ChristopheVAFC

Hello everyone. Some news from my team. Things are generally quiet, with very little information on player recruitment. Back to training on Monday 24 June 2024. First league matchday on Friday 16 August 2024. Training camp: It's scheduled for 22-28 July, probably in the same place as last summer, in Horst, in the east of the Netherlands, not far from the German border. A ‘Fan Day’ is planned for early August. Regarding the potential tournament with you and Goztepe: ‘The three-team tournament with VAFC will not take place in the end, as the schedules of the three clubs are not compatible. Have a nice day!

Very interesting press article from the local media ‘Le 11 Valenciennois’ after season 1 of Sport Républic at your home in Valenciennes. https://le11hdf.fr/vafc-peut-on-encore-faire-confiance-au-projet-sport-republic/

In our case, even if the sportsman has not succeeded, there have been major changes in the day-to-day management of the club, with the introduction of round tables to gather the wishes of supporters, the introduction of an application, improved communications, regular meetings with the heads of supporters' groups, etc. The management is listening and making proposals to ensure that everyone wins. Apart from the sporting side of things, there's a lot of positive things going on, and the SR management have constantly reminded us that they won't be leaving us any time soon and that they want to set up something good here. I'm confident, as I keep saying when I see the projects in Goztepe and Southampton. The effort will pay off sooner or later, I'm convinced of that.

I agree with that. The 3 of us haven't had the same destiny, with 2 accessions and one relegation, but I remain confident for the future. The first year of managing Sport Républic still didn't go very well but the second was much better, both for you and our friends from Goztepe. Back home, I think SR didn't take this first year very well, as it was difficult for everyone, but now that they've got the club under control, they know where they're going and I'm convinced that they're already working hard to put something good in place. Given what our club had become before the takeover, we were on the brink of filing for bankruptcy and closing the club, and I'll never thank SR for taking charge of my club. I'm still very happy to be part of the big Sport Républic family and I know that in the near future, we'll be able to benefit from the new forces at work.

Thank you for sharing the press article. 🙂

Some of my colleagues are not very happy, not about your promotion to the Premier League, but about the fact that our club is talking about you rather than the future plans for our club for next season. Timeshare isn't necessarily popular in France or it hasn't often worked for other clubs (for example, Troyes and the City Group, who were relegated twice in two years)... Of course, going down is never a good thing, but we hadn't been in the 3rd division for 20 years before we joined. I think that just like our friends at Goztepe and you, our friends at Southampton, we'll have a much better season next year, with a real chance of going up. I certainly hope so!

My friends, I'd like to congratulate you most sincerely on your victory tonight, which has taken you back up to the Premier League. What a journey you have made! You can be proud of yourselves! Celebrate, enjoy and savour! Congratulations to the Sport Republic family!

We'd love to! We also hope that better decisions will be made for our team next year. I'll keep you posted in any case

Yes, unfortunately, we've been relegated to the 3rd division. The SR management is planning to go straight back up next year. We'll probably have one of the biggest budgets in National 1 and we're already looking for the best players for next year.

