The Yellow and Green are in seventh heaven! By beating Dieppe (3-2) on Saturday evening in the National 3 championship, the fifth national level, AS Villers-Houlgate Côte Fleurie achieved a nice feat. Benjamin Morel’s players signed the third climb in a row but also the sixth in the space of 8 years. A fairly rare performance in French football.
Chaired by Vincent Granturco, AS Villers-Houlgate Côte Fleurie has almost only seen ups and downs since its birth in the summer of 2017 after the merger of two clubs, AS Villers-Blonville-Bénerville and US Houlgate.
???????? It’s just… EXCEPTIONAL!
✅ 2016/2017: D2
✅ 2017/2018: D1
✅ 2018/2019: R3
⏸️ 2019/2020 (Covid-19)
⏸️ 2020/2021 (Covid-19)
✅ 2021/2022: R2
✅ 2022/2023: R1
✅ 2023/2024: N3
???? 2024/2025: N2A huge thank you to everyone who follows us ♥️ pic.twitter.com/hdlZ97Prv1
— ASVH – Villers Houlgate Normandy Côte Fleurie (@ASVH_CF) May 11, 2024
Due to the health crisis, the Normans missed the climb only once during the 2019-2020 season. At the time, the resident of Regional 2, who remained on three climbs in a row, was only 2nd in his group when the championship ended, with exactly the same number of points as the Alençon reserve which has one match less and which will finally reach Regional 1.
The following season, in 2020-2021, little Norman Tom Thumb can do absolutely nothing since there will be no ups and downs after the definitive end of competitions at the start of the season. When football resumed these rights during the 2021-2022 season, the Normans resumed their impressive rise first with Regional 1 then National 3 and finally this season National 2.
However, at the start of the season, for the first year in its history in the French Championship, AS Villers-Houlgate only aimed to maintain but Benjamin Morel’s players went on to win a series of victories as they have done almost always.
To explain such progression, we have to go back to 2016 with the arrival of Thierry Granturco at the club. The former president of FC Rouen during the 2012-2013 season and also a lawyer invests in this club which plays in Departmental 2, i.e. in the 10th national division.
From the first year, the club was a success and achieved a first rise to Departmental 1. The club then decided to merge with Houlgate, which was taking the opposite path by going down from Regional 3 to Departmental 1.
Another merger soon?
Already ambitious, Thierry Granturco’s club sees further than a simple rise in regional competitions. The real objective is Regional 1, as quickly as possible. The small Norman club is starting to make waves. In 2018, he reached the 8th round of the Coupe de France against L2 Le Havre, who trembled after being led at the opening score followed by a hit on the post, before rolling out (1-5). In 2019, the club even attracted Alain Cavéglia for a time who became a sports advisor.
After the health crisis, Thierry Granturco, who became mayor of Villers-sur-Mer in 2020 until his resignation on March 26, handed over to his son Vincent at the head of the club with the same success.
In March 2022, AS Villers-Houlgate is missing its goal of climbing. He then changed trainer to appoint Benjamin Morel. At the cost of a crazy end to the season, the ASVH offers itself an extremis climb to Regional 1. The march forward then resumes with one climb per year.
A success that makes people cringe in the Norman microcosm: “The reason why we are so divisive is that from the start, we made a strong decision: the only thing that drives the project is competence. , advances Victor Granturco to Ouest-France. Some have sometimes spoken to us about excessive rigor, but that is also why we have moved faster. It is a project which depends almost exclusively on private funds: we are accountable to our sponsors. We don’t have a bigger budget than the others. But the money we have, we probably spend it better. »
With a budget of 300,000 euros, the club believes that its development requires a new merger. The two clubs approached, AS Deauville-Trouville and SU Dives-Cabourg, have not yet responded. But at this rate, Ligue 1 won’t be around for much longer…
