FredVaFC59100

There has been a lot of talk from Ben Chorley & Co in March/April time-frame asserting we would go straight back up the following season; The day we got officially relegated, SR said they were deeply sadden and will do everything to minimize the stay in the 3rd division. i.e. they were already tuning down expectations... We are 2 weeks away from the first game and the squad is pretty weak. As expected, A lot of departures for only 4 arrivals on free transfers.. all mediocre players if you ask me. So, yeah, SR does not seem committed to go back up. Almost makes me regret the previous owner. The 3rd division is going to be very competitive this year, due to a lot of clubs used to first and second leagues being relegated in the past few years. I don't see us going back up (yet alone going ever back to the top league) anytime soon.

What I don't get is that SR always puts forward their "Scientific" approach to football with data based hiring, but yet, they keep on making bad decisions (for Valenciennes at least) whether it pertains to the management team or players on the pitch. The friendly games have so far, been underwhelming and the team shows no progress whatsoever. I predict mid-table standing at the end of the season.

I feel quite the opposite regarding Valenciennes' future. Ben Chorley is mediocre at best, He has made poor choices since day 1. This does not fare well for SR's top farm club structure.

I think the real problem with Valenciennes is twofold; First, we lost our identity under the new ownership; SR has turned the club into nothing more than a farm team for Southampton FC and Göztepe SK. Second, the sporting director, Ben Chorley is way over his head. He kept on making very poor choices (latest one was to keep Kantari as head coach); in a video (https://www.va-fc.com/videos/17301 at 14:16) he claims that Joachim Kayi Sanda is the best center back in the world. Maybe he is too humble, why not the best center back of the galaxy? I predict that we will stay in 3rd division for a looooonnnnnng time.