https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1465772/article/2024-05-26/il-n-y-pas-d-excuse-pour-les-resultats-obtenus-ben-chorley-se-confie-sur-la ‘There's no excuse for the results’: Ben Chorley on VAFC's season As discreet as he is one of the strong points of VAFC's Sport Republic version, English sporting director Ben Chorley, 41, spoke for 45 minutes. Without sparing any necessary self-criticism after the club's descent into the French National League, he outlined his plans for the next season, with a view to a swift return to Ligue 2. Ben, ten months after your arrival and a very complicated season marked by a descent into the National, are you still as enthusiastic about being here? ‘Of course I am. Even if the results weren't up to scratch. There's no excuse for the results on the pitch. The team, the former coach, the current coach, the staff, nobody performed as well as we'd hoped. Everyone has to take responsibility. But the result of this season, the origin of what happened, goes back further. When you look at what's happening with Southampton (play-off to climb back into the Premier League) and Goztepe (promoted to Turkish D1), Sport Republic's two other clubs, you can see that it took us a year to eighteen months to lay the foundations that we believe will enable us to become a major professional football club. There's a lot to be done to create an environment conducive to winning. You mention a year to eighteen months to lay the foundations, are we to understand that in this timetable relegation is not necessarily a problem? ‘No, the 18 months was to show how things went at Southampton and Goztepe to lay the foundations. But at Valenciennes, it's a big problem to be relegated, from a financial point of view and for the environment, for the town. Nobody wants to start a business like that. In an interview on the club's website, you admitted that you had made mistakes. ‘Yes, there have been mistakes. Everyone makes them, with the possible exception of Pep Guardiola. We're new owners who've taken over a club and expectations were high after many complicated years, and we knew it wouldn't be easy. We could have been better at communicating and clearer about what we wanted to do. There were several little mistakes, different things, but believe me, nobody works harder than us to progress.’ ‘We had many, many discipline problems that should have been sorted out in the dressing room and managed by the players among themselves.’ You've said that you didn't underestimate the level of League 2, so what mistakes were made in building the team? ‘When we took control of the club, there were only 7-8 players in the first team. Some of them had played very little the previous season, others only ten games or so, so we had to recruit. And when you recruit, you look at where your recruits come from and what the dressing room needs. Here, we needed leaders and players with experience. Taylor Moore has played 300 games for England, David Kruse is an international with Denmark (U21), Bruno Costa played in the Champions League with Porto... We signed a lot of players but since we're talking about mistakes, I prefer to work with a fairly small squad because it's easier to control things. Unfortunately, there were a lot of professional contracts signed by youngsters here before we arrived and we had to make the best of that. We tried to change a lot of things for those who weren't playing much, and in January six more players left. So there have been a lot of changes and when it's like that, there are a lot of relationships to build.’ We've also heard a lot about a lack of discipline in the dressing room. Can you confirm this? ‘Yes. Can you elaborate? ‘Whatever I'm going to say, I've already said it to the people concerned. But we've had many, many disciplinary problems that should have been sorted out in the dressing room and dealt with by the players themselves. I was a player for 20 years, I've been in different dressing rooms, some very strong, others weak, and if you want to be a respected player and be successful, you have to be together, take responsibility and be accountable to your team-mates. If you're not together in the dressing room on Saturday when you have to defend a corner in the 88th minute, you won't be together either.’ ‘In any sport, football, rugby, cricket, even fishing, you can't win if you're not united (...). We didn't have the respect to work together for a number of reasons. The chemistry in the team never took... ‘In any sport, football, rugby, cricket, even fishing, you can't win if you're not united. You don't have to like each other. I'm sure Mbappé isn't loved by his whole team at PSG, but they don't hesitate to give him the ball when he needs it because he knows how to make a difference. We didn't have the respect to work together for several reasons, whether because of the relationships that already existed here, or because it was normal to be like that at Valenciennes in recent years. I talk about it a lot with everyone to try and understand what is considered normal here, because everyone is important if we are to succeed. Wasn't part of your job to keep the dressing room running smoothly? ‘Yes, of course. I did my best. But in football, there are contracts and if you have one, you're there. It's not as simple as cleaning a house. The club's structures have changed a lot. Do you understand that even if it's necessary, it takes second place to results for the fans? ‘Of course. Whatever we do behind the scenes, we have to get results on the pitch. That's all that matters to the fans.’ ‘The plan will be to get back up and before you ask another question, I know the level we'll be playing at. This season, I've watched 52 National League games. What is the plan for next season? Who will be the coach and what will the team look like in the National? ‘You're very direct! The plan will be to climb back up and before you ask another question, I know the level we'll be playing at. I've watched 52 National League games this season. I've seen Niort, Orléans, Nancy, Red Star and Nîmes several times. I've realised that it's a fighting league. We've also studied what kind of teams and what kind of players have been promoted in the past. We're well aware of who we're up against, teams with a low block, and we know it's going to be tough away from home. We'll need players with character and personality. As for the composition of the staff, announcements will be made shortly. You've signed young Kylian Kouakou to a professional contract, what about Manga Foé Ondoa? ‘We want to sign him and we're working on it. His development has been stratospheric. He's been enormous, he's learned a lot tactically this season, so yes, we want to have him with us for the next few years. He's clearly part of the project. Once we were relegated, over the last five-six games, we played with those we want in the project.’

