SM Caen. Malherbe and amateur clubs, much more than a seduction operation
By Aline Chatel
Published on
All the ingredients for a successful morning were gathered, this Wednesday, October 26, 2022, on the beautiful complex of the Awkwardness. For the second time this season, Stade Malherbe Caen had relocated the training of professional players, and it was at MOS, a Regional 1 club, that he had settled down. Under a bright sun, the many children present did not hide their pleasure.
While his troupe was preparing the next trip to Saint-Malo in the Coupe de France, Olivier Pickeu had a long discussion with his counterpart from La Maladrerie, Thierry Deslandes. The two men then looked at the relationship between Malherbe, the engine of local football, and the amateur world.
Olivier, what is the benefit for Stade Malherbe of organizing relocated training in an amateur club?
Olivier Pickeu: It’s a pleasure. The weather is wonderful, the children are here and our players are very happy. It becomes something normalized for us to come into contact with our youth. Stéphane Moulin lends himself to the game completely. For him, it is not at all a constraint, it is on the contrary an asset. This allows you to create a link.
I would like to ask Thierry (Deslandes) for his welcome. It is important to see the quality of the organization and the number of children present. Of course, it’s a way for us to continue to develop our influence and get in touch with our audience. But before all that, you have to be able to meet great people. That’s what I’ve been doing for two years with Thierry. We played a match at the start of the season, we did relocated training… This falls within the framework of the relations that I want to maintain with the MOS club. It’s a relationship that I want to last over time.
What is the interest for the MOS to have these close exchanges with Malherbe?
Thierry Deslandes: The most important thing is everything we do on a daily basis with the club. The first animators of these bridges are the educators. The more complicity there is between the two clubs, the more interesting it is for us. We are not at all in the same formats and in the same projects as Malherbe, but I am one of those who thought that the more organized, structured and complicit we are with Malherbe, the better it will be for the footballers in Caen. If a boy is good here, I’d rather he go to the street opposite than to Rennes or Angers.
T. Deslandes: “Caen lacks a club that plays sustainably at national level among young people”
Are there technical exchanges between educators?
Olivier Pickeu: On a joint project. Mehdi Hocianat works on our relations with the clubs of the department and the region. We’re going to show it all soon. This will allow us to make technical exchanges with educators. For example, we could organize a day with Stéphane Moulin, who would speak on a specific theme.
We want to continue to create a lot of things. They must make sense between the professional club that we are and the amateur clubs that do a remarkable job. We are talking about educators, but there are also volunteers who are there on a daily basis and who allow this Norman youth to be able to express themselves. Seeing young people able to leave the seraglio to play at the highest level creates a bond, a pride for all the educators and presidents that we are. Through this, I also hope that they will become quality men, and quality women, because women’s sport is also in the spotlight.
What does a big amateur club like the MOS expect from the locomotive that is Malherbe?
Thierry Deslandes: I used the word “complicity”, that’s it. Good communication, sharing of information, creates the best conditions for our players to go home and for us to also be able to take advantage of the players who leave the Stade Malherbe. It’s easier today than seven or eight years ago. We have created the conditions so that there are more places for players who have not managed to perform well enough at Stade Malherbe and who need a second chance. We leveled up, we structured ourselves, we made an effort. It’s easier to convince.
Today, Caen lacks a club that plays sustainably at national level among young people, next to Stade Malherbe. This would require having a stronger breeding ground and, therefore, more walkways. There are examples in Malherbe of players who didn’t perform at 15, 16, who went out and came back.
O. Pickeu: “Let things not just go one way”
Olivier, is it important for you to return regularly to the amateur world?
Olivier Pickeu: Training and the seraglio are at the heart of our project. We want to highlight the players from our amateur clubs. Then, at what age do they come to us…
You are often criticized for recruiting children too early.
Olivier Pickeu: It is also the possibility, perhaps, of being able to recover them afterwards with a different formation. The selection is so difficult that we can also have this exchange, which becomes very positive. This is what we have to create. We have to create trust. For that, you need stability. I wish, with Stéphane Moulin and the staff, to rely on a stability of educators which allows to have a project in which the amateur clubs find themselves. It’s a long process. We started it a little over a year ago. These are the beginnings of something very positive.
Is it also through these operations that Stade Malherbe develops a very positive image?
Olivier Pickeu: I saw all the district presidents, who are the links with the amateur clubs, last week. They do an outstanding job of getting things done. We had an extraordinary adventure last season, welcoming 12,000 people to the Coupe Gambardella, a first in the history of the competition.
Our relationships with the districts and those that we are beginning to establish with the clubs have enabled us to be able to make this reception and create this link. The link must be lasting. This is not a one shot operation. When I arrived, I was told: “Are you ready to sign partnerships? My desire was first to meet the presidents. I am very happy to have met Thierry (Deslandes) for all the work he is doing with his club and with the region. Once these meetings have taken place, we can put things in place, but things that do not only go in one direction – that of Stade Malherbe. There is a global vision because we know each other better. This is the next step.
T. Deslandes: “A mark of respect”
We feel that these exchanges are very appreciated by the amateur world…
Thierry Deslandes: It’s recognition. The Stade Malherbe is not obliged to do relocated training, for example. Doing them contributes to the good image with his supporters, that’s for sure. For us, it is also a mark of respect. It goes in the direction of the good relations that we want to have with the club. It is a time among others. Afterwards, there are phone calls, there are exchanges, there are meetings between those who are at the heart of the project.
It is important to keep moving forward. We can write things and make conventions, if, behind, we are not convinced that it is in our interest to do it together, it will not work over time. There are the things we write, and above all there are the things we do. I think it’s the things we do that are the most important.
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