Paul Le Guen

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Paul Le Guen
Personal information
Full name Paul Le Guen
Date of birth March 1, 1964 (1964-03-01) (age 44)
Place of birth    Pencran, France
Playing position Manager
Club information
Current club Paris Saint-Germain
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1982-1983
1983-1989
1989-1991
1991-1998		 AS Brest
Stade Brest 29
FC Nantes Atlantique
Paris Saint-Germain
Total		 000 0(0)
154 0(6)
076 0(1)
248 (16)
478 (23)   
National team
1993-1995 France 017 0(1)
Teams managed
1998-2001
2002-2005
2006-2007
2007-		 Stade Rennais FC
Olympique Lyonnais
Rangers
Paris Saint-Germain

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Paul Le Guen (born March 1, 1964 in Pencran, Brittany) is a former French international footballer and a football manager. He is currently the manager of Paris Saint-Germain.

Le Guen had a successful managerial career in France, most notably leading Olympique Lyonnais to three consecutive Ligue 1 titles. He has also managed Rennes and had a brief spell at Rangers. During his playing career he enjoyed successful stays at FC Nantes and Paris St. Germain and won 17 caps for the French national team.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Club level

During his playing career, Le Guen played at AS Brest for six years, Stade Brestois, FC Nantes for two years, before leaving Brittany for Paris St. Germain where he played for seven years (with 478 appearances and a Cup Winners' Cup medal in 1996).

[edit] International level

At international level he played 17 times for France due to injuries and he was part of the team which lost out on a trip to the World Cup in 1994, along with Eric Cantona and David Ginola. He ended his playing career by taking part in a friendly where his home region of Brittany faced Cameroon on 21 May 1998. The match finished 1-1.

[edit] Management career in France

[edit] Rennes

During his time at Rennes between 1998 and 2001, Le Guen was noted for signing then unknown players, such as Shabani Nonda and El Hadji Diouf, who under his guidance, developed into talented footballers. He resigned from Rennes in 2001 after a fall-out with the club's board. This led to him taking a year off from football.

[edit] Lyon

Le Guen replaced Jacques Santini as manager of Olympique Lyonnais in 2002 after they captured their first league title. Le Guen experienced a grim start to his managerial career at Lyon, winning only 3 games of the first 9, but eventually took Lyon to a further three consecutive championships and reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-final. He resigned from his position at Lyon on May 9, 2005, the day after the club won their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 championship. He was replaced by Gérard Houllier.

[edit] After Lyon

After leaving the club, Le Guen embarked upon another year away from football management. During this time he turned down management positions at several top European clubs including Benfica and Lazio and also stated that he would not return to manage his former club PSG.[1]

[edit] Rangers career

On March 11, 2006, it was confirmed that Paul Le Guen had agreed to replace Alex McLeish as manager of Rangers starting in 2006-2007. Rangers chairman David Murray described Le Guen's capture as "a massive moonbeam of success" for the club. [2] Le Guen signed a 3 year contract [3][4] with the option to extend his stay at Ibrox, [1] and quickly acquired a number of players.

However, Le Guen made a poor start to his Ibrox career. His record across his first ten league games was the worst start to a season by an Old Firm debutant since John Greig's team won only two, drew six and lost two of their opening ten games in 1978-79.[5]

On 8 November, Rangers were knocked out of the CIS Insurance Cup at the quarter-final stage by First Division side St. Johnstone. The result, the first time Rangers had been knocked out of a cup tournament by a lower league side at home,[6][7] prompted protests outside Ibrox and demands for the situation to improve and David Murray to leave the club.[8]

On January 1, 2007, Rangers announced that Le Guen had stripped Barry Ferguson of his captaincy of the club and dropped him from the squad for a match the following day. BBC Sport reported that Ferguson would not play for Rangers again under Le Guen.[9]

Murray announced on 4 January 2007 that Paul Le Guen had left Rangers by mutual consent.[10] This made him the club's shortest-serving manager, and the only one to leave the club without completing a full season in charge.

Later that year, sports journalist Graham Spiers published, Paul Le Guen: Enigma (ISBN 1845962915) documenting his tenure at the club. According to Spiers, Le Guen left the club because he was being "undermined" by other Rangers personnel, including Ferguson and then club doctor, Ian McGuinness. [11]

[edit] Paris Saint Germain

It was announced on 15 January 2007 that Le Guen would return to the club he once skippered as a player as first team coach replacing Guy Lacombe at Paris Saint Germain. When he arrived, PSG were lying 17th in Ligue 1 but he led them to safety in his 1st season finishing 15th.[12] As the 2007-2008 season in Ligue 1 unfolds, it is clear that Le Guen gets inconsistent commitments from the current crop of players, as the club lie in the relegation zone as of 20 April, with four games in the league season remaining, yet are as of that date Coupe de la Ligue champions and reside among the final in the competition for the Coupe de France. Winning the Coupe de la Ligue means that they are guarenteed a place in the UEFA Cup for the 2008-2009 season.

