French club Stade Malherbe Caen have announced the arrival of former Arsenal player Gael Clichy as their new manager ahead of the second half of the season.
SM Caen have confirmed that Gael Clichy is taking over as the head coach of their senior side, with former head coach Maxime d’Ornano leaving the club.
Caen report that Clichy will be joined by Marvin Esor as an assistant, with the rest of the club’s technical staff remaining unchanged from d’Ornano’s time in charge.
Clichy had most recently been working for the France u21s as an assistant coach, spending time alongside fellow former Gunner Thierry Henry.
But Clichy ultimately decided to resign from the role, telling the media that he wanted to test himself in a head coach position as soon as possible.
That opportunity has now arrived, with Clichy to manage Caen in the French third tier. The club, owned by current France international Kylian Mbappe, were relegated from Ligue 2 last season, dropping down to the Championnat National for the first time in over 40 years.
As well as working as an assistant for the France u21s, Clichy also had a player-coach role during his time with Basaksehir and Servette, and he’ll need to draw on all of his experience to help right the ship with Caen.
The club are currently floundering in mid-table, six points off the promotion play-off places and 10 points off the pace in terms of automatic promotion.
At the very least, Clichy will want to help Caen avoid relegation, as just remaining in their current division would mean joining the newly-created Ligue 3 from next season.