‘They trained with fear in their stomachs’ – Inside Dunkerque’s quick divorce with Gonçalo Feio | OneFootball

USL Dunkerque’s marriage with Gonçalo Feio was short and far from sweet. On Sunday evening, Les Maritimes announced that Feio had left by mutual consent, after less than a month as head coach of the Ligue 2 side.

In comments to L’Équipe, Dunkerque’s co-president Demba Ba explained, “There are no regrets to have. We were convinced that Gonalo had the potential to make the team grow, to structure the organisation, to develop our young players, and through an ambitious game plan, to give pleasure to our supporters and our players.”

He continues, “We had studied his personality in detail, and we knew that he was passionate and hot-blooded. There was a risk of which we were aware. But, in our discussions, we were very clear on essential principles of unity and humility… I wanted to believe in him. This proved a mistake. But I do not want to condemn a man. Everyone has their traumas.”

The French outlet writes that the club found that in the first few days of his management, there were notable tensions in his approach. His style of play was exactly what they wanted and the manager set himself to high standards, arriving at 5 or 6 in the morning, but they found his approach grating. L’Équipe reports that Feio was highly critical of his players, and alleges that insults in English were not uncommon.

One source told the French outlet, “Quickly, there was a blanket of silence around the training sessions… A very negative atmosphere. The players were training with fear in their stomachs.”

The principles of humility were also not kept to, with a source telling the outlet that Feio told an employee, “I beat Chelsea three months ago.” His Legia Warsaw side won the second leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League tie against Chelsea 2-1, but were eliminated after losing the first leg 3-0.

On Saturday, Dunkerque lost 5-1 in a pre-season friendly to US Boulogne CO, a match which saw Feio reportedly shout midway through the game at one of the club’s management team, “You lied to me!” L’Équipe states that this was one infraction too many, and the next day the club parted ways with Feio.

GFFN | Nick Hartland