of results. His successor, Abdel Bouhazama, did not Two assessments which shed even more light on the successful work of Stéphane Moulin on the bench of the SCO.

June 30, 2022: Traoré, Thomas, Manceau and Mangani leave free

They were the guarantors of the famous “Angevin slab”, which made the club’s trademark between 2015 and 2022. But last summer, the emblematic Ismaël Traoré, Romain Thomas, Thomas Mangani and Vincent Manceau, who had signed his first license at Angers SCO, are left free (note: only Pierrick Capelle has extended for one year). Their departure left a big void in the Angers team, which has so often lacked character this season.

“These are players who are missing because they were listened to in the locker roomblows the ex-member of the club. Afterwards it’s the life of a group and the numbers rotate, but we don’t change so many executives at once.” “From the moment you don’t come back to me, it’s because you don’t want to, you have to say thingslet go of Romain Thomas at the Western Mail on May 17, not without bitterness. I can’t imagine how it was done. It’s not even a question of contract, sum, duration, in the end. It’s above all the timing… I told the people concerned, the coach, the sporting director and the president, the players at the end of the contract, we should have been seen before.”

September 11, 2022: Last victory for the SCO in L1

“There were some internal reviews that didn’t make me laugh“. Gérald Baticle does not know it when he pronounces this sentence, but Angers, winner of Montpellier (2-1) at the Stade Raymond-Kopa on September 11, 2022, is preparing to start a six-month period (still in course) without winning in L1. Worse, the SCO became the first team in the history of the French championship to chain thirteen defeats in Ligue 1 after their loss at home against Ajaccio (1-2) on February 1.

Now twelve points behind the first non-relegation player (Strasbourg), the SCO are close to the L2 twelve days from the end. “I’m ashamed and it hurts my stomach. Such a wastelet go of our witness. Everything that was built in fifteen years was ruined after a year and a half. Beyond the SCO, it is the image of the city that takes a hit. It’s hard to read everything that happens at the club.” “It’s a shame what we show“, confirmed Pierrick Capelle Friday at a press conference.

October 17, 2022: Sifaoui’s threats against the press

“Mr. Sifaoui arrogates the right to distinguish between good and bad journalists according to their writings on the club“, denounces in the wake of the Union of sports journalists in France (UJSF) in a press release.

January 4, 2023: Police raid at the training center

“Angers SCO has nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide. This is a survey that dates back several years. From 2017 to December 2022… The club’s management has fully cooperated with the police and no charges or proceedings have been brought or brought against any member or executive of Angers SCOhe added. Management kept its employees informed, in complete transparency, and answered their legitimate questions..”

March 7, 2023: Bouhazama pushed to the start after questionable remarks