The Greens are losing their flame. That of a passionate man who has dedicated his life to them. From the 18 year old kid, welcomed at Chateaucreux station by Pierre Garonnaire in 1957 from Nice, to the player with five titles gleaned in 1964, 67, 68, 69 and 70 then to the coach who will be four times champion (1974 , 75, 76, 81) it is more than the icon of a club which has just left us, it is a whole section of our history… Like a symbol it is his heart which has dropped. He, who made us vacillate on so many occasions.
Journalist Jacques Vendroux officially announced in a tweet Monday the death of the iconic 81-year-old ASSE coach.
An environment as good to defend as to attack
In his two lives on the field and on the bench, “Roby”, “with a single b”, as he had coquely reminded our colleague Yves Verrière during a last testamentary testimony on the eve of his 80th birthday , has been the success of ASSE. He is only missing the very first in 1957, won a few months before his arrival.
The record record of this Green giant says a lot about the immense place that this man will forever hold in the glorious history of the club. But it goes far beyond these simple charts of records engraved at the Museum located at the corner of Geoffroy-Guichard just before Euro-2016. At that time, he had already retired to his house on the heights of L’Etrat. He will live there alone, until the end, accompanied by his dog and classical music tunes that will always have punctuated his existence. In peace, after 25 years of a flamboyant green melody of which he will have been the conductor, thus following in the footsteps of his master Jean Snella who had laid the foundations.
His beginnings saw him as a protean midfielder, as good for defending as for attacking. His physical condition is impressive. “Box to box” looks like today. His heavy hitting, like his head game, will give cold sweats to the opposing goalkeepers. His last achievement was a penalty in 1975. He was invited to play the last day against Troyes on that day, a gift, the Greens already being champions before the match.
At 33, he becomes one of the youngest coaches in France
A joke, and a revenge almost nine years after the Englishman Nobby Stiles crushed his knee during the World Cup in 1966. He will never find his level. For the attack it’s over. Whatever, he backs up in central defense. “I still had a passion for the game,” he explained to Le Progrès a year ago. “When I see the central defender of Montpellier (Hilton) who plays at 40, I tell myself that I could have done the same until 40, even 45”.
Frustrated, he followed the advice of his mentor Jean Snella, and became in 1972, following the resignation of Albert Batteux, one of the youngest coaches in France. He is 33 years old and has a furious desire “to change things a little”. To say the least…
Carried by President Roger Rocher, his ideas will revolutionize the way of training as much as his hair fashion. “The redhead” was born, the green revolution is underway. He doesn’t just make friends with the players, but the results prove him right.
Ahead of physical preparation, relying on the training center, he will form one of the most beautiful teams in Europe. And give France a green fever. Until the cursed finale of 1976, the outcome of which he never digested, even at the twilight of his life. Five years later, in 1981, he won his last title of champion, thanks to Michel Platini…
April 1, 1982, a bad fish, sounds a stop in its green epic. The existence of a slush fund, originally intended to keep the best players, explodes. If President Roger Rocher is on the front line, it also forces Robert Herbin to leave his club by the back door in 1983. He returns, however, four years later, and for three years, after a flash and to forget at OL (1983-85), freelancers in Saudi Arabia (1985-86) and Strasbourg (1986-87). The magic of its beginnings no longer works despite an honorable 4th place in 1987.
But the story is not over. After a last adventure at the Red Star (1991-95), it was as sports director that he reappeared among the Greens in 1997, associated with Pierre Repellini as coach. The duo ensures the maintenance of ASSE in D2 at the end of the 97/98 season. Ultimate gift to his forever club. An air of technician’s last lap for the Sphinx.
“I still have the flame”
At 59, finally without pressure, the man who could seem brittle and unkind, unlike a Batteux, whom he found too talkative, transformed. The retiree gains in roundness and in human warmth, even if he flees the honors. Her passion for football remains totally intact.
A keen observer of a changing world, he continues, sometimes with biting and often indulgence, to chronicle the daily lives of his successors in our columns. This analytical work revived its old reflexes every weekend. With a single creed, “the love of the collective” on which he spread even more after the draw conceded by the Greens against Bordeaux in early March. “I still have the flame,” he said, refusing to let go of the exercise. Her heart has just written the end of a passionate story. A crazy green and simple story…