The former player and consultant took his time, methodically, before attempting the difficult conversion to the position of coach at Red Star, where he flourished before facing AS Monaco on Sunday in the 32nd of the Coupe de France .
At the Red Star training center (National 1, third division), in Seine-Saint-Denis, Habib Beye is everywhere: after a tactical discussion with his staff, he passes a head in the weight room, where the team s ‘Inflicts a physical preparation session, then leaves to supervise the training of the goalkeepers, who work their game with the foot.
«It’s important, and since they’re the only ones outside, it’s also a way of giving importance to a particular position, they have to feel it», Says the 44-year-old coach. “It’s good, with what I saw we have an assist from a goalkeeper on SundayHe jokes.
Habib Beye has something to smile about, since he took the reins of the Saint-Ouen club in September, his record is positive: eight wins for five losses and one draw. The Audonien club, which was in 15th place in National when Vincent Bordot was dismissed from his post, is now 12th, with renewed confidence. “It’s going very well, confirms former Marseille central defender Stéphane Sparagna. Having a coach like Habib Beye, with the career as a player and then as a consultant, that brings a certain legitimacy to the discourse. Everyone is listening.»
The transition between the profession of consultant on television and that of coach is however not an easy task. In recent years, several have tried it without success, such as Thierry Henry and Gary Neville, commentators on Sky Sports, who failed respectively on the benches of Monaco and Valence.
«Popular fervor“As a motor
If the marriage between the Red Star and Habib Beye is successful for the moment, it is perhaps because the former defender of Strasbourg and OM is in a club which corresponds to him. “I’m where I need to be, and I’m having a pretty amazing time, he says. When I go to the Bauer stadium, I have a blast because it reminds me of what I went through. We are in a stadium under construction, and there are 2,500 supporters, nobody does that in the National.»
A historic club in the Paris region, the Red Star is very popular, although its main successes date back to the 1920s, when football did not yet have a professional division. “It looks a bit like what I experienced in my playing career, explains Habib Beye. In Strasbourg, Marseille, and England, I was in clubs that had a popular fervor identified with the city, the region. It’s my engine, I need this support.»
Against Monaco, the Audonien club will once again be able to count on its fans, since Bauer will be full on Sunday (13:45). With the first successful months, the former Senegalese international approaches the match with the intention of “do not deny yourself». «I know we will be in trouble in the match, but what I’m sure is that my team will cause them problems.”An ambition that does honor to the club’s glorious past in the Coupe de France, a competition it has won five times (1921, 1922, 1923, 1928, 1942).
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