Paul Le Guen (born March 1, 1964 in Pencran, Brittany) is a former French international footballer and current football manager. Le Guen is currently manager of Scottish Premier League club Rangers.
Le Guen had a successful managerial career in France, most notably leading Olympique Lyonnais to three consecutive Ligue 1 titles. During his playing career he enjoyed successful stays at FC Nantes and Paris St. Germain and won 17 caps for the French national team.
He is 1.86 m (6’1″) tall and 79 kg (174 lbs).
Contents
1 Playing career
o 1.1 Club level
o 1.2 International level
2 Management career
o 2.1 Rennes
o 2.2 Lyon
o 2.3 After Lyon
o 2.4 Rangers
o 2.5 CIS Cup defeat to St. Johnstone
3 Trivia
4 References
Playing career
Club level
During his playing career, Le Guen played at AS Brest for six years, Stade Brestois, FC Nantes for two years, before leaving Brittany for Paris St. Germain where he played for seven years (with 478 appearances and a Cup Winners’ Cup medal in 1996).
International level
At international level he played just 17 times for France due to injuries and he was part of the team which lost out on a trip to the World Cup in 1994, along with Éric Cantona and David Ginola. He ended his playing career by taking part in a friendly where his home region of Brittany faced Cameroon on 21 May 1998 where the match finished 1-1.
Management career
Rennes
During his time at Rennes between 1998 and 2001, Le Guen was noted for signing then unknown players, such as Shabani Nonda and El Hadji Diouf, who under his guidance, developed into talented footballers. He was sacked by Rennes in 2001 after a fall-out with the club’s board. This led to him taking a year off from football.
Lyon
Le Guen replaced Jacques Santini as manager of Olympique Lyonnais in 2002 after they captured their first league title. Le Guen experienced a grim start to his managerial career at Lyon, winning only 3 games of the first 9, but eventually took Lyon to a further three consecutive championships and reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-final. He resigned from his position at Lyon on May 9, 2005, the day after the club won their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 championship. He was replaced by Gérard Houllier.
After Lyon
After leaving the club, Le Guen embarked upon another year away from football management. During this time he turned down management positions at Olympiacos, Benfica, Fenerbahçe, PSV, Auxerre and Lazio and also stated that he would not return to manage his former club PSG.
On March 11, 2006, it was confirmed that Paul Le Guen had agreed to replace Alex McLeish as manager of Rangers starting in season 2006/2007. Le Guen signed a 3 year contract with Rangers, with the option to extend his stay at Ibrox Stadium. He quickly acquired a number of players to try and strengthen the squad, Dean Furman from English Champions Chelsea, William Stanger and Antoine Ponroy from Rennes, Karl Svensson from IFK Göteborg, Libor Sionko, Filip Sebo and Saša Papac from Austria Vienna, Lionel Letizi from Paris Saint Germain and Lee Martin and Phil Bardsley on loan from Manchester United. Paul Le Guen made a very poor start to his Ibrox career. His record across his first ten league games is the worst start to a season by an Old Firm debutant since John Greig’s team won only two, drew six and lost two of their opening ten games in 1978-79.
CIS Cup defeat to St. Johnstone
On the 8th November Rangers were knocked out of the CIS Insurance Cup by First Division side St. Johnstone F.C. The result, one of the worst in the entire of the history of the club, prompted protests outside Ibrox and demands for Le Guen to be sacked.
Trivia
Paul Le Guen has got a Master of Science degree in Economics, which he completed at the University of Nantes.
He is nicknamed la patate de Pencran (the Pencran potato), potato also being used for “big shot” in french slang, and Le Guen’s birthplace Pencran being famous for its production of potatoes.
Paul Le Guen is the first Roman Catholic to manage Rangers, though he admits that he has not been a practising Catholic since his youth.
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