......Auxerre Full name: L'association Jeunesse Auxerroise Founded: 1905 (1906 - Football club section) Stadium: Stade de l'Abbé-Deschamps (23,467) Based: Auxerre - Yonne (89), Bourgogne. Population: 37,790 Nickname: AJA Club colours: White and blue Contact: Route de Vaulx BP 349 89006 Auxerre Cédex Tel: (+33) 03.86.72.32.32 Websites: http://www.aja.fr - official http://www.aja-net.com - fansite http://www.histoaja.free.fr - history http://www.ba98.org - Ultras (Blue Angels) http://www.ua90.com - Ultras (Ultras Auxerre) E-mail: info@aja.tm.fr Palmarès: - French Championship - 1996 - French 2nd Division - 1980 - French Cup - 1994, 1996, 2003, 2005 - French Cup Finalist - 1979 - Intertoto Cup Winner - 1997 - Intertoto Cup Finalist - 2000 - Super Cup Finalist - 2003, 2005 - Bourgogne Divison d'Honneur Champion - 1970 - Co-Champion of France FGSPF - 1909 - Champions of Bourgogne FGSPF - 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914 Brief History: Auxerre's history is one a dramtic fairy-tale from the lower leagues and obscurity to the French league champions in a little under three decades. This is largely down to the success of one man - namely Guy Roux - who led the club up the rankings of French Football using a highly inventive scouting system and youth network - thta has stood the club in good stead and continues to do so for a team which represents a town of just under 40,000 people in the Bourgogne countryside. The Club was founded in 1905 as part of the Holy Patronage of the Church of Saint Joseph by local Father Deschamps. The club was officially created as an ominsport outfit on the 29th of December 1905, with the football team coming into a effect a few months later. Under the guideance of the founding Church members, the team become a local powerhouse in the FGSPF - (Fédération Gymnastique Sportive des Patronnages de France) and won 9 consecutive titles before the start of the first world war. At the end of the war, Auxerre were expelled from their pitch in Les Ocreries. The club took on the task of buying strips of land in Yonne, where the future stadium would be built. After purchasing the land the club remains to this day (along with Ajaccio) the only club in Ligue 1 with sole properity over their stadium. In 1918, Auxerre competed in their first French Cup match and ten years later won the local Yonne championship. In 1950, the founging father Deschamps passes away and the road next to the stadium is named in his honour, years later the stadium would be too. In 1952, a man who would come to shape the club for years to come would join Auxerre. Guy Roux took on his first position as coach before climbing up the ranks to become first team coach in 1961. His impact took some time, but when it did it was immediate. In 1970, the club were promoted to the Amateur ranks of French football (today's CFA) and 4 years later were promoted once more into the 2nd divison. In 1979, the club gained national recognition as they reached the French cup final against mighty Nantes, but sadly they went down 4-1 to the Champions. It was a brief blip though as the club clinched their place in the top-flight a year later. Under Guy Roux, he would shape the team and ignite the fairy-tale story. In 1984, they reached their fist UEFA campaign but were beaten in the first round by Sporting Lisbon 4-2 on aggregate. In 1993, the club again hit further heights as they this time reached the semi-finals but crashed out to Dortmund on penalties. It remains to this day, the best European results the club has ever achieved. A year later the club clinched their premier trophy by beating Montpellier in the French Cup Final 3-0. And it was two years later that Roux's success came to a pinnacle as his side did the double by claiming their maiden league title plus their 2nd French cup with a 2-1 win over Nimes. In the year's that followed Auxerre's success has been steady if not at times specutacular given the background of the club's history. Two cup wins in 2003 and 2005 - the last Roux's final game in charge, meant that Auxerre are continuing to live the fairy-tale of French Football, from no-mans land of the Bourgogne regional football to the giddy thrills of regular Ligue 1 football and Cup wins at the Stade de France. Auxerre are living proof that anything is possible for the little guy with a dream. Managers: - 1946-47: Pierre Grosjean - 1947-48: J. Pastel - 1948-50: Jacques Boulard - 1950-52: Georges Hatz - 1952-53: Marc Olivier - 1953-55: M. Pignault - 1955-56: Pierre Meunier - 1956-58: Jacques Boulard - 1958-59: J. Holmann - 1959-61: Christian Di Orio - 1961-62: Guy Roux - 1962-64: Jacques Chevalier - 1964-2000: Guy Roux - 2000-01: Daniel Rolland - 2001: Guy Roux - nov.2001-jan. 2002: Alain Fiard (interim) - 2002-05: Guy Roux - 2005-present: Jacques Santini Famous Players: - Joël Bats - Laurent Blanc - Basile Boli - Éric Cantona - Djibril Cissé - Christophe Cocard - Daniel Dutuel - Jean-Marc Ferreri - Patrice Garande - Stéphane Guivarch - Bruno Martini - Corentin Martins - Serge Mesonès - William Prunier - Alain Roche - Moussa Saïb - Vicenzo Scifo - Andrej Szarmach - Maryan Szeja - Franck Verlaat Current manager: Jacques Santini - A former St-Etienne player and coach, Santini coached Toulouse, Lille and Sochaux before being installed as a Techincal Director at Lyon in 1997. Three years later he made the step to coach, where he