In October 2018, Thierry Henry is preparing to jump into the deep end on the Rock by taking over AS Monaco. In his luggage, the Frenchman wants to bring Julien Stéphan, then unknown to the general public. Stade Rennais refuses to release Guy Stéphan’s son and will give him the wheel of the Breton club at the beginning of December, with the result that we know. But what would have happened if Stephan had followed Henry to ASM?
By Adrien Hémard-Dohain
What if Julien Stéphan had followed Thierry Henry to Monaco?
December 3, 2018: Gourvennec replaces LamouchiIn December, Olivier Létang loses patience and Sabri Lamouchi’s license, as a decisive final group match in the Europa League approaches against Astana. The decision of the President of Rennes is surprising, but the name of the successor comes to reassure everyone: it is Jocelyn Gourvennec, barely back at Guingamp, who arrives at Roazhon Park. The executioner of the 2014 final, the second lost by Rennes against Guingamp, is in charge.
February 27, 2019: Rennes eliminated in the Coupe de France After the quarter-finals, the clash between Stade Rennais and AS Monaco gave birth to a sad draw. It was finally on a shot on goal by Sofiane Diop, former home, that Thierry Henry’s players qualified, without shining. Julien Stephan savors in the shadows, but leaves to greet his former players and colleagues. A few days after the slap and elimination against Betis (0-4), Rennes de Gourvennec is heading towards a sad end to the season, without the slightest trophy. Once again, the Bretons fall into line.
May 7, 2019: Harry Kane punishes ASMDix days after their victory in the Coupe de France against PSG thanks to a late but from Sofiane Diop, AS Monaco come down from their cloud. The semi-final return of the Asemists Champions League turns into a nightmare, after Thierry Henry responded to insults from supporters of the Spurs and slapped Harry Kane. the stands, Titi sees Julien Stéphan Since having achieved the feat of coming back to 3-3, before a cruel penalty from Harry Kane, following a handball from Andrea Raggi. Monaco bows and sees the final pass before their eyes. Cruel for a group that came back from nowhere in chickens thanks to the Henry-Stéphan duo, before pushing the Old Lady towards the exit in the eighth, and extinguishing the flamboyant youth of Ajax in the quarters.
March 7, 2020: a derby Since the historic start of the season, AS Monaco has been running at full speed, apart from their early elimination in the Coupe de France against Saint-Etienne at the end of January. Still in the race in the Champions League, Henry’s men sit at the top of Ligue 1 ahead of PSG. But the gap is narrowing as the Parisian machine ramps up at the start of March. After a draw in Nice, the Monegasques only have a one-point lead. They do not know it yet, but the Covid will make them the champions of France 2020, despite the lobby of Jean-Michel Aulas to take over the championship.
July 2020: Tony Parker leaves ASVELClose to Thierry Henry, Tony Parker has been spending more and more time on the Rock since his friend’s arrival at AS Monaco. At the end of the first confinement, during which the two men multiplied the Skyperos like everyone else, Thierry Henry offers his close friend to come and settle in the Principality to take over the Roca Team of Monaco, rather than ASVEL, which In any case, there is a risk of slipping into OL’s lap. Tired of the attitude of Aulas concerning the resumption of the championship, Parker accepts and takes over the basketball section of the princely club. On Twitter, the president of OL fumes: “@TonyParker great champion, but not yet great leader. Bcp to learn @MichelDenisot @GervaisMartel #Vraisreconnaissentvrais ”.
January 2, 2021: Thierry Henry at PSGA After two semi-finals in a row in the Champions League with AS Monaco, but also a title of champion of France 2020, Thierry Henry is the coach in vogue on the Old Continent. Neck and neck with ASM in Ligue 1, PSG comes from licensee Thomas Tuchel during the holidays. The Qatari leaders fall for the 1998 world champion, who arrive in the capital without Julien Stéphan. His assistant is retained by the Monegasque plateau until the end of the season. A paying choice since ASM will finish second, in the wheel of Henry’s PSG.
May 23, 2021: Leclerc triumphs in MonacoAfter the cancellation of the 2020 edition because of the Covid, the most glamorous of the Grands Prix is back, in a Principality which never ceases to shine on the lawns and which is beginning to make a name on the court. Uninhibited, and intoxicated by this Monegasque victory, Charles Leclerc took pole position at the wheel of his Ferrari. And since you don’t overtake in the streets of Monaco, and since his single-seater remains intact at the end of Q3, the child of the country finishes a race in its streets for the first time. Better: it imposes itself. Between that and the new victory in the Coupe de France for AS Monaco, the first trophy for Julien Stéphan as number one, the Rock is celebrating.
May 28, 2022: Macron and Mélenchon in unison The Champions League final organized at the Stade de France turns into humiliation. Henry’s PSG, carried by the Messi-Mbappé-Neymar trio in symbiosis all season, crashes against the collective strength of Klopp’s Liverpool, under the eyes of President Emmanuel Macron, and his Prime Minister Jean-Luc Melenchon. Thierry Henry’s call to vote “everything except Marine Le Pen” tipped the presidential election, especially in the West Indies. Winner with 52% of the vote, Macron had no choice. But this Parisian defeat offers the two men, Marseilles by adoption, a first moment of complicity in front of the cameras. The Emir of Qatar is offended. But whatever.
August 6, 2022: Racing celebrates its return to L1 After two difficult years in Ligue 2, following the descent of 2019 at the end of the Laurey era, marked by a defeat in the final of the Coupe de la Ligue against PSG (stomper of Guingamp orphaned by Gourvennec in the semi-finals), RC Strasbourg is back in Ligue 1. After trying the Luka Elsner bet and finishing 16e of Ligue 2, the Alsatian club attributed its fate to David Guion, who relieved the team. La Meinau displays its best colors for this return, marked by a gala poster against the triple vice-champions of France. On the bench opposite, Julien Stéphan began his second full season at AS Monaco, after leading the club to two second places. When Thierry Henry, sacked from PSG, bounces back to Arsenal, the former assistant politely declines.