Huard : “To flee the difficulties is not an attitude for the high-level”

With only three wins in sixteen games, the Stade Rennes Reserve is stuck at a rather inglorious seventeenth position since several week, the last position in the CFA’s Group D (Championnat de France Amateur, 4th tier). Talking to 20 minutes, Laurent Huard has promised he would not try and escape his responsibilities, and in no way would leave the club during the season: “To flee difficulties isn’t an attitude for the high-level. I know this won’t be a walk in the park. We took a big risk but everything is ready for it, me in the first place”, he admits.

Coaching the Reserve since June 2007, Huard is counting this year on a very young squad, mainly based on the 1991, 1992 and 1993 generations. An upgrade strategy that has the interest to bring youngster against a more experienced opposition earlier in their career: “We could have hired older players, or unemployed professionals, but this isn’t the club’s philosophy”, he explains. Even though the former Stade Rennais FC player can rely on an experienced player such as Bira Dembélé, left on the fringes of the professional squad by Frédéric Antonetti.A player who seems like a mentor for the Rennes youngsters, even though he is only… 22 years old!