Get French Football News favourite Franck Leboeuf joined us for another interview, talking what makes Olympique de Marseille special, why Habib Beye could be a good fit, why RC Lens can win the title and how he thinks Liam Rosenior has settled at Chelsea. In this third part, he talks about why RC Strasbourg have to take the rough with the smooth of their Chelsea partnership and how impressed he is with Rosenior.
I think we need to talk a little about Strasbourg and Chelsea. We’ve previously talked about the issues of multi-club ownership. But talking about the football, how do you think Strasbourg are faring and how is Liam Rosenior is doing at Chelsea so far?
I think that the players who come in, who are not French and who don’t know Strasbourg too well, must be pleasantly surprised because the city is magnificent. And the fans are exceptional, with extraordinary loyalty to the club and that’s why they felt betrayed at first, because they felt like their feelings weren’t being taken into consideration. I think the situation is being pretty well managed by the president Marc Keller, who is a friend, who is working hard to make it work because he loves his club. But the brutal reality is that the club needs money. And Chelsea have money and can help Strasbourg to survive. So it requires a quid pro quo. And that means seeing great players arrive, stay a year or two and then leave for Chelsea. That’s part of the deal. But I’m impressed by all of the players who come to Strasbourg. And it’s a fantastic place to play. When I was there we were in Ligue 2 but still had an average attendance of 25,000 people. The stadium was full to bursting.
And I have great memories. If with Chelsea it was my first FA Cup win, with Strasbourg it’s the match against Stade Rennais when we won 4 to 1 to gain promotion from Ligue 2. I thought that the Meinau was going to explode. It was a crazy atmosphere. I get goosebumps thinking about it. An extraordinary club with fantastic supporters. So players feel good there and even though they’re young players, they feel that the fans love them. That’s important. And I’m impressed by all the players who have come in, and those who have left, like Andrey Santos who has gone to Chelsea.
But all these players are doing a great job and, for me, it’s wrong to say that Chelsea is another dimension and that there is much more pressure. When I arrived at Chelsea, OK it may not have been the Chelsea of today, but you have the pressure of having to prove yourself, especially if you took the place of an Englishman. But it’s a great club with a great structure, with really nice supporters who want their team to be at their best. And for a young player, it’s really “an open door”. You feel good.
It’s weird but when you arrive in Madrid, whether you’re young or 25, you feel the pressure. When you arrive in Marseille, you feel the pressure. You arrive in Paris, you feel the pressure. At Juventus, you feel the pressure. At Bayern Munich, you feel the pressure.
But in England, the supporters are ready to raise you up and carry you. As long as you do your job, you’re going to be a superstar. We saw with Cole Palmer – he arrived from Manchester City, the guy scored two or three goals, he showed his talent, the fans immediately love him. And you have to be off form for a really long period before the fans turn on you. Otherwise, the Chelsea fans, they love you.
As for Rosenior, I had no doubts. Because I had seen how he worked with the young players at Strasbourg and his philosophy of the game. You can tell that he has done his studies, he is thoughtful, he speaks well. Psychologically he works very well with the young players of this generation and knows exactly how to position them. And I’m happy that it’s working well for the moment and that he’s a hit.
But I’m not at all surprised, because Chelsea still has quite a young group who don’t necessarily know each other that well, but he immediately found the philosophy for them to be able to work together and I think that he is someone who has a lot of quality. So I hope that in the long run it will work. He was a professional footballer, he knows how it works, he knows how to meet the players at their level and you can see that he has a big personality too – he looks like an intellectual with his glasses and all that – but you can tell that he has a good grip on the situation and I trust him. I think it was a very good idea to bring him in.
Franck Leboeuf was talking to GFFN courtesy of BetVictor Online Casino