"We wish us all a wonderful season"

Did you wish to speak?

Michel Martinez: "Yes! The players who were under contract with us are resuming training today and I think it's time to finally plan for the coming season! "

Why did not you do it earlier?

Eric Pilaud: "Because we were right in the middle of working with Michel, the coaches and all the members of the club were preparing this season. I prefer that we take the time to do things well, that we consolidate our group before expressing ourselves. "

You're talking about recruiting, is it over?

Michel Martinez: "We will sign a lock in the next few days which will, in fact, close this recruitment. We have set up a recruitment team with two coaches (Dewald Senekal and Stéphane Glas), Franck Corrihons, our rugby development director, Andrew Farley, Eric Pilaud and myself who have been working hand in hand for several weeks. Our desire is not to have a single person who can choose who will wear the "Rouge & Bleu" jersey, but a real cell that can validate everyone's proposals. "

What is your tought exactly on this recruitment?

Michel Martinez: "I think we are not far from what we dreamed of: keeping a bunch of players who have played with us in Top 14, keeping the young players who have grown up with us in recent years and to integrate external players corresponding to the profiles that we lacked. Of course we did not make the 100%, we lost Thomas Jolmes and Kevin Kornath ... Gio Aplon and Hendrik Roodt, who had yet extended their contract with us, did not want to continue the adventure since Bernard Jackman was no longer there. But I sincerely believe that the team is armed for the challenges that lie ahead. "

What goals will you give to this team?

Eric Pilaud: "We all dream of going back to Top14 as soon as possible. But before making big ads that do not make much sense, I want above all that we build a team. A valiant team, fighting, hard, a team that carries the DNA of Grenoble. Many players have left us in the offseason, a new staff arrives. Our first goal will be to find cohesion and to learn how to work together. Without that we will not be able to have ambition in a difficult championship like the Pro D2. It should not be forgotten that this year the first of the regular phase will not rise directly. It will finish in the 6 and win a final to avoid a dam before we can talk about Top14. Of course we have the ambition to play the first roles in Pro D2, but let's be humble, 7 or 8 teams have the same ambitions as us. Do not too fast, build a team, the rest will follow. "

What will the club budget be for this next season?

Eric Pilaud: "The transition from the Top 14 to the Pro D2 is violent, but we have done our utmost to maintain a coherent budget with our project. We should have a budget around 13 million Euros for a gross payroll of 4M € players and 850 000 € for the staff. Today, many partners have renewed their trust and we have surpassed the 2000 season tickets bar. There is a real passion around the club, a true soul that burns at the FCG ... even after the catastrophic season we have experienced, we still feel this desire to push behind the Club. "

Just how did you live this season?

Eric Pilaud: "Listen, I want to answer, but I am today projected 100% towards the future and not towards the past. We must not hide it, we have just lived a catastrophic, nightmarish season! I want to make it clear, because that is the truth. With Michel, our only goal this season was to save the Club. Because yes, several times this season, we have experienced events that have threatened the FCG of filing for bankruptcy. Yes, the FCG is saved today! We have been able to count on the support and solidarity of many people (players, partners, supporters, shareholders, politicians and employees of the club), but we also had to re - inject with Michel a lot, Money to ensure the continuity of our club. Because the club and its community are well worth it. The CGF has completed the cycle this year. I am extremely respectful of the past, of the men who have worked and given everything for this club, as Michel often says, "there is no future without a deep recognition of its past." I hear voices saying "But you were already there (Eric Pilaud was Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Michel Martinez Vice-Chairman of the FCG), why did not you do anything before? "It must be understood that the CGF had a major shareholder named Mr. Kampf, a man deeply in love with our club, for whom I have tremendous respect. He was a loving father with his child who was the FCG, without too much wanting to see the bad habits taken and probably spoiling him to excess. This respectable model, which still exists in many clubs is now over in Grenoble. So we're going to get into real life. Faced with the disastrous financial outlook with dramatic consequences from the beginning last season, a new direction was put in place and we took firm orders. We took over a high-speed train in a wall. We were able to avoid the catastrophe and will now put the Club back on track before returning to a virtuous cycle of growth in the following seasons. "

Can you tell us a few words about the new sports team?

