Nantes sack coach, seem to have a knack for hiring men with odd names

By: Sam | February 12th, 2007

FC Nantes-Atlantique, currently 19th in the Ligue 1 table, started out the season with a man named Serge Le Dizet at the helm. Translated from French, his name becomes “Serge was saying it”. Due to his suckage, adorably alliterative FCNA frontman Rudi Roussillon showed Serge the way of the door.

Before you could say a two-letter word of your choice, longtime Canari Georges Eo midfielder and at the time assistant coach was promoted to manager. Leading Nantes to a 4-6-8 record, and taking them on a lenghty trip to the relegation zone, which they are still enjoying heartily, Eo was demoted to an as-of-now unknown position in the Nantes coaching staff. His stay as manager was punctuated by a 5-2 home defeat to Steve Savidan. I mean Valenciennes.

You’d think at this point that Rudi Roussillon would try and find a man with a common last name to pry his boys out of the red zone. Ignoring to my undeniable logic that funny names are killing the jaune et vert’s season, he went and hired a pair of guys to share the top spot, and, sigh, they’re called (get this) Japhet N’Doram and Michel Der Zakarian. Talk about clueless.

Said Der Zakarian after being appointed (translated from French): We’ll have to be at 200%, we need warriors, guys that want to be there for the club. Our recipe? Work.

Said N’Doma (translated from French): Michel will take care of the sessions, I’ll be more on the sidelines of the pitch. He’ll be somewhat of a defenders’ coach, and I plan on working with the strikers.

I mean, a funny thing about France is that there’s not really such a thing as a common name. Try looking at the national team for instance. Ever hear of another Coupet, Abidal, Dhorasoo, Trezeguet? There’s a bit less than six pages of Wiltords and Squillacis in any phone book in that country. Still, I rest my case that Nantes should hire Alan Smith or Martin O’Neill.