Pélissier is at it again: Meet the veteran manager powering Auxerre's rise
One To Watch
Another season, another successful job flying under the radar. That's life as Christophe Pélissier in Ligue 1 McDonald's. Now in his third role in charge of a top-flight team, the veteran manager once again has an under-funded side punching above its weight, in the form of Auxerre, the eastern side having handily beaten both Olympique de Marseille and Stade Rennais in their last two fixtures. Now with four wins in their last six, they're not only comfortably clear of relegation but occupying a spot in the top half of the table. Bournemouth loanee Hamed Traoré has caught the eye with five goals, but rather than a form player, the real architect of the team's strong play is Pélissier, a man who has already helped a team defy the odds in the past with both Amiens and FC Lorient.
A long road to the top
Born in the rugby-mad southwest of France, in the town of Revel, Pélissier played for local sides as an attacking midfielder before eventually transitioning into management with his hometown side. After several seasons there, he joined another amateur side, AS Muret, for a season before joining Luzenac. There, he helped the team win an unlikely promotion to Ligue 2, but the team were denied promotion ahead of the 2013/14 season, prompting Pélissier to up sticks for northern France, where joined SC Amiens.
Then playing in the National -- France's third tier -- he would earn the Licorne side promotion to Ligue 2 in 2015/16. Playing the following campaign with the league's third-lowest budget, finishing second with a squad that featured the talents of a young Tanguy Ndombélé. Speaking at the time to SoFoot, he undescored that his coaching methods are not wrought by a playing philosophy, but by building a mindset of unity, saying, "My number one goal is to give my team an identity, a collective mentality to this group of players, to the staff. A mindset that allows us to move together towards the same goal."
The following season in the top flight proved more challenging, but the team nonetheless survived, even boasting the league's fourth-best defence. After a more narrow survival the following season, he departed for FC Lorient, then in Ligue 2, but a more ambitious side and one which had the resources to make long-term survival in the top flight a more sustainable goal. He immediately achieved promotion with Les Merlus, but after failing to see them challenge for Europe despite having the likes of Terem Moffi and Dango Ouattara in the side, he was dismissed following the 2021/22 season.
Success once more
Eager to work again, he joined Auxerre in October of 2022. A storied club in the history of the French game, long helmed by the legendary Guy Roux, the club had struggled in recent years, and while Pélissier, who replaced Jean-Marc Furlan, couldn't keep his side from the drop that season, he proved his value by winning promotion (and the Ligue 2 Manager of the Year award) last season. Again, his teams, rather than relying on a star player, showed their value through that same aforementioned teamwork, boasting the league's best attack despite leading scorer Ado Onaiwu scoring just 15 times.
This season has been more of the same. The club did make some signings in the off-season in the form of defenders Sinaly Diomandé and Gabriel Osho as well as striker Théo Bair, but Bair has been inconsistent, and injuries have played a role as well, with Paul Joly and promising winger Lasso Coulibaly both missing large chunks of time. Despite these absences, Pélissier has kept his team ticking over, showing their commitment and never-say-die attitude from the off in a dramatic late win over Nice in the opening fixture.
There have been stumbles -- reference losses away to Montpellier and Saint-Étienne -- but as he has done in previous stops, Pélissier -- who has been joined this season as an assistant by club legend Djibril Cissé -- has advocated a balanced approach, saying after the recent win over Marseille, “We came with the ambition of scoring. We couldn’t play by just defending. We had to cause them problems. You simply have to give confidence to the players with a gameplan and a strategy.”
That approach, simple yet holistic, has Auxerre flying high, and with matches to come against struggling Angers and Toulouse before the break, there could yet be further climbing the table this season for the veteran manager and his side.
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