Michel Martinez: "We have just spent 3 days together in a seminar with all the sports staff of the club to set up our way of working. Today I can understand that when we talk about the FCG people think about team one, at Pro D2, but we do not work that way. This is the whole sport policy of the FCG we are working on, this is our project. We have appointed Franck Corrihons, Director of Rugby Development, in this regard. He will have a transverse vision throughout the club. Franck will not be on the pitch, he will not be on the back of the coaches and he will not make the team compositions. On the other hand, he will have the vision of where we want to go together. And I really want to say that. There is no providential man! Nobody will have the keys of the truck. People like shortcuts. But when I think of the Staff, I think of Dewald Senekal and Stéphane Glas as well as David Dussert who accompanies Franck, to the physical preparers who work on the whole club. And when we talk about president, I do not forget Daniel Jennepin with whom we work hand in hand. We were 17 seated around the table. "

You're talking about a project, is it something concrete?

Eric Pilaud: "Today we have finalized our vision. We want to find the DNA of the FCG! Why are we here today? Why did I put a lot of personal money into this club, spent sleepless nights trying to find solutions? Why did you come here? Why is the audience at the Alps? The answer is obvious, the passion, the love and the opportunity to grow and to get rich humanly. This requires the emotion that adventure brings, the richness of encounters, the human values ​​conveyed. I want to affirm, some will find it a bit bisounours, but it is our vision! And it is important to relativize the importance of the egos of all who are passing through this club and justifies to center our project on its human dimension. We want to manage the FCG with the same requirements as a successful company, with excellence in all areas, budgetary rigor, transparency management. The club has experienced a growth crisis in the new context of professionalism and I believe it has lost humility. Lost the friendliness with its partners and its public. He has forgotten the fundamentals of our sport. Franck Corrihons has worked on these fundamentals and today all our decisions will have to be in line with these fundamentals. Rugby is a sport of fighting and a collective sport, which dictates 5 inescapable (to conquer the ball - to create advanced - to play simple, effective and fast - to reconquer the balloon in defense - to counteract effectively). We want to be transparent, listening, warm and humble. Develop the club's image with local communication, strengthening links with clubs in the region, strengthening links with our partners (beyond the business relationship) and highlighting our supporters. "

Can you give us the major projects of this project?

Eric Pilaud: "Yes, in a schematic way it is based on 3 pillars: the sportsman - which itself is divided into 3 parts: training, recruitment and excellence in team management, infrastructure And the renewal of our commercial offers. The area we have most advanced to is certainly training. This work has been under way for several years. For 2 years, we are the Club of Top 14 / Pro D2 having the most selected in young EDF and have 23 players from the First Team Training Center. But all this is very fragile. The other clubs work, some catch up very quickly and we have to be in the advance and innovation to remain among the best. It has been lived this season, clubs do not hesitate to settle the implicit rules of our sport, to offer off-market contracts to young people. It's a fact, we should not lament about it, but value our strengths and always move forward. We will have next year more than 40% of players from our training in the Pro team. It's really something that everyone can be proud of. In terms of infrastructure, we are continuously improving our training and training centers to provide ideal conditions for performance development. It's through our competition stadium. We are very pleased to have been able to find solutions with the communities and the delegate to reduce the cost of our rental of the Stade des Alpes. In terms of the commercial side, we want to listen to our partners and our audience. Recreate this closeness that we may have lost a bit and show them that this club belongs to them. "

Are you confident for this season?

Eric Pilaud: "I am especially excited to start this new story. Excited to quickly find the ground, the matches and our audience. I wish us all a wonderful season. "