Laurent Roussey

Laurent Roussey
Roussey (2006)
Personnel
birthday	December 27, 1961
place of birth	Nîmes ,  France
size	179 cm
position	striker
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1978-1983	AS Saint-Etienne	105 (32)
1983-1985	Toulouse FC	42 (13)
1985-1987	SC Toulon	16 0(0)
1987-1988	Olympique Alès	16 0(2)
1988-1989	FC Renens	29 (10)
1989-1991	Red Star Paris	47 (12)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1982	France	2 0(1)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1991-1995	SS Saint-Pauloise
1995-2000	FC Rouen
2000-2001	US Créteil
2001-2002	FC Sion
2002-2006	Lille OSC (assistant coach)
2006-2007	AS Saint-Étienne (assistant coach)
2007-2008	AS Saint-Etienne
2011–2012	FC Sion
2012-2013	FC Lausanne Sports
2013-2014	FC Sion
2015-2016	US Créteil
1 Only league games are given.

Laurent Roussey (born December 27, 1961 in Nîmes ) is a former French football player and later coach .

At the age of 16 years, three months and 25 days, he became the youngest scorer in French Ligue 1 history . He was considered a great talent and took part in two international matches, but after a series of injuries had to retire from the top league at the age of 25 and then only played second class. As a coach, he took over several professional clubs from France and neighboring Switzerland.

As a player in the club

Youth and early career start at Saint-Étienne (until 1983)

Roussey began playing football at AS Mazargues from Marseille before he caught the eye of the AS Saint-Étienne talent scouts and was accepted into the youth division of the first division as a 13-year-old. During the 1977/78 season he was part of the professional squad and made his debut in the top French league shortly after his 16th birthday when he won a 2-0 win against FC Metz in the 82nd division on February 26, 1978 .Minute came on for Pierre Repellini . He then played from the start in other matches and scored the goal of a temporary equalizer in a 3-1 defeat against AS Monaco on April 21 , making the 16-year-old and almost four-month-old youngster the youngest scorer in league history. His promising performances in the spring of 1978 made him, as well as the one year older Patrice Garande, high hopes for the offensive Saint-Étiennes, but due to the well-known competitors Patrick Revelli and Dominique Rocheteau Garande quickly no longer played a role, while Roussey at least partially had to be content with appearances in the second team.

For the season 1978/79 came with Laurent Paganelli, an even younger, at his debut only 15-year-old talent, even if this youngest player in league history went without a goal and therefore could not jeopardize Roussey's record. The latter remained in his second season with the professionals, as a rule, the role of a joker within a team that increasingly proved to be one of the best in France and qualified third in 1979 for the UEFA Cup 1979/80 . As a result, Roussey made his debut in European competition when he came on on November 7, 1979 at a 6-0 shooting match against PSV Eindhoven for Michel Platini, who had been signed the previous summer ; In the further course of the game, the then still underage striker was able to celebrate his first goal at European level. The 1979/80 season was the one in which he was able to prove his scoring potential. He scored seven times in 14 league games, although in most cases he only came on as a substitute. In this way he gained the coach's trust and moved up to the first team in the summer of 1980.

Despite being only 18 years old, he managed to maintain his regular place in the team of the very ambitious ASSE. With twelve goals he contributed to the fact that the team from the Forez won the French championship in 1981. In addition, he made it to the national cup final in 1981 , where he ran from the start and suffered a 2-1 defeat against SEC Bastia . His career suffered a kink a little later when he sustained a knee injury in the autumn of the same year and only fought his way back into the team in the spring of 1982, but without regaining his form. The team as a whole, however, was able to build on the successful previous year, finished second in the table and qualified for the 1982 cup final . In this, Roussey replaced Paganelli in the 67th minute, experienced a 2-2 draw and then a lost penalty shoot-out against Paris Saint-Germain . A few months later he was rewarded for his achievements with the appointment to the national team.

The 1982/83 season was comparatively very disappointing, Saint-Étienne only just saved himself from looming relegation and Roussey still missed his previous form with eight hits. In 1983 he turned his back on the club and signed with FC Toulouse , who had been promoted to last year .

Slow decline near Toulouse, Toulon and Alès (1983–1988)

Although he was only 21 years old when he arrived in Toulouse, he already had a lot of experience and immediately won a regular place. The squad included his older brother Olivier Roussey (* 1958), who had hoped for missions in vain. Things didn't go particularly well for Laurent either, as his knee was again causing massive problems. At least his team exceeded general expectations in 1984 with fifth place in the table. In the course of the 1984/85 season, the situation worsened for Roussey, he lost his regular place and therefore decided in 1985 to move to first division rivals SC Toulon .

