It was only a matter of time. Montreal Football Club announced Thursday morning that Thierry Henry will step down as head coach for family reasons, and who can blame him?
“With my sad heart, I decided to make this decision,” he said in a press release. The past year has been very difficult for me personally. Because of the global epidemic, I could not see my children. “
As the team prepares to play another season south of the border, it becomes inconceivable for Henry to live another year under the same conditions.
“Separation is very painful for me and my children. So I have to make the decision to go back to London and leave CF Montreal.”
“It’s a tough day, for his part, President and CEO Kevin Gilmore agreed Thursday, via video link. Our plan was to keep Thierry here for the long term.”
Sports director Olivier Renard said the coach’s final decision was made on Monday, and that the situation had nothing to do with recent rumors linking Henry to an English club. As for the successor, Renard now says he has several candidates in mind.
It was written
Under normal circumstances, Henry’s comeback did not make sense this year, having had a cheering debut season in 2021 without a tough background.
But we knew he wanted his family reunited and it became clearer last week when he learned that he was among the finalists to lead Bournemouth in the tournament, the second division in England.
Henry n’a jamais voulu s’épancher sur les difficultés qu’il éprouvait à être loin des siens, mais il a souvent répété que c’était très difficile pour ses joueurs et lui de passer autoin de temps a l’hôtel, l’hôtel de the family.
“We have had an impossible year together, and conducting the qualifiers with this group was an experience I will never forget,” he said in the statement.
Head held high
Henri was appointed head coach on November 14, 2019, and he had only spent one season at the helm, amassing a record 8-13-2 in the MLS regular season.
The team finished the ninth season at the Eastern Conference and lost to New England Revolution in the first round of the playoffs.
Impact also reached the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-finals, losing to CD Olympia in a round-trip series where the two matches were separated by nine months.
Without breaking anything, Henry was installing a promising system that focused on attack and made watching football even more exciting.
successor
With a training camp set to begin at the start of March and the first match on 17 April, Henri’s departure leaves Sports Director Olivier Renard in a difficult position to find a successor.
Will he tend to look to the United States for a coach with good experience in the MLS?
We can then think of Ben Olsen, the former DC United driver.
He can also look to Europe to find a head coach with experience at Garber Circuit.
Then French Patrick Vieira will be a candidate, having managed the New York City team for two and a half seasons, from 2016 to 2018. He had a very exciting record 40-28-22. The team ranked second in the East in all two full seasons.
He left New York in June 2018 to lead OGC Nice, in the Ligue 1 League. He stayed there for two and a half seasons, until his dismissal on December 4.
His record for Nice was even less brilliant, 35-33-21.
(In cooperation with QMI)
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