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'''Paul Le Guen''' ({{IPA-fr|pɔl lə gwɛn}}; born 1 March 1964 in [[Pencran]], [[Finistère]]) is a French former international [[Association football|football]] [[Defender (association football)|defender]]. He is currently managing the [[Cameroon national football team]].
'''Paul Le Guen''' ({{IPA-fr|pɔl lə gwɛn}}; born 1 March 1964 in [[Pencran]], [[Finistère]]) is a French former international [[Association football|football]] [[Defender (association football)|defender]] and is the former manager of the [[Cameroon national football team]].


Le Guen had a successful managerial career in France, most notably leading [[Olympique Lyonnais]] to three consecutive [[Ligue 1]] titles. He has also managed [[Stade Rennais F.C.|Stade Rennais]] and had an unsuccessful brief spell at [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers]] in [[Scotland]]. During his playing career he enjoyed successful stays with [[FC Nantes]] and Paris St. Germain and won 17 caps for the [[France national football team|French national team]].
Le Guen had a successful managerial career in France, most notably leading [[Olympique Lyonnais]] to three consecutive [[Ligue 1]] titles. He has also managed [[Stade Rennais F.C.|Stade Rennais]] and had an unsuccessful brief spell at [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers]] in [[Scotland]]. During his playing career he enjoyed successful stays with [[FC Nantes]] and Paris St. Germain and won 17 caps for the [[France national football team|French national team]].

Revision as of 13:13, 17 August 2010

Paul Le Guen
Personal information
Full name Paul Le Guen
Position(s) Defender

Paul Le Guen (French pronunciation: [pɔl lə gwɛn]; born 1 March 1964 in Pencran, Finistère) is a French former international football defender and is the former manager of the Cameroon national football team.

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

Playing career

Club level

During his playing career, Le Guen played at Stade Brest for six years, Nantes Atlantique 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).


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.

Managerial career

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.

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 9 May 2005, the day after the club won their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 championship. He was replaced by Gérard Houllier.

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.[2]

Rangers

On 11 March 2006, it was confirmed that Paul Le Guen had agreed to replace Alex McLeish as manager of Rangers starting in the 2006–07 season. Rangers chairman David Murray predicted Le Guen's capture would be followed by "a massive moonbeam of success" coming to the club.[3] Le Guen signed a three-year contract [4][5] with the option to extend his stay at Ibrox,[2] 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.[6]

On 8 November, Rangers were knocked out of the Scottish League 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,[7][8] prompted protests outside Ibrox and demands for the situation to improve and David Murray to leave the club.[9]

On 1 January 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.[10]

Murray announced on 4 January 2007 that Paul Le Guen had left Rangers by mutual consent.[11] 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 felt he was being "undermined" by other Rangers personnel, including Ferguson and then club doctor, Ian McGuinness, although Spiers also states that, "For his part, McGuinness was entitled to believe that he was being treated shabbily". [12]

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.[13] As the 2007–08 season in Ligue 1 unfolded, it was clear that Le Guen was getting inconsistent performances from the crop of players, as the club was in the relegation zone with four games in the league season remaining, while winning the Coupe de la Ligue and qualifying for the final of the Coupe de France. Winning the Coupe de la Ligue guaranteed PSG a place in the UEFA Cup for the 2008–09 season. PSG announced in May 2009 that Paul Le Guen would not be offered a new contract and would leave at the end of the 2008–09 season.[14]

Cameroon national football team

He was named Cameroon national football team manager in July 2009, signing a five month contract.[15] He made an immediate impact by leading the team to qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.[16] He also stripped veteran defender Rigobert Song of the captaincy and appointed Samuel Eto'o as the new captain. Both players responded well to the change with Eto'o getting goals, and Song winning back his starting spot as the Lions qualified for the finals. However Cameroon were the first team officially knocked out of the 2010 World Cup. He announced his resignation on 24th June 2010.[17]

Honours

France Lyon
France PSG

Statistics

Manager

Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Stade Rennais France 2000 2001 121 53 22 46 43.80
Olympique Lyonnais France 1 July 2002 1 June 2005 155 84 43 28 54.19
Rangers Scotland 9 May 2006 4 January 2007 31 16 8 7 51.61
Paris Saint-Germain France 15 January 2007 1 June 2009 110 53 24 33 48.18
Cameroon Cameroon 1 July 2009 24 June 2010 19 7 5 7 36.84
Total 436 213 102 121 48.85
As of 24 June 2010

References

  1. ^ Paul Le Guen at National-Football-Teams.com
  2. ^ a b Darren Tulett (2006-05-21). "Le Guen's insight and analysis a real Plus for French TV". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 2006-09-22. (See "Life and Times of Le Guen": 2005-6)
  3. ^ Murray’s moonbeam vision doomed to destruction right from the outset, The Times, 1 August 2007
  4. ^ "Rangers name Le Guen as manager". BBC News Online. 2006-03-11. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
  5. ^ Alan Campbell (2006-03-12). "Le Guen is new Rangers manager". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
  6. ^ Andrew Smith (2006-10-15). "Rangers faithful question whether Le Guen is tackling the problem". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
  7. ^ Colin Duncan (2006-11-09). "A Disaster Waiting To Happen". Daily Record. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  8. ^ Matthew Lindsay (2006-11-09). "Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide for Le Guen". The Evening Times. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  9. ^ Keith Jackson (2006-11-09). "1 Month to save your job". Daily Record. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
  10. ^ "Gers strip Ferguson of captaincy". BBC Sport. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
  11. ^ "Le Guen and Rangers part company". BBC Sport website. 4 January 2007.
  12. ^ Paul Le Guen: Enigma – A Chronicle of Trauma and Turmoil at Rangers, Random House, ISBN 1845962915
  13. ^ "Le Guen returns to coach at PSG". BBC Sport. 15 January 2007.
  14. ^ "Le Guen verlässt Paris". Transfermarkt.de. 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  15. ^ "Le portail du Cameroun|Cameroon Portal". Cameroun Link. Retrieved 2009-07-22.
  16. ^ "Indomitable Lions roar through to record sixth finals". ESPN. 2009-11-14. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
  17. ^ "2010 World Cup profile: Cameroon". Sports Illustrated. 2010-01-21. Retrieved 2010-02-04.
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