Opinion
Almost everything has been said or written about the City Football Group.
In September 2020, they made front page news in France after buying second-tier club ES Troyes AC (Espérance Sportive Troyes Aube Champagne). Eleven months and a Ligue 2 title later, the team owned by the Abu Dhabi group is back in Ligue 1. Their first opponent is Qatari-backed club Paris Saint-Germain, at home, on August 8.
The club’s identity
After 11 years running the club, Daniel Masoni gave the keys to Stade de l’Aube to the CFG, with a team in good shape. Under his leadership, Troyes had been in Ligue 1 twice already, in 2015-16 and 2017-18, but was unable to remain in top-tier football for more than a season.
Before his time, Troyes was already known for going up and down a division every other year. Altogether the club has been promoted to Ligue 1 ten times now… and relegated eight. Troyes reached Ligue 1 in 1999, 20-odd years after their last stint in top-tier football. Since then, the Champagne club spent nine seasons in Ligue 1 and 12 in Ligue 2.
Among the players donning the blue jersey before making a name for themselves elsewhere are Jerome Rothen, on the pitch when Troyes defeated Newcastle in the 2001 Intertoto Cup final after an epic 4-4 at St James Park, but also Blaise Matuidi, Fabio Celestini, Bafetimbi Gomis and recently Bryan Mbeumo.
When Masoni took over in 2009, he tried to favour coaches with positive football ideas, and long-term commitment, with local legend Jean-Marc Furlan in charge for five years, and Jean-Louis Garcia for two, before giving Laurent Battles his first coaching gig, with recurring success.
A smooth transition
The first French club actually targeted by the Manchester City owners was actually AS Nancy Lorraine, another club with a rich history, mainly known for being Michel Platini’s first club. Troyes was considered as well early on, and following some greedy demands by the club from Lorraine, the decision was to focus on the club from Champagne.
An agreement with Masoni was found soon after. Simon Cliff, Man City counsellor, is named CEO of the new acquisition, and a few months later, Aymeric Magne, a sound sport and entertainment professional, comes in as his number two to run the day-to-day in Aube.
(Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Possession, penetration, pressing are the three pillars the City Football Group wants all their clubs around the world to build their football identity around. With ESTAC, CFG CEO Ferran Soriano picked a team already adhering to this philosophy.
It made the transition much easier. No need to change coach, Laurent Battles remained in charge, and Erick Mombaerts, the French manager who sat on the bench of two other City clubs already, Yokohama F Marinos and Melbourne City, joined as a technical advisor.
Success and promotion
Third at the end of the COVID-interrupted 2019-20 season, the team headed by Battles was a Ligue 2 favourite in 2020-21, although promotion was not an objective for the City Group. In his second season as a head coach, the 45-year-old former Marseille, Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux player had developed an attractive possession-based football, even before his club was on the CFG map.
No flashy name, no star, no player on loan from Manchester City (yet), Battles relied on his idea of football for success, leaning on experienced Ligue 2 players, namely French midfielder Florian Tardieu, who was nominated for player of the season in 2020-21 (29, formerly of Istres, Sochaux and Belgium Zulte Waregem) and Tunisian striker Yoann Touzghar, who has scord 16 goals this season (34, formerly of Lens, Auxerre, Sochaux).
It was not long until the team got positive results. After losing two of their first four fixtures, Tardieu and his teammates went on to be undefeated for the following 12. While they settled at the top of the table, Battles left his beloved 433 behind to adopt a 352 he would favour until the end of the season.
During the remaining 22 games, Troyes recorded 13 wins, four draws and only five losses (one in the very last game, when they were already crowned champion) to win the 2020-21 Ligue 2 BKT. Keeper Gauthier Gallon, defender/captain Jimmy Giraudon, and midfielders Florian Tardieu and Romi Kouame (on loan from Lille) were all named in the team of the year.
A calm off-season
Clubs promoted in Ligue 1 have the tendency to recruit a bulk of new players, sometimes focusing more on quantity than quality. Under the guidance of the City Football Group, this was never going to be the case in Troyes. They kept the players that guaranteed their promotion, signing Kouame at the end of his loan, and added a couple of young prospects without prior experience in Ligue 1.
They recorded their first loan from Manchester City, 20-year-old full back Issa Kabore, who spent last season already on loan, at Mechelen in Belgium’s Jupiler Pro-League where he record four assists in 28 games.
Rumours in France are that the City Football Club’s first big signing at Troyes would be Renaud Ripart. The relatively unknown 29-year-old versatile wing back is able to play about everywhere on the pitch and was the captain of relegated side Nîmes, where he played all 38 games in 2020-21, scoring 11 times.
Evidently, the Abu Dhabi group did not come to France to splash cash the way they did when they first took over Manchester City in 2009. Their goal with satellite clubs is to have a foot in a country, to be closer to the local talent while spreading their philosophy, on and off the field.
That is not to say they don’t have any ambition. In an interview to L’Equipe, 39-year-old executive Aymeric Magne puts it simply: “My job here is to build solid foundations. Football is part of these foundations. We want to settle in Ligue 1 long term, while offering attractive football.”
Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City will also travel to France for a friendly game at the end of the month, the best way to promote the City brand to the team and the supporters alike.
The Ligue 1 journey for Troyes under the CFG umbrella will start in less than a month, when they host Qatari-based PSG for a politically charged first game of the season. Laurent Battles confirmed he would be on the bench this season. There is no doubt his team will be one of the curiosities of the season in France, in spite of the conservative approach the City Football Group has taken with their latest addition.
After PSG has been dominating French football for the past ten years, we might be witnessing the beginning of the new era with the arrival of another UAE powerhouse in Ligue 1. First, Troyes will have to beat their curse and stay in Ligue 1 for more than 12 months…
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