Paul Le Guen
Le Guen had a successful managerial career in France, most notably leading Olympique Lyonnais to three consecutive Ligue 1 titles. During his playing career he enjoyed successful stays at 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 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).
International level
At international level he played just 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 Éric 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 where the match finished 1-1.
Management career in France
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 May 9, 2005, the day after the club won their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 championship. He was replaced by Gérard Houllier.
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]
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 season 2006/2007. Le Guen signed a 3 year contract with Rangers.[2][3] with the option to extend his stay at Ibrox Stadium.[1] He quickly acquired a number of players, Dean Furman from English Champions Chelsea,[1] William Stanger and Antoine Ponroy from Rennes, Karl Svensson from IFK Göteborg, Libor Sionko,[1] Filip Sebo and Saša Papac from Austria Vienna, Lionel Letizi from Paris Saint Germain and Lee Martin and Phil Bardsley on loan from Manchester United. Paul 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.[4]
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 [5][6], prompted protests outside Ibrox and demands for the situation to improve and chairman David Murray to leave the club.[7]
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. [8].
David Murray announced on January 4th 2007 that Paul Le Guen has left Rangers by mutual consent. This made him the club's shortest-serving manager, and the only one to leave the club without completing a full season in charge.
Trivia
- Le Guen has got a Master of Science degree in Economics, which he completed at the University of Nantes.
- He is nicknamed la patate de Pencran (the Pencran potato), potato also being used for "big shot" in French slang, and Le Guen's birthplace Pencran being famous for its production of potatoes.
- He is the first Roman Catholic to manage Rangers, though he admits that he has not been a practising Catholic since his youth. [9]
- He is 1.86 m (6'1") tall and 79 kg (174 lbs).
Managerial stats
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Olympique Lyonnais | 
|
July 1 2002 | June 1 2005 | 155 | 84 | 28 | 43 | 54.19 |
| Rangers | 
|
May 9 2006 | January 4 2007 | 31 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 51.61 |
References
- ^ a b c d Darren Tulett (2006-05-21). "Le Guen's insight and analysis a real Plus for French TV". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) (See "Life and Times of Le Guen": 2005-6) - ^ "Rangers name Le Guen as manager". BBC News Online. 2006-03-11. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Alan Campbell (2006-03-12). "Le Guen is new Rangers manager". Sunday Herald. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Andrew Smith (2006-10-15). "Rangers faithful question whether Le Guen is tackling the problem". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Colin Duncan (2006-11-09). "A Disaster Waiting To Happen". The Daily Record. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Matthew Lindsay (2006-11-09). "Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide for Le Guen". The Evening Times. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Keith Jackson (2006-11-09). "1 Month to save your job". The Daily Record. Retrieved 2006-11-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Gers strip Ferguson of captaincy". BBC Sport. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2007-01-01.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Darren Tulett (2006-05-21). "The real Paul Le Guen". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 2006-09-22.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links