Two articles in the press yesterday and today about our sporting director Ben Chorley, who looks back on his career and the complicated season of my team Valenciennes. Enjoy your reading, friends ! https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/1465569/article/2024-05-25/vafc-ancien-d-arsenal-forme-au-business-qui-est-le-directeur-sportif-ben-chorley VAFC: former Arsenal player, trained in business, who is sporting director Ben Chorley? Valenciennes' sporting director, in post since July 2023, opened up for the first time since his arrival. In particular, he spoke about his career as a former player in England before joining Sport Republic and Valenciennes. You've been at VAFC for almost a year now and we've heard very little from you. What did you do before coming here? ‘My whole life has been dedicated to football. From an early age I grew up playing. I come from South London where the biggest teams are Milwall and Charlton. I joined the Arsenal academy in 1998, which was a very good period for the club with the arrival of Arsène Wenger and the French world champions. We had Patrick Vieira, Manu Petit... I've worked with a lot of foreign players in my career, a lot of different coaches, and that's given me a lot. I stopped my career in 2018 and it was natural for me to become a scout, then head of recruitment for two years, then director of football while being involved in the takeover of Swindon Town. So I've already had to deal with the day-to-day problems of running a club. It was an interesting experience when the owners of Sport Republic asked me to join the project here. Because it's something I'd already done in the past. I played for 20 years and was lucky enough to be captain at every club I played for. I don't shirk responsibility, I'm someone who has no problem being up front and taking the initiative. ‘When the idea of buying Valenciennes came up, I came here in February 2023 to get to know the city, the industries and understand what's going on here. I've seen a lot of games here and away. What was your relationship with Sport Republic before you came here? ‘Rasmus Ankersen (one of Sport Republic's bosses) is someone I admire a lot. And I think all sporting directors or people in similar positions at a football club also admire him for the work he did at Midjtylland, a small Danish club that he took all the way to the Champions League. Then he went to Brentford, a club where I went on loan when I was 18. It was a small club, perhaps the smallest in London. I would never have imagined that it would one day be in the Premier League. Then Rasmus arrived as sporting director with new owners and they went up in four years. I was lucky enough to meet him and talk to him when I was at Swindon and we made two player transfers from Brentford. When I left Swindon I took a break for the first time in 24 years. I went to the United States, I met coaches, I learnt about business, the commercial and financial dimension, how to really build the structure of a club. Because to be a sporting director, you need to know all that, it's not just about football. I was then invited to join Sport Republic, which had just bought Southampton and Goztepe, and it's really a huge project over the next 15-20 years. When the idea of buying Valenciennes came up, I came here in February 2023 to get to know the city, the industries and understand what's going on here. I've seen a lot of matches here and away. What attracted you to Valenciennes? ‘The club has a fantastic stadium, the environment here is ready to catch fire, there's so much potential. I remember the match against Grenoble when I saw the supporters accompanying the players. I took the tram to get a feel for the city and went to see the U17s and U19s play. There's everything here for the club to succeed and I wanted that to be with us.

ready for tomorrow, my friends! You've got the whole of Valenciennes behind you! Go Saint's Go Southampton !! photo taken from the gates of the Stade du Hainaut in Valenciennes

The trend of what he is currently releasing to the press speaks of a contract extension for next year. The fans here don't want him to stay and are calling for him to leave the club. The banner that went up at the last home match: ‘Kantari tu sort’. The supporters criticised him for not being the right man for the job, and for the need for a change in both players and staff. The current coach is favoured by the sporting director (Ben Chorley), but nothing has been done yet...

