Ghislain Printant, the eternal recourse of the MHSC, in the front line on the bench Sunday at Bollaert

The silhouette and voice of Ghislain Printant have become inseparable from the Grammont grounds, which he has walked for decades… Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

Coming from the amateur world, Gasset's assistant has led a career as a trainer and coach that began in 1990 alongside Aimé Jacquet. Often relegated to the shadows, he will be in the spotlight at Lens, due to the suspension of Jean-Louis Gasset. 

His voice resonates far, far away. It overlooks the hubbub of Grammont and guides to the epicenter of the Montpellier team. In the middle of Savanier, Khazri, Lecomte… Ghislain Printant, assistant coach, comes alive, corrects a bad move or gets enthusiastic. Under the falsely distant eye of Jean-Louis Gasset, he lives the session. He does not play, he puts everything of himself.

Read also: MHSC: Tanguy Coulibaly and Jean-Louis Gasset suspended after a particularly stormy Montpellier-Lille

Between shadows and lights for more than thirty years, he will capture all the tension on Sunday in Lens. For the first time in a career without any downtime, he will be alone on the Montpellier bench for a Ligue 1 match. A spotlight as fleeting as the match suspension of Jean-Louis Gasset, sanctioned after his exclusion against Lille.

Launched with Aimé Jacquet

Thirty-five years earlier, this Sunday goalkeeper from Vendargues, on the outskirts of Montpellier, bursts into the professional world. He flees the comfort of a mapped out life, and a position in a clinic, to throw himself into a random role as goalkeeper coach with Aimé Jacquet. Former boss of Bordeaux and future world champion.

Ghislain Printant, then aged 28, forces his destiny towards a balloon journey without compass or flight plan. He is caught up in the passion for the game, the desire to achieve on a field. His family, who breathe for football, supports his dream. “I wanted to make it my job, but I didn't think I would experience what I experienced”, he breathes.

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“I felt like I was taking an exam my whole life”

This man without a past made his debut at the heart of a constellation of stars and exceptional players (Cantona, Blanc, etc.) alongside Jacquet, Michel Mézy, and then Henry Kasperczak. Day after day, he gained his legitimacy. “I tried to make up for my lack of a high-level player through exchanges. I was stingy and remain stingy with sources of inspiration. I felt like I was taking an exam my whole life. They're still waiting for me to prove myself. Even today”, he confides.

So, he refined his listening skills, soaked up the experience of others, followed the advice of his first directors at the training center Jacques Bonnet or Serge Delmas.

The miraculous rescue of 2003

The thirst for learning allows him to free himself from everything. To fall, then to get back up. To fall back into the amateur world at Marvejols, then to be reborn. To leave, then to return to Montpellier like so many others. Time to settle the anger and some failures too.

In 2002-2003, associated with Gérard Bernardet and Pascal Baills, he participated in an incredible maintenance to save the club from a probable relegation.

In 2010, Ghislain Printant left Montpellier to immerse himself in Corsican football in Bastia. Four years later, he took over in a symbolic handover from Claude Makelele, an icon of Les Bleus and Real Madrid, at the head of Bastia. For three days, for a fortnight, for the end of the season… He recounts as if it were yesterday this first experience as number 1, which culminated in the final of the Coupe de la Ligue in front of PSG's Laurent Blanc and Jean-Louis Gasset.

“Jean-Louis is like a brother”

In February 2017, he remembers the moment of Gasset's phone call, solicited by Montpellier and devastated by the death of his wife. A call that resonates like an act of recognition.

“Jean-Louis, who prioritizes competence, is like a brother. He allowed me to live so much experience as his assistant in Saint-Étienne, Bordeaux, Ivory Coast, Marseille and today Montpellier”, he praises. The two men devote a rare trust to each other, share the same vision of the game, but adapt to the field without dogma.

In Montpellier, they advance on familiar ground, but on a wire. “The current mission is tough. Today, we want to succeed and we must succeed” he qualifies, aware that here more than elsewhere the demand for results is coupled with an emotional resonance. At the end of such a singular path.

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