If he had the galleys waiting for him behind, would Gustavo Poyet have slammed the door of the Girondins as he did? Surely yes, because the Uruguayan does not do much in the compromise. On August 17, 2018, the Bordeaux coach was laid off by his management, only seven months after his arrival. The day before, he had threatened to resign, outraged by the departure of striker Gaëtan Laborde for Montpellier without his agreement. His black anger was his last on the banks of the Garonne. Before being reborn with Greece, which faces the France team this Monday (8:45 p.m.), Poyet experienced a slump, in line with his stormy stint in Bordeaux.
It took him a little less than three years before finding a job on a bench, far from France and Bordeaux or Grenoble, where his adventure as a player (1988-1990) is anonymous. In February 2021, Poyet took charge of Universidad Catolica in Chile. He left six months later, by “mutual agreement” stuck between successes in cups, but the worst results in the league for 10 years.
Back to unemployment in the middle of summer. Until a phone call, in February 2022. That of Greece, where the Dutchman John van’t Schip has just resigned. The blue and white selection failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar. She had already missed the 2018 World Cup, and the last two Euros were played without her. “We will make an effort to come back,” Poyet promised during his induction. Since then, the 55-year-old Uruguayan has walked the talk.
Greece flew over its modest group in the League of Nations (5 wins and a defeat against Kosovo, Cyprus and Northern Ireland). She arrives confidently in France, after her success in the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Gibraltar (0-3) and Ireland (2-1). Surprising? “I have very good memories of Gustavo Poyet, shared the defender of the Blues and former Bordelais, Jules Koundé. I really liked working with him. He is someone who has a joy of life which is communicative, a leadership.
The former Grenoble player had time to build himself up. “He was a very calm, reserved, polite young man, but we already felt a strong character in him,” described former coach Christian Dalger for So Foot. “He’s a champion,” abounds Koundé, perhaps aware of Poyet’s playing career, an inexhaustible midfielder who won two Cups of Cups (Zaragoza then Chelsea) and a 1995 Copa America. Successes that contrast with failures in its reconversion.
The beginnings had been dashing in Brighton, which he brought to a title in English D3, opening the doors of the Premier League. Promotion to Sunderland ended in dismissal in March 2013. At AEK Athens (2015-16), he, like in Chile, lasted six months, and the same at Betis Sevilla (2016-17). Bad scenarios that pushed him into exile, in China, at Shanghai Shenua (2017-18). “He explains well what he expects, but if you don’t respect what he asks, he can freak out,” confided El-Hadji Ba, former Sunderland in the columns of L’Équipe.
In Greece, there was no risk of looking down on it. Him included, the selection has named 7 different coaches in less than 10 years. The league is in ruins, and clubs are no longer feared in Europe: the last two Champions Leagues have been played without them. Poyet from the margins in the country of the 52nd nation Fifa, which offers him the opportunity for a little revenge on France, where he failed as a player and coach. “It will make me happy to see him again,” announced Koundé. It will be especially if the Blues win.