helped Lyon to their maiden title. After Roger Lemerre stepped down as coach of the French National Team in 2000 - Santini took on the task of guiding Les Bleus to the World Cup and European Championships. After two huge failures, he took the role of Tottenham Hotspur manager in England, but stepped down after a few months due to settling problems. After Guy Roux's retirement as Auxerre coach the Franche-Comté native took on the job of managing Auxerre during the future non-Roux years. Current Squad: (Name, nationality and DOB) Goalkeepers: Baptiste Chabert - France - 07/04/1983 Fabien Cool - France - 19/08/1972 Sébastien Hamel - France - 20/11/1975 Defenders: Sege Akakpo - France - 15/10/1987 René Bolf - Czech Republic - 25/02/1974 Mamoutou Coulibaly - Mali - 23/02/1974 Stephane Grichting - Switzerland - 30/03/1979 Jean-Sébastien Jaures - France - 30/09/1977 Omar Kaalabane - France - 08/04/1981 Younes Kaboul - France - 04/01/1986 Baptiste Martin - France - 14/05/1985 Jean-Pascal Mignot - France - 26/02/1981 Johan Radet - France - 24/11/1976 Bakari Sagna - France - 14/02/1983 Richard Suriano - France - 28/01/1982 Pierre Vignaud - France - 10/03/1983 Midfielders: Kanga Akale - Ivory Coast - 07/03/1981 Mathieu Berson - France - 23/02/1980 Benoit Cheyoru - France - 03/05/1981 Thomas Kahlenberg - Denmark - 20/03/1983 Yann Lacheur - France - 05/08/1972 Lionel Mathis - France - 04/10/1981 Krisztian Vadocz - Hungary - 03/05/1985 Phillipe Violeau - France - 19/09/1970 Attackers: Mame Ousmane Cissoko - France - 14/01/1987 Garra Dembele - France - 21/02/1986 Ludovic Genest - France - 18/09/1987 Kévin Lejeune - France - 22/01/1985 Peguy Luyindula - France - 22/05/1979 Luigi Pieroni - Belguim - 08/09/1980 Roman Poyet - France - 25/11/1980 (above: Auxerre are the current French Cup holders)
Team motto- We seak to avoid relegation (even if the team is in 1st place after the winter mercato.... We can thank Guy Roux for this eternal pessimism).
Sounds nice to me, except maybe this sentence, which probably requires a small rewriting : "His impact took some time, but when it did it was immediate." I follow the thought, but the sentence is unclear (how can something be immediate and take some time ?) Sorry to be picky there... For everything else, "tu peux jouer le maintien". And, to the guys up there who don't like Auxerre.... Sorry, but you're wrong. You just have to visit the town once to understand how incredible the team his. To build an european-class soccer team there is a truly outstanting feat. Just imagine a NFL franchise in Bismarck, North Dakota. And, when I say that, I'm only slightly exaggerating.
Its a first draft, ignore the history blurb - that needs cleaning up in any case. I'm thinking of doing one of these; https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27184 For the French League.
That's easy. Effectively, it took a while for any palpable impact to occur, but once an impact was made, the effects were far reaching. That's how I interpreted at least. Maybe "immediate" is the wrong word choice. Bismarck is a hub of the Northern Great Plains Cattle Industry! Don't diss Bismarck like that! Did you realize that North Dakota is the least visited state in the US, yet their second largest industry is tourism? Also, great job ganu. Are you going to commission different people to do the reports for different clubs, to ease the workload (assuming you do this for all clubs? Because I'd be happy to help.
[SHAMELESSOFFTOPICNESS] I've read Bill Bryson's "Lost continent", it's an excellent book about these american states forgotten by everyone. Most people in Europe think USA = New York or Los Angeles, while most of it is actually a big desert. I'd like to visit these places someday, but I'm afraid a French leftist academic would not receive an happy welcome in Montana, Wyoming or Alabama . [/SHAMELESSOFFTOPICNESS]
If you ever do it, you've got a place to stay in Salt Lake City. My father in law wanted to do nothing more then ride a greyhound bus from Salt Lake to SanFrancisco. 26 hours through the deseret. Guy read way to much Jack Kerowack growing up. He had a great time though. I'm 5 hours from Yellowstone, and 3.5 from arches. The deseret is my back yard.
So far, my career plan is 1) find a job in a canadian university (make them believe I can actually work) 2) buy a Viarail ticket from Halifax to Vancouver and let my mind wander. North American landscapes are beyond our imagination, to us, poor europeans. But I love France too : hiking in the french countryside is also a continuous marvel. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, you stumble on a small chapel build in the 13th century, and you think "wow, people build this thing 700 years ago with their bare hands, and i'm here too". France may be smaller than USA, but if you had places like this one : you'd probably put a K-mart and a pizza-hut right in the middle. Gigantic America vs lovely France, i guess we can call it a draw.
Not a draw in my mind, I prefer France.... Now if I could only find a way to make half of what I make now in France, I'd be gone in a heartbeat.
France is an awesome place, Its really like nowhere else. I spent a month there last year with school in Angers and it was one of the best experience's of my life. You can't beat walking out of school one day down the street and getting a fresh pain au chocolate or a religuese with your buddys