Patrice Canayer's last interview with Guillaume Gille, Daniel Costantini, Ludovic Fabregas, Gregory Anquetil…

Anquetil, Gille, Fabregas, Costantini : dix personnalités du handball français s’expriment. Montage Jules Poquet

Avant son dernier match, le coach du Montpellier Handball a répondu aux questions de dix personnalités du handball français.

They are coaches, former selectors, players of the French team, boss of the Blues, veterans of the MHB, journalists or wives. They accompanied Patrice Canayer during his thirty-year career on and off the field. They still had things to ask him, simply, in all friendship. The future ex-coach of Montpellier answered all the questions, bending to the game with a smile and sometimes a little emotion. Informal familiarity is required.

Also read: VIDEO. "I lasted because I never looked back" : Patrice Canayer opens up one last time

Thierry Anti, ex-coach of Nantes

Have you ever wanted to experience an adventure abroad?

Patrice Canayer's answer: Yes. And even today, I receive many offers from foreign clubs that I have all refused. Ultimately, the desire for Montpellier has always been stronger than the desire for foreigners. But more than the desire for foreigners, what would have interested me is to coach another big team in a different context. I say another one because Montpellier, for me, is a very big team.

Erick Mathé, future coach of MHB

From this summer, with what perspective will you follow the handball matches ?

Patrice Canayer's answer :Maybe today I need to take a break from handball. Maybe I won't watch many matches at first. Until the appetite returns. Every end of the season, I feel this need to cut. Then, there is always a period, in July, when the desire returns. There, I'll see what happens. I need to detox. I say that and then yesterday, at 11 p.m., I came across the European League final and I watched it until the end. All this is not very reasonable.

Bhakti Ong, Player Agent

If you had to choose between the phenomenal sporting adventure or the human adventure of the last 30 years, which would you choose?

Patrice Canayer's response:They are inseparable. Why ? In truth, the human adventure, in high-level sport, is born from confrontation. That’s ambiguity. In sport, you're not there to be friends. If I want to have a good evening with friends, I don't need competition. It’s a great human adventure but we’re not here in the search for excellence. What creates bonds in sport is that you move towards excellence and high standards. You push yourself a lot. And that’s what makes you grow. The greatest reward is having helped certain players grow.

Daniel Costantini, ex-coach of the France team

Have you, at any point, regretted not having gone to Barcelona??

Patrice Canayer's response: In the moment a little bit. I think I would have regretted it a lot if I hadn't won the Champions League. Objectively, it would have been a real frustration but since we won behind (in 2003, the first of MHB's two European titles). The path would undoubtedly have been different. I saw it more as a life experience. Whether professional or family. Maybe that’s what I might regret today. Not having seen anything else. I had so much satisfaction with Montpellier that the regrets were attenuated.

Corinne Canayer, the wife

Do you remember the biggest blunder I could have made after a match?

Patrice Canayer's response: Oh yes, I remember that. Corinne had prepared a Hungarian goulash for me after a defeat in Szeged… in Hungary! You can’t forget it (laughs). His goulash is good though. More seriously, she had incredible merit. I wouldn't have put up with a quarter of what she put up with me. When I started, I was an extremely anxious person. The day before the matches, the day of the matches, the day after the matches… There weren't many days left. But I got better thanks to her. He’s my coach.

Guillaume Gille, coach of the French team

Patrice, what makes you most proud? What project outside of the MHB would you like to work on? ;invest ?

Patrice Canayer's response:What makes me most proud… I believe I have made no concessions on relationships in my professional life. I have always said things quite bluntly, sometimes even brutally – I have been criticized for this quite a bit –, and therefore it could earn me a lot of enmity. Finally, I am entitled to a lot of recognition. I wasn’t expecting too much. So, I told myself that maybe this was what people were waiting for. It’s flattering and objectively pleasant. Projects? What guides me today is not to keep all the experience acquired for myself. To share it, to exchange. I have had so much that I want to give back.

Alain Carmand, MHB physiotherapist since 1990

What will you miss the most?

Patrice Canayer's answer: I don't know. That’s the mystery. It would be stupid to say something. I spent thirty-five years, thirty-three of which were consecutive in the European Cup. I'm not saying that's all I know, but it has shaped my whole life. What will I miss?? I don't know.

Laurent Puigségur, former captain of the MHB

If you hadn't played handball, what would you have liked to do in your professional life?

Patrice Canayer's response: Architect! Or musician. I discovered architecture late. I like contemporary art. When we built our house, I became very interested in all this. Musician… I’m trying but I’m not very good at it (laughs). The emotion that comes through music, a concert, that’s a bit what you feel in sport.

Philippe Pailhories, former journalist for l’Equipe

You often say that you are not the man portrayed in the media, who is therefore the other Patrice Canayer?

Patrice Canayer's response:I don't know if I used that expression. Maybe I'm a bit of both. Is there a real one, is there a fake Canayer ? In any case I don’ like it when things are simplified to the extreme. We are all different, very complex. This is what I understood from contact with the players. We don't manage a 20 year old kid the same as a 30 year old man. We are very diverse in truth. We all have many facets. A manager must maintain an element of mystery.

Grégory Anquetil, ex-MHB player

Has your role as manager not handicapped you in your relationship with the players?

Patrice Canayer's response:Maybe, but it also served me a lot. In any case, if I hadn't had this role, I would never have stayed thirty years at the MHB. Above all, it gave me responsibility. I took responsibility for everything. Even this season, when we made the choice not to recruit a joker. The agents, it suits them well not to have the coach in front of them. To the general manager, they can always talk nonsense. Me, I worked four, five hours a day with the players, no one could tell me.

Ludovic Fabregas, pivot of the French team

As a coach and as a man, what has made you evolve the most in your way to work, to be?

Patrice Canayer's response:That’s because everything is possible. As I have evolved in this profession, I have tried to break down a certain number of barriers. The experience of competition is the experience of life. On the other hand, we must give ourselves the means. What I really learned from sport and handball in particular is to never set limits for myself. Everything is possible, I repeat, when we give ourselves the means.

Philippe Bana, president of the Federation

What did this Montpellier legend bring you?

Patrice Canayer's response: An immeasurable pleasure. I lived thirty years of happiness, pleasure, passion. It’s impossible when you do this job to be able to experience such an adventure. It’s an immense satisfaction which very, very largely erases the small inconveniences or difficulties that I may have encountered during this period.

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