Franck Haise’s long journey from the French provinces to the Europa League

The match is so insignificant that no one can remember either the day it was played or the name of the opposition. It is autumn 2003. Stade Mayennais are battling it out on the battered pitches of the fifth tier of French football. Franck Haise is fighting his usual battle in midfield. Except that, a few minutes before half-time, he is struck by a sudden realisation. The midfield is no longer his natural habitat. As they head back to the changing rooms, the midfielder turns to Marc Deniau, his fellow midfielder. “I’m quitting,” he says with conviction. And since Haise is both manager and player at Club Mayennais, he decides to take himself off at half-time. “There was no frustration in his voice,” recalls Deniau, “he’d realised he’d be more useful to us by leading us from the bench.” It’s a decision that, at the time, surprises no one. But one that will change the history of at least a couple of clubs.

That’s because today Franck Haise is the manager of Rennes, who are looking to make their mark in the Europa League group stage. But he is also a manager who came close to becoming a legend.

His career as a player took him to the fringes of French football. Rouen (the city of the cathedral that captivated Claude Monet in the late nineteenth century), Laval, Beauvais, Laval again, Angers and then Stade Mayennais. He played as a central midfielder, then as a left-back, before eventually returning to play in front of the defence. His coming-of-age story unfolded in the Loire region. The club had practically no budget. And yet Haise managed to save it. For three years running. “I remember a match against a top-of-the-table side,” says Deniau. “After fifteen minutes we were down to ten men, and by half-time we were down to just nine. Yet we still won 1–0. Something like that could only happen with him. With Franck Haise, you never give up.”

Every year, Rennes came knocking on Haise’s door. And the answer was always that the time wasn’t right. Things changed in 2006. Franck was 35 and desperate to return to professional football. So he ended up saying yes to the Rossoneri. He coached the youth teams for six seasons. At 41, Franck’s biological clock signalled that it was time for a new challenge. He bid farewell to Rennes and set off afresh from Le Changé. It was the start of a winding road. At Lorient, he managed the reserve team, then became assistant manager, and finally caretaker manager between October and November 2016. He had a brief taste of Ligue 1, managing just two matches: one defeat and one draw. He then took charge of Lens’s reserve team.

His big break came in 2020. Midway through the season, he took his place on the first-team bench. He brought a psychologist and a yoga teacher onto his coaching staff. After matches, he organised blind wine tastings for the staff and management. He then began to refine his philosophy of football, in which the collective comes before even the basics of technique. “The ideal team does not already exist: it is created.” His team must start controlling the game right from “the moment the opposition begins to build up play”. The approach worked. First came promotion, then two consecutive seventh-place finishes. The 2022/2023 season turned out to be something of a masterpiece. Lens finished second, just one point behind French champions Paris Saint-Germain. The following year, Haise served as both manager and general manager of Lens. The transfer window, the Champions League, board meetings and public engagements eventually took their toll on him. Franck could no longer sleep. He considered taking a break. Then he decided simply to focus on managing.

The other two stages of his career are Nice and, once again, Rennes. And it is here that the manager, who loves bespoke jackets and the cinema, wants to forge a new identity. His expertise has earned him the nickname ‘L’Enologo’. In France, they say he sips an excellent wine when he is happy after a win and when he is unhappy after a defeat. It is a passion he inherited from his grandfather, who sold cheese. Franck doesn’t drink; he savours. And he collects fine wines. His first purchase was a 1986 Smith Haut Lafitte. His most ‘crazy’ acquisition was a 1990 Cheval Blanc, which he paid 370 francs for. In 2011, however, he sold two Haut-Brions and a Cheval Blanc to fund four plane tickets to Qatar. His hope tonight is that Juventus will not leave a bitter taste in his mouth.