Toulouse’s daring strategy to stay in Ligue 1
A disaster can be followed by a rebirth and Toulouse is witness to it. Relegated to Ligue 2 quite logically as Ligue 1’s bottom line in the 2019/2020 season, Toulouse FC saw Damien Comolli and the investment fund RedBird Capital Partners take control of the club. If the doubt could remain at the beginning, the new owners quickly announced the color. “Going up, of course, that’s what we want right now. I told the players and the coach. So we’re not hiding on that. We want to come back this season. We want to settle at the top of the L1 classification, to be in the 6th-8th places. You have to be in keeping with the size of the city, which is the fourth largest in France. There is no reason. When I talk about potential, I’m talking about the city, the stadium, the club in general. The TFC will therefore have a little pressure this season. “The only goal we have is a time goal because we want to go up next year. For the rest, we are in no hurry. All of RedBird’s investments are made for the long term. We are talking about projects in 7 or 10 years. It’s a long way in high-level sport” underlined Damien Comolli on his arrival.
Data as a weapon in the transfer window
Showing a solid budget without being too exuberant, this “Téfécé new look” wanted to bring a breath of fresh air by using above all the scouting techniques of its new president. Adept at data, Damien Comolli also explained to The Dispatch in December 2020 that it was open to certain innovations with a view to improving recruitment: “We don’t use it (Football Manager) but they approached us to work with them. Which I think we’re going to do because there are aspects of Football Manager that are interesting. It is an interesting and powerful game where you can get useful information. (…) We know that the database on the history of player injuries in Football Manager is unique, so we will surely dig into it. We work with companies that provide us with data, such as Opta or StatBomb, and afterwards, we have statisticians, our own software, our own algorithms, which help us in all the decisions we make in the management of the club. »
A method that is reminiscent of the one used in Brentford (England) and which takes place in parallel with the film Moneyball with the use of data in American football. Also increasingly used, this strategy is found on the side of a club like Liverpool but also in Toulouse where Brendan MacFarlane developed his old uses in Brentford. In Denmark, the Midtjylland club has written it into its DNA and has become a reference in the championship. “Midtjylland is an own model sound developed by Matthew Benham which is therefore also used in Brentford. On the other hand, for having exchanged with Danish club scouts, there is more and more use in each club of tools like Instat, WyScout, StatsBomb… so they also use the data to scout players in more field observation» we explain Nordisk last summer. Toulouse was therefore inspired by innovative models quite far from what was being done in France in order to return to the fore and it worked.
The rise and now the desire to register over time
Missing promotion to Ligue 1 by losing a play-off against FC Nantes, Toulouse nevertheless laid the foundations for its first season in Ligue 2. Recruiting Isak Pettersson (IFK Norrköping), Branco van den Boomen (De Graafschap), Deiver Machado (La Gantoise), Sébastien Dewaest (Genk), Brecht Dejaegere (La Gantoise), Naatan Skyttä (Ilves), Rhys Healey (MK Dons) or even Stijn Spierings (Levski Sofia) for his first season, Toulouse quickly indicated his preferred search sectors with Belgium and the Netherlands on one side and Northern Europe on the other. Currently, Branco van den Boomen is the star of the team (12 goals and 23 goals in 41 matches last year), Rhys Healey the top scorer (22 goals and 4 goals in 37 matches last year) while Brecht Dejaegere is the captain. Nathan Skyttä is finding his feet while Stijn Spierings remains an important player in the squad. For his part, Deiver Machado joined Lens will reward 1.8 million euros only one after his arrival. If all was not a success, overall Toulouse made good moves allowing to rebuild a competing workforce.
The following season, Rafael Ratão (Slovan Bratislava), Ado Onaiwu (Yokohama F. Marinos), Rasmus Nicolaisen (Midtjylland), Mikkel Desler (Haugesund) and Denis Genreau (Macarthur) had an interesting contribution. Despite this desire to bring novelty and freshness, Toulouse does not fail to rely on a qualified training center. Right midfielder Sam Sanna (23) made his debut and has just been ready in Laval to harden up, as has left midfielder Mamady Bangré (21) who went on loan to Quevilly. Cameroonian midfielder Steve Mvoué (20) is growing slowly as well as sentry Tom Rapnouil (21) but the greatest success is central defender Anthony Rouault (21) who has made his mark in the squad. Also retaining a local DNA, Toulouse offers a nice mix that allowed it to become Ligue 2 champion. Promoted, the Violets will have to fight to avoid relegation since this year, there will be 4 teams that will slip into Ligue 2. With certainties, the graduate continues to arm himself to achieve this objective. First recruit, the Moroccan international (11 caps, 2 goals) Zakaria Aboukhlal (22 years old) who has delivered great promises to AZ Alkmaar. Then, the Norwegian Kjetil Haug (24) came to occupy the position of goalkeeper before Toulouse bet 2.5 million euros on Thijs Dallinga. The 21-year-old striker is the Dutch D2’s latest top scorer with 36 goals in 43 games. A solid balance sheet that arouses interest. A breath of fresh air in Ligue 1, Philippe Montanier and Olivier Sadran’s Téfécé is already presenting itself as one of the future attractions of the championship.