Here in Valenciennes, we don't need much for our stadium to fill up and for buses to be chartered for travel. Only the sporting results will be decisive. The whole of SR's governance is promising a rapid return to Ligue 2, so all we can do is hope it works.

Apart from Rouen (where there were 700 of us) and Lyon (where there were 1,100 of us), this very difficult season hasn't motivated many people to travel, unlike in other countries where it's more part of the footballing mentality. When the sporting results are there, it's easier, but as soon as the results aren't there, the fans prefer to stay at home...

The pre-season tournament between the 3 teams will not take place this summer. Phil Parsons, your CEO, has told me that this is not possible because of the start dates of the championship.

My warmest congratulations, my friends, on yesterday's fine victory at Saint Mary's! Enjoy these moments of happiness! Come on, friends! Now all we have to do is finish the job at Wembley! All the best from France and Valenciennes to you! Come on Saint's ! Allez Southampton !

Hello everyone. First of all, my sincerest congratulations on your victory yesterday at Saint Mary's! Very happy for you! For our part, we had a complicated trip to Normandy, where Valenciennes were playing a team that could play in the play-off for promotion to Ligue 1. The 3-0 defeat put the seal on a season that was complicated from start to finish. It's time to get down to business this summer, when we'll probably be doing some major housework... As for the Valenciennes supporters, around thirty brave souls made the trip. Allez VA!

Hello everyone. Last game of the season for Valenciennes FC tonight as they travel to Normandy to take on Stade Malherbe de Caen. The aim of the match is to finish as worthy as possible against a team that could be in with a chance of playing in the play-offs. The match is expected to be a sell-out, with between 20 and 50 supporters expected to make the trip. (4-hour drive / 234 miles). I'd also like to say a special word of thanks to your club, who are playing in the play-offs tonight. Enjoy the game, folks!

I'm really pleased that Sport Republic is coming in, even if going down is never a pleasure, but you know our previous managers were so incompetent and unambitious too, they left the club in a lamentable state. Now it's time to continue the reconstruction and I hope we can get some good results quickly and get back up as soon as possible. As for you, my friends, I wish you every success for the play-offs and I'll be watching the 2 games at Valenciennes with the greatest attention.

Before Sport Républic bought our club, we came close to going down several times, but unfortunately it happened this year and you can imagine what happened with the other two clubs... It's almost unfortunate but I'm staying positive because I know that SR are going to do their utmost this summer to create a new dynamic. They've already put in a lot of money and they're going to continue to do so, they're going to bring the training grounds up to standard and they're going to have plenty of time to set up their organisation. No more excuses next year, they've got their work cut out for them!

It's true that he's often a few floors behind me haha

Last match at the Stade du Hainaut last night. Faced with a Quevilly Rouen team already relegated like us, we won 2-1. But yesterday was also the night we said farewell to the club: our speakrine, whose name is Marie and who has been at the microphone for 25 years, will no longer be able to entertain at the stadium next year for professional reasons. Our captain, Joffrey Cuffaut, who played 159 games for Valenciennes, will not be staying on next year as his contract expires. A large majority of Sport Républic's management team were present yesterday (including Rasmus and Henrik). In the photo, circled in yellow, that's me, I'm always in that seat haha, very well placed (the standing room is free seating).

The end of the season is drawing to a close, and with the club already condemned to relegation, the aim is to put on a good show before moving down to the lower division. I also think that some of the players are giving it their all for next season, just to show off to future recruiters... It's a shame, because with this rate of points, we could have done better this season...

-- Unknown in the French league until 2 years ago, Will has quickly made a name for himself. He is the coach with the longest unbeaten run after taking over in the history of Stade de Reims, with 17 games unbeaten in Ligue 1. The club, meanwhile, began its unbeaten run before Will Still's arrival with a run of 19 games without defeat. This is the sixth-longest unbeaten run in the history of the competition, and the longest if you take into account Will Still's arrival during the season. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Still https://www.ligue1.fr/clubs/Calendar?id=stade-de-reims