But no matter how talented, any player must also have a bit of luck to stay away from injury and that was Mettomo’s Achilles tendon. Repeated injuries have shortened his career which had, in a short time, transported him to England.
Eleven Mondial granted him an interview which talks about his passage to Saint-Etienne.
You arrived in Saint-Etienne in 1996 leaving your native Cameroon. Wasn’t it hard to leave everything so young ?
Indeed, I was young and it was the first time that I left my parents. There was a kind of carelessness, actually. I was leaving to find out something. It must be said that I did not leave directly for Saint-Etienne. I left for a tournament in Paris and emissaries of theASSE and other clubs were there. They simply invited me to do a week of testing in Saint-Etienne. I had benefited from the fact that I already had family in Paris, notably my older brother who had lived there for 13 years. So he was there, he accompanied me to Saint-Étienne where I received an exceptional welcome because immediately, I was received by François Blaquart, Roger Chassang, and I did a test which was conclusive. I joined the training center. It’s really a family club and I see that today it continues to maintain that spirit and it’s great.
You were talking about your big brother before. He has had great importance in your career ?
Yes, because for someone like me who was taking the plunge, if I hadn’t had bearings, people around me, it would have been complicated. But at the training center, I made exceptional meetings like Willy Sagnol, Zoumana Camara, Julien Sablé, Pape Sarr or even Jérémie Janot thereafter. With these guys we formed something good. It was a mix and these people had family culture.
It’s important to feel quickly integrated ?
Absolutely, it’s important to have a good climate. Besides, today, we have kept in touch, we still have friendly relations with each other. The link remained.
You arrive in a decimated club which has just gone back down in D2 and close to the bankruptcy.
Wasn’t it risky ? Did you feel some trepidation ?
Personally, the choice of Saint-Etienne was imposed on me. It is the heart club of many people, especially my elders. They dreamed of Saint-Etienne in the days of its great players. However, personally, when I arrive and the club goes down and has financial worries, I’m not worried. My brother and my whole family were amazed because famous Cameroonian players like Roger Milla wore this jersey. We at our level, in the training center, we just dreamed of going professional and giving back to the club the confidence he had given us.
Paradoxically, it was perhaps a good thing for you, the club had to bet on young people at that time ?
Absolutely. And it continued like that when the club was taken over by shareholders. They trusted the young people at the training center and I think I was one of those chosen to join the first team and I put a lot of determination, a lot of desire to show that these people had was right.
After two difficult seasons where you end up at 17e instead of D2, comes this famous 1998-1999 season where you are one of the spearheads of this rise …
In the meantime there had been the arrival of a new shareholder, a new sports staff. There was a mix between youth and experienced players and it did well. And then, we must not forget the public support. You know, when you are in the hearts of the Stéphanois supporters and they feel that you are invested, it’s just great. We made extraordinary performances. The public is simply exceptional, I wish any footballer to experience this. I still have goosebumps talking to you about it today.
On a collective level, it is a success, but even more on a personal level. You score no less than 7 Division 2 goals, even finishing second in the championship. Where did you get this taste for purpose ?
It’s something I still can’t explain in reality. I think Robert Nouzaret, who was a coach at the time, always made us want to go forward. He had set up on set kicks or other specific phases of play, the possibility that I project myself forward. And it worked well. I don’t know if I’m in history, but I don’t think that a defender who ends up second as a top scorer is unusual (laughs)
When we talk about goal of Lucien Mettomo, who does not remember the one registered in 1999 against the Red Star at the Stade de France. Can you tell us ?
This one is the ultimate, it’s great. I still have no words. I think I’m taking the ball in the back and putting it up like we used to prepare for training. There was a technique that was put in place. When I had the ball, Pape Sarr came up to me, he stepped aside to bring his player in and that’s what I did. I was supported by Pape Sarr who had given the ball to Julien Sablé. The latter makes a center and I think it is Pape Sarr again or Nestor Subiat who finds himself at the fall and I am advanced, I see the ball come back and I say to myself: “ You try, either it goes in the clouds or in the frame ” I take the ball back and when I see it go, as soon as the ball leaves my foot, I can guarantee you that I know it will come back. And then it’s a magnificent goal in a magnificent stadium with a magnificent audience, that’s The Greens. What more can be said ? I had my little star party (laughs).
You rubbed shoulders with Jean-Guy Wallemme who has been of great importance in your career ?
I had the chance to rub shoulders with boys like Jean-Guy Wallemme, Kader Ferhaoui, Gilles Leclerc, Jérôme Alonzo, Romarin Billong and so on, but Jean-Guy brought me in few matches what I would have learned in ten years of career. Do not hesitate to drink advice. I never stop thanking him. It was the merger because even before the games, he explained things to me, gave me info about the players. This is what allowed me to learn quickly and gain experience. He kept putting me back, going into details, I was amazed.
After five and a half years spent in Saint-Etienne, you therefore left the Greens in 2002. Was it not a heartbreak ?
It was not a heartbreak. It was an act that was not accomplished, a badly finished story because I leave in conditions where they say that we want to save the club which has financial problems. I’m coming out of an injury. We don’t really know how it goes at the head of the team. Locker room executives start leaving weekly like Jérôme Alonzo and Pape Sarr, who are leaving for Paris and Lens. An incomprehensible story for the young player that I was. I found myself in there and left with a twinge of heart. But my real heart club is still the Greens.
You wanted to stay, we kindly showed you the exit door ?
Absolutely. I couldn’t see myself leaving because I was already coming back from an injury and I had been promoted to captain. I had to go all the way. Unfortunately, as is often the case today, there was the fact that the financier took precedence over the sportsman.
However, you had been faithful during the summer of 1999 when several more posh Division 1 clubs were interested in you …
Yes, even if I never expressed the will to go to the absolute. Unfortunately, these stories end like this. But like I say, I love this club, I will always love it and when I come to France, I always try to pass there. I’m still up to date with the club.
So you still continue to followASSE. However, did you keep in touch with the current management in particular ?
No, more with former players. Like I said, we always talk to each other. From time to time I have contact with President Romeyer who is one of the former team’s personalities, who has always been there. Otherwise, the contact that I kept is with the old players, we talk a lot, we remember the good times. We watch the club and follow its news. The proof, and you give me the chance to send my condolences to the family of Robert Herbin who has left, it saddened us all.
You rubbed shoulders with him ?
Not personally. But I can tell you an anecdote. He came to see training. And I said, “ Who is this gentleman ? ” And everyone kept saying to me, “ But finally, it’s Robert Herbin ” And it was he who gave my name to the new staff, while I was playing in reserve, saying that I could help the first team. He followed the reserve players, and he gave my name. I have always thanked him for that. He was of unparalleled humility. You would never have seen him give his opinion in public. He looked, he left, just slipped you a note. It is over time that I learned the legend that he was in Saint-Etienne.
What do you think of the current situation of the club ?
It’s not been great for a while. But I think it is due to financial concerns and especially to the instability on the banks. I’m always in favor of having a coach on the sidelines who has time to set up a project. I think instability cannot bring positive results. Saint-Etienne is unfortunately in this case. One wonders if each year the club is not going to be sold, will the coach always be the same. Last year, coach Gasset left, we don’t really know why, Puel is coming, there are problems with Ruffier, lots of little things like that. I hope the club will recover financially and then the coach will be there for a long time and that in two to three years the team will be where it deserves to be.