President of the ESCLAMS, Serge Tristram provides a mid-term update on his team’s season and discusses the rest.
What is your assessment of this first part of the season?
It’s a very mixed record. At the club, it’s pretty good because we got the licensees after two more complicated years. We have good results overall with a training policy that continues to be put in place. After the results of the first team are a real disappointment. Every year when we have to rebuild 70% of the workforce, it’s always a bet. We don’t have a big budget either, so it’s never easy to rebuild a workforce. This season the mayonnaise is a little difficult to take but the team has not been spared from the injuries starting with that of Julien lesieu. He is a quality player whose absence hurts a lot because we have no room for maneuver.
How to explain the fact that nothing is going in your direction this season?
In terms of injuries, these are things that cannot be predicted and a real bad luck. Then there was the departure of Tom Nicolas at the start of the season. We had to adapt and strengthen the team. We brought in Milan Markovic and Salim Gassama with this in mind, but it also caused complications. Indeed, one of our foreign players must stay aside every Saturday as a transferred player because we are limited. These are additional constraints but when you want to adjust the team during the season the choices are not multiple. We would have liked to find non-transferred or non-foreign players, but above all we wanted quality and we made this choice. We absolutely needed a reinforcement inside with the absence of Lesieu and a waist reinforcement on the wing. With this multitude of parameters the choice is limited and choices have to be made.
Are you still optimistic for the second part of the season?
Yes, we continue to believe in it as long as we still have a chance. If the team manages to go through the weeks of training without worries that will help us and the return of Julien lesieu can really make a difference. I have confidence in the team and the staff. They must become aware of their qualities and their potential. When you manage to make a level playing field with Loon-Plage Where Berck is that you are able to beat many teams. I do not understand that we fall so much in the face of teams that are within our reach. There is a psychological problem in this team which is also due to a lack of experience. The return of Julien lesieu can also do us a lot of good on this point because he is a player with a great experience who can only bring positive to this team. He is a player who despite his age has the ability to play higher than the NM2, it’s a chance to have him with us and we hope to get him back soon.
We keep believing it as long as we still have a chance
You have been affected by the covid, how are you handling the situation?
We ask the players to be careful outside but we cannot control what they are doing. Internally, we put everything in place to best comply with the recommendations. We had cases in the senior squad, so we immediately made our arrangements by testing everyone and leaving the players with even negative symptoms aside. Finally we had more 10 cases and we could not line up 6 players on Saturday against Gravenchon, prompting us to request the postponement. We sent our file and we should have news in the next few days knowing that we had 2 new cases during the weekend. It is the entire senior group that is affected and we hope to be able to field a team against Fougères, we wait to see the evolution of each. After that, I hope that we will have some immunity and that we will be quiet for the future because today almost all the players of the first team are affected.
As president, are we already preparing for a possible descent?
We have to think about it given the situation in the standings, but today we do not focus on it because we still believe in maintaining. We have known the situation since we regained this level even if I find that the NM2 has made us progress on a lot of points. It would not necessarily be a financial disaster, but a blow for the partners because the NM2 is a real showcase for the club. The hardest part in the event of a descent would really be having to rebuild everything but honestly we don’t think about it too much. We have two victories behind Ardres and Calais, but we receive them on the return phase. We will have to beat them and get some big hits, especially at home.
One of the club’s problems is the lack of continuity. How to explain it?
We have one of the smallest budgets in the pool and it’s very difficult to retain a player. At the start we had some problems with some players and when we change coaches we also have to adapt the squad each time. Last year we managed to find a good cohesion and a solid team with our means. Unfortunately when you shine, you attract attention. A boy like Duboc who receives an offer from Calais we can not line up. After when players like Mario tonji go to NM1, it’s the same we can’t compete. It is therefore complicated to have continuity and to keep a framework each time. Especially since we had departures for personal or professional reasons such as Odouala, Noah Where Gavrel.
What can we wish you for the year 2022?
We hope to finally be calm in terms of injuries and all the problems that have affected us since the start of the season. May the players, the staff and the club be in good health and that we come out of this crisis. Afterwards, of course, we hope to be able to stay on the ground and continue the adventure in NM2. I also hope that we will be able to welcome our supporters again in the best conditions for their good, but also because financially the lack of refreshments is a new hard blow for the club.
Aurélien Finet
Photo credit: Léandre Leber – Coralie Sombret – Gazettesports
