The news took everyone by surprise because it is so surprising. Stade Rennes, current third in Ligue 1, announced in a press release on Friday February 7, the surprise departure of its president Olivier Létang who said he was leaving " unwillingly "
With Olivier Létang, "Stade Rennes has taken new steps in its progression (…). The club can rely on solid teams to continue the current season in the best conditions ", said François-Henri Pinault, the club’s shareholder since 1998, in the press release.
Pending the appointment of a new executive, the interim must be provided by Jacques Delanoë, current chairman of the board of directors.
Rennes has returned to the peaks
Appointed on November 3, 2017 in a climate of instability to replace the outgoing president, René Ruello, the former player (1997-2004) and manager of the Stade de Reims (2006-2012), also sports director of Paris-Saint-Germain (2012-2017), allowed the Rennes club to regain the heights.
The Bretons indeed won the Coupe de France in May, forty-eight years after the club's last trophy. The men of Julien Stéphan, appointed head of the first team by Létang in December 2018, also reached the knockout stages of the Europa League for the first time in their history.
But his relations with trainer Julien Stéphan are notoriously fresh, and his management has been questioned in recent months, with a summer transfer window subject to caution – even if the winter one allowed the arrival of the world champion Steven Nzonzi – and the departure of several executives in the fall.
“We lived twenty-seven new and intense months during which the Stade Rennais broke many records on and off the field. Stade Rennes has never looked better sporting and economically ", assured Létang, quoted in the club press release. "Obviously I am reluctant to leave you, but I will not forget you, I will miss the atmosphere of Roazhon Park. "
