Ahead of Stade Rennais’ game against AS Monaco on Saturday night, there were changes behind the scenes. Olivier Cloarec was replaced by Arnaud Pouille as president, and in the wake of that change, the future of manager Julien Stéphan was called into question by a report from Foot Mercato.
It is not the first time that Stéphan’s future has been a topic. Even before the start of the season, reports surfaced suggesting that Rennes could make a managerial change. Ultimately, however, he remained in post. However, SRFC have had a sub-par start to the season. After the 2-1 defeat to Monaco, Rennes are 10th in Ligue 1 with just two wins in their first seven games.
In a post-match press conference, attended by Get French Football News, Stéphan responded to a question about his future. “Pressure is permanent. It is inherent to the job,” he began.
“We put ourselves under pressure every day. I am under pressure from day one until the last day that I do this job. The pressure is to keep this group moving in the right direction, to make it work, the encourage it when it deserves to be encouraged and that is the case this evening, or lecture them when they deserve it. For the rest, it depends on me. With the staff, we are giving everything to make this team progress. There is progress – we saw it tonight but it wasn’t enough to beat Monaco,” he added. At least for now, Stéphan doesn’t seem to think that his position is in immediate danger.
