Nantes' way holds sway

By Matthew Spiro

They made no summer signings and ten players who had graduated from their youth academy started their league game against AC Ajaccio on 16 August. Elsewhere in Europe, that may have been the sign of a club in crisis, but at FC Nantes Atlantique it is a badge of honour.

Thriving club
Coached by the newly appointed Loïc Amisse, who has already spent 34 years at the club - 22 as a player and 12 coaching the youth and reserve teams - Nantes are thriving in France. The eight-times national champions have picked up ten points from their first five matches.

New blood
Moreover, in Mickaël Landreau, Sylvain Armand, Mathieu Berson and Jérémy Toulalan, Nantes may have uncovered another crop of youngsters to follow in the footsteps of old boys Marcel Desailly, Didier Deschamps, Christian Karembeu and Claude Makelele.

Coaching excellence
While the academy, known as 'La Jonelière', boasts some of the best youth training facilities in Europe, the quality of coaching throughout the club is regarded as key to Nantes' success. It is no coincidence so many players who have benefited from the coaching at La Beaujoire go on to enjoy impressive coaching careers.

Priceless knowledge
AS Monaco FC coach Deschamps, one of six current Ligue 1 coaches to have played for the Brittany club, is grateful for the education he received at Nantes. "There is no doubt it helped me become a coach," he said. "When I look back to all those hours spent at La Jonelière, I realise just how much of that knowledge I use today."

Deschamps indebted
Deschamps also played for Olympique de Marseille, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Juventus FC, Chelsea FC and Valencia CF, but insisted: "Nantes is the club I feel most indebted to. I learned a lot about tactics in Italy but at Nantes I learned everything else. The coaches there explain exactly why you are doing a certain exercise. They don't just say 'do this' or 'do that', they respect players' intelligence, and if you are interested you can learn a huge amount."

Halilhodzic experience
Paris Saint-Germain FC boss Vahid Halilhodzic is renowned as a hard taskmaster, and it is clear where the former Nantes striker picked up his values. "I remember when [Jean-Claude] 'Coco' Suaudeau was [Nantes] coach, we trained so hard, we just never stopped," said the Bosnian. "But no one would ever complain. On the contrary, it was always the coach who would have to try to slow us down. He made training such an interesting experience."

Denoueix pedigree
RC Strasbourg coach Antoine Kombouaré and FC Sochaux-Montbéliard's Guy Lacombe are also Nantes graduates, while Olympique Lyonnais boss Paul Le Guen played for the club for two years. However, it is not just in France that the 'Nantes method' is bearing fruit. Raynald Denoueix, who almost inspired Real Sociedad de Fútbol to a title win in Spain last season, spent his entire playing career with the Canaries before becoming head coach at La Jonelière, then coach of the club.

Nantes style
Kombouaré played under Denoueix in the Nantes youth team and believes he can see the Nantes style when he watches Real. "The Nantes philosophy is that everyone works for the team - they think together, act together, they take the ball upfield together, and so on," he said. "It's about movement, calling, support and, above all, teamwork - all qualities that Sociedad showed last season."

Footballing philosophy
With one of La Jonelière's most famous graduates taking his old club's style into the UEFA Champions League, the Nantes philosophy is making waves far beyond Brittany.