Gérald Edmond Louis Baticle (born 10 September 1969) is a French professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He was most recently the manager of Angers in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

Playing career

Born in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

, Baticle started his professional career in his native

Picardy Picardy (; Picard and french: Picardie, , ) is a historical territory and a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Hauts-de-France. It is located in the northern part of France. Hi ...

region at

but quickly attracted the attention of

Guy Roux Guy Marcel Roux (; born 18 October 1938) is a French former football player and manager known for being in charge of AJ Auxerre for more than 40 years and for leading the team to national and worldwide prominence. Managerial career A native of C ...

who recruited him at Auxerre. He played his first game in

on 19 September 1991 against

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

. In the 1992–93 season, he was the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

's top goalscorer as Auxerre reached the semi-finals where they were edged out by

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

after a penalty shootout. A year later, Baticle scored one of Auxerre's goal during the final of the French cup where the AJA defeated

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

3–0 to win its first national title. In the 1994–95 season, he had to face the concurrence of an emerging

Lilian Laslandes Lilian Laslandes (; born 4 September 1971) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. Between 1997 and 1999 he was capped seven times and scored three goals for the France national team. He ended his professional footb ...

for the sole striker post in Guy Roux's emblematic 4-3-3. Baticle then chose to move to an ambitious

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

side where he joined a team composed of

Frank Leboeuf Franck Alain James Leboeuf (born 22 January 1968), typically anglicised as Frank Leboeuf, is a French actor, sports commentator and former international footballer who played as a centre-back. With the French national team, Leboeuf won the ...

Franck Sauzée Franck Gaston Henri Sauzée (born 28 October 1965) is a French former professional footballer and manager. He played 39 times for the France national team between 1988 and 1993, scoring nine goals and captaining the team several times. He achiev ...

and

Aleksandr Mostovoi Aleksandr Vladimirovich Mostovoi (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Мостово́й ; born 22 August 1968) is a Russian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Known as ''O Zar de ...

. He spent three seasons at Strasbourg and was a captain there after Leboeuf's departure in 1996. He was repositioned as an

offensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Jacky Duguépéroux Jacky Duguépéroux (born 2 January 1948) is a French association football, football manager and former player. He has been manager of RC Strasbourg Alsace, RC Strasbourg, for whom he also played, on three occasions. Between his final two terms, h ...

and, in this position, was instrumental in Strasbourg's 1997 League cup triumph as well as the good UEFA Cup run the following season. He was then back for a season and a half at Auxerre as a transition striker between world champion

Stéphane Guivarc'h Stéphane Pierre Yves Guivarc'h (born 6 September 1970) is a French former professional footballer who played as striker. He featured in the France squad that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup on home soil. His early career was spent in France with ...

and the young Djibril Cissé. In December 1999, he was transferred to Metz where he enjoyed decent success as a striker for three years in a struggling team. When Metz was relegated, Baticle moved to

Troyes Troyes () is a commune and the capital of the department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within the Champagne wine region and is near to ...

for a season before ending his career in 2003–04 with

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

side

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

Coaching career

Baticle was a successful youth coach for three seasons with Auxerre's under 18 team, reaching the final of the Coupe Gambardella in 2007. In October 2008, Pascal Janin was sacked from his post at

Stade Brestois Stade Brestois 29 or simply Brest, is a French football club based in Brest. It was founded in 1950 following the merger of five local patronages, including Armoricaine de Brest, founded in 1903. In its early years, the club made a rapid rise ...

and it was rumoured that general manager

Corentin Martins Corentin da Silva Martins (born 11 July 1969) is a French former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently manager of the Libya national team. Playing career Club Martins was born in Brest, Brittany, of Portuguese ...

was eager to bring his former Auxerre teammate at

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

for the managing job but the move was at first opposed by Auxerre's president

Jean-Claude Hamel Jean-Claude André Adolphe Hamel (9 July 1929 – 2 June 2020) was the President of AJ Auxerre Association de la Jeunesse Auxerroise (), commonly known as AJ Auxerre or simply Auxerre (), is a French football club based in the commune of ...

. Ultimately, a compromise was found and Baticle joined Brest, winning his first game 4–0 against Bastia on 7 November 2008. He was fired in May 2009 and replaced by Alex Dupont. On 23 December 2022, Baticle was sacked by Angers.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

* Coupe de France: 1994 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

: 1997

As a manager

* Coupe Gambardella runner-up: 2007

References

External links

Player profile at RacingstubProfile on Brest's site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baticle, Gerald 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Amiens Association football forwards French footballers Amiens SC players AJ Auxerre players RC Strasbourg Alsace players FC Metz players Le Havre AC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players French football managers Angers SCO managers Stade Brestois 29 managers Footballers from Hauts-de-France