At Toulon he met his former colleague Paganelli, whose career had also stalled. The latter was at least one of the top performers in the relegation candidate from the French Mediterranean coast, whereas Roussey had a difficult time and had to come to terms with a reservist role. Though he was occasionally used, he did not score a single hit in the following two years. In 1987 he left SC Toulon, who had managed to stay out both times, believing that his professional career was over. In fact, this meant the final farewell to the first division for the ex-national player who was only 25 years old.

Last years in Switzerland and at the Red Star (1988–1991)

With Olympique Alès , a second division team secured the services of Roussey in 1987. But he still suffered from knee problems and did not make the breakthrough in the lower division either. At least he belonged to a strong performing team that only narrowly failed because of a possible promotion.

At the beginning of the 1988/89 season he decided to go abroad and found a new employer in the little-known Swiss second division club FC Renens . There he fought for a regular place for the first time in a long time and contributed ten goals in one year. He returned to his home country in 1989, where he was signed to the second-class capital club Red Star Paris . He was regularly called up in the relegation battle, but in 1991 at the age of 29 he had to realize that he no longer had a permanent perspective as a player and therefore ended after 163 first division games with 45 goals and 63 second division games with 14 goals in France and 29 second division games with ten goals his active career in Switzerland.

National team

Roussey was 20 years old when he started a friendly against Hungary on October 6, 1982, making his debut for the French national team . In the 65th minute he scored the only goal in the match for his country, which was also his first and only goal in the national jersey; shortly before the end of the game he was then replaced by Gérard Janvion, who was under contract in Saint-Étienne . On November 10 of the same year he was called up in a 2-1 win against the Netherlands, but his substitution in the 57th minute ended his two-game career in the national team.

Coaching career

Amateur coach (1991-2000)

Immediately after the end of his playing career, he moved to the French overseas territory of Réunion in 1991 , where he took over responsibility as a coach at the local first division club SS Saint-Pauloise . However, he did not win a title on the island until he returned to the mother country in 1995 and took over the traditional fourth-class club FC Grand Rouen . Years followed, which turned out to be chaotic, mainly due to financial problems, and culminated in 1998's forced relegation. Roussey remained loyal to the club despite the penalty transfer to the fifth division, achieved 1999 not only the direct promotion, but also a respectable success by the team came to the national cup quarter-finals. Ultimately, the difficult conditions caused him to leave Rouen in the summer of 2000.

First division coach in France and Switzerland (from 2000)

After the second division US Créteil had dismissed his coach Gernot Rohr during the current season, Roussey was hired in September 2000 as his successor and thus made the leap into the professional field. He was unable to significantly improve the situation for the relegation-threatened team and there were also internal disagreements, which is why he had to throw in the towel in April 2001. Although he had not been very successful in Créteil, this station marked his permanent entry into professional football.

In the summer of 2001 he went back to Switzerland, where he had already spent a year as a player, and achieved his personal promotion to first class with his signature at FC Sion . In sporting terms, he kept the club in the top national league, but it was forced down for financial reasons, which is why he left Sion again in 2002. He found a new job with the French first division club OSC Lille , even if he had to be content with a role as assistant coach at Claude Puel's side . He remained loyal to the northern French until he returned to his former employer AS Saint-Étienne in 2006 to work as an assistant to head coach Ivan Hašek . In July 2007 he moved to his post and reached the qualification for the European competition of the following year with the team in 2008 by fifth place in the table. At the beginning of the following season, however, Saint-Étienne got into the relegation zone, which is why he was released in November 2008.

A phase outside of football followed for him before he was again coach of the Swiss first division club FC Sion in February 2011. Shortly afterwards, he won his first trophy as a coach, as his team beat Neuchâtel Xamax 2-0 in the 2011 Swiss Cup final . His tenure at Sion ended in April 2012, but the following summer he found a new employer in the neighboring first division club FC Lausanne-Sport . With Lausanne he played against relegation and was dismissed in October 2013 after a very bad start to the new season. Although he was kicked out during the current season, he immediately found a new club in his former club from Sion, but had to vacate his post the following February due to unsuccessfulness. In December 2015, he received a coaching post in France again when the second division US Créteil brought him from the Paris area. At the end of the 2015/16 season, however, he was relegated with this and was then released.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Laurent Roussey , asse-stats.com
2. ↑ ^{a b} ROUSSEY Laurent , anciensverts.com
3. ↑ ^{a b} Laurent Roussey ( Memento of April 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), afterfoot.fr
4. ^ Laurent Roussey - Fiche de stats du joueur de football , pari-et-gagne.com
5. ↑ Joueur - Laurent ROUSSEY , fff.fr
6. ↑ Football: Laurent Roussey , footballdatabase.eu