[edit] Honours

Ligue 1 Championship: 3

  • 2002, 2003, 2004

Trophée des Champions: 3

  • 2002, 2003, 2004

Coupe de la Ligue: 2

  • 2001, 2008

[edit] Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Olympique Lyonnais Flag of France July 1, 2002 June 1, 2005 155 84 28 43 54.19
Rangers Flag of Scotland May 9, 2006 January 4, 2007 31 16 7 8 51.61
Paris Saint-Germain Flag of France January 15, 2007 Current 78 30 26 22 38.00

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Darren Tulett. "Le Guen's insight and analysis a real Plus for French TV", Scotland on Sunday, 2006-05-21. Retrieved on 2006-09-22.  (See "Life and Times of Le Guen": 2005-6)
  2. ^ Murray’s moonbeam vision doomed to destruction right from the outset, The Times, 1 August, 2007
  3. ^ "Rangers name Le Guen as manager", BBC News Online, 2006-03-11. Retrieved on 2006-09-22. 
  4. ^ Alan Campbell. "Le Guen is new Rangers manager", Sunday Herald, 2006-03-12. Retrieved on 2006-09-22. 
  5. ^ Andrew Smith. "Rangers faithful question whether Le Guen is tackling the problem", The Scotsman, 2006-10-15. Retrieved on 2006-10-15. 
  6. ^ Colin Duncan. "A Disaster Waiting To Happen", The Daily Record, 2006-11-09. Retrieved on 2006-11-09. 
  7. ^ Matthew Lindsay. "Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide for Le Guen", The Evening Times, 2006-11-09. Retrieved on 2006-11-09. 
  8. ^ Keith Jackson. "1 Month to save your job", The Daily Record, 2006-11-09. Retrieved on 2006-11-09. 
  9. ^ "Gers strip Ferguson of captaincy", BBC Sport, 2007-01-01. Retrieved on 2007-01-01. 
  10. ^ "Le Guen and Rangers part company", BBC Sport website, 4 January 2007. 
  11. ^ Paul Le Guen: Enigma - A Chronicle of Trauma and Turmoil at Rangers, Random House, ISBN 1845962915
  12. ^ "Le Guen returns to coach at PSG", BBC Sport website, 15 January 2007. 

[edit] External links

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Stade Rennais FC – Managers

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Olympique Lyonnais – Managers

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Rangers F.C. – Managers

Wilton (1899–1920) • Struth (1920–1954) • Symon (1954–1967) • White (1967–1969) • Waddell (1969–1972) • Wallace (1972–1978) • Greig (1978–1983) • Wallace (1983–1986) • Souness (1986–1991) • Smith (1991–1998) • Advocaat (1998–2001) • McLeish (2001–2006) • Le Guen (2006–2007) • Smith (2007–present) •
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Paris Saint-Germain FC – Managers

Quenolle (1957–69) • Phelipon (1969–72) • Vicot (1972–73) • Fontaine & Vicot (1973–75) • Fontaine (1975–76) • Pantelić & Vasović (1976–77) • Alonzo (1977) • Larqué (1977–78) • Vasović (1978–79) • Choquier & Vasović (1979) • Alonzo (1979) • Peyroche (1979–83) • Leduc (1983–84) • Peyroche (1984–85) • Houllier (1985–87) • Houllier & Mombaerts (1987–88) • Mombaerts (1988) • Ivić (1988–90) • Michel (1990–91) • Jorge (1991–94) • Fernandez (1994–96) • Bats & Ricardo (1996–98) • Giresse (1998) • Jorge (1998–99) • Bergeroo (1999–2000) • Fernandez (2000–03) • Halilhodžić (2003–05) • Fournier (2005) • Lacombe (2005–07) • Le Guen (2007–)
v • d • e
Paris Saint-Germain FC – current squad

1 Landreau • 2 Ceará • 3 Sakho • 5 Mendy • 6 Yépes • 7 Luyindula • 8 Digard • 9 Pauleta • 10 Souza • 11 Diané • 12 Mabiala • 14 N'Gog • 15 Camara • 18 Arnaud • 19 Everton Santos • 20 Chantôme • 21 Boli • 22 Armand • 23 Clément • 24 Bourillon • 25 Rothen • 26 Ngoyi • 27 Sankharé • 30 Edel • Manager: Le Guen