Pascal Gastien

Pascal Gastien
Personal information
Full namePascal Gastien
Date of birth2 December 1963
Place of birthRochefort, France
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing positionMidfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1981–1982Angoulême6(0)
1982–1988Chamois Niortais[1]125(17)
1988–1989Marseille18(0)
1989–1990Chamois Niortais14(0)
1990–1993Nice61(1)
1993–1997Châteauroux86(0)
National team
1987–1988French Olympic team3(0)
Teams managed
1999Chamois Niortais (caretaker)
2005Chamois Niortais
2009–2014Chamois Niortais
2014–2015Châteauroux
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Pascal Gastien (born 2 December 1963) is a French former professional footballer and now manager. He has had three spells as head coach of Ligue 2 side Chamois Niortais.

Personal life

Gastien was born on 2 December 1963 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in Western France. He is the father of footballer Johan Gastien.

Playing career

In his playing days, Gastien played predominantly as a central defensive-midfielder. The majority of his playing career was spent in the top two divisions of the French football league system.

Angoulême

Gastien's career started when he signed his first professional contract as an 18-year-old with then Ligue 2 side Angoulême. However, he found it difficult to break into the first team set up, playing only six league games, and left after just one season as a pro.

Chamois Niortais

In the summer of 1982, Gastien joined then fourth-division side Chamois Niortais.[2] In the 1983–84 season, the team were promoted to the third division, finishing third in the Division IV Group E.[3] He went on to feature in most games during the 1984–85 season as the team were winners of their group in the third division,[4] winning a second consecutive promotion, this time to Ligue 2. He then played a major role two seasons later as the club secured promotion to the top division of French football, Ligue 1, finishing as runners-up in Ligue 2 in 1987. His performances for the club in the top-flight attracted the likes of Olympique de Marseille, who he signed for in 1988.

Marseille and return to Niort

Gastien found first team opportunities harder to come by at Marseille, making just 18 league appearances as the club were crowned champions of France and winners of the Coupe de France in the 1988–89 season. In order to play more football, Gastien returned to Niort, who had since been relegated back to Ligue 2, in the summer of 1989. However, his stay with Chamois was short-lived as he was sold to Ligue 1 outfit OGC Nice in the middle of the season.

Nice

Gastien went on to play for Nice for three-and-a-half seasons, but again found first-team chances in the top flight limited, making only 61 league appearances in this time. He played in just four league matches in the 1990–91 season as the club were relegated from Ligue 1. He eventually left Nice in the summer of 1993 and joined then Championnat National side LB Châteauroux.

Châteauroux

Gastien played a major role in the 1993–94 season as Châteauroux finished top of the National, achieving promotion to Ligue 2. He enjoyed the next two seasons, playing in the majority of games for Châteauroux. However in the 1996–97 season, Gastien's final season as a professional, he played a mediocre six matches as the team won the Ligue 2 championship, gaining promotion to Ligue 1. In the summer of 1997, Gastien was released by Châteauroux and subsequently retired.

International career

In the qualifying round for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Gastien played three games without scoring for France as they failed to qualify for the final tournament, finishing bottom of their group.[5]

Managerial career

After retiring from professional football, Gastien turned his hand to management. In October 1999, he was appointed joint caretaker manager of Niort alongside former Rennes boss René Cédolin, but the pair did not take charge of any league games. In 2000, he was appointed permanently as head coach of Chamois Niortais' reserve team. In January 2005, Gastien took over from Vincent Dufour as manager of the first team, who were struggling in Ligue 2. Unfortunately for Gastien, he was unable to avoid relegation to the Championnat National, with the team winning just three of the 17 games he was in charge, and at the end of the season he reverted to being the reserve team coach, whilst Philippe Hinschberger took control of first team duties. Gastien continued to coach the B team until the summer of 2009. On 4 June 2009 it was announced that Gastien had been re-appointed as manager of Chamois Niortais.[6]

Gastien led Niort to win the Championnat de France amateur Group C during his first full season in charge, thereby returning to the Championnat National at the first attempt. The club finished 11th in the third tier in the 2010–11 campaign; in the 2011 close season several new players including Jimmy Roye and Julien Ricaud were recruited and the following season Niort went on to finish as runners-up to Nîmes Olympique thanks to a 1–0 win away at Gazélec Ajaccio on the final matchday. Niort were consequently promoted to Ligue 2, marking the club's return to the professional ranks of French football. He spent two more years in charge of Niort, guiding the side to a 15th-placed finish in 2012–13, followed by a 5th-placed finish a year later. It was announced on 19 May 2014 that Gastien would not have his contract renewed and would be leaving the club after a 15-year association.[7][8][9]

Managerial statistics

As of 10 January 2013.
Team Nation From To Record
GWLDWin %
Chamois Niortais  France October 1999 October 1999 00000
Chamois Niortais B  France July 2000 January 2005 13258413343.94
Chamois Niortais  France January 2005 June 2005 1737817.65
Chamois Niortais B  France June 2005 June 2009 12659333446.83
Chamois Niortais  France 4 June 2009 Incumbent 13152374239.69

G = games managed, W = games won, D = games drawn, L = games lost, Win % = percentage of games won

Honours

As a player

Chamois Niortais

Olympique de Marseille

LB Châteauroux

As a manager

Chamois Niortais

References

  1. Only statistics from 1984 onwards are available
  2. Anciens grands jouers
  3. Niort league history
  4. Niort honours
  5. 1988 Olympic qualifying, RSSSF
  6. Pascal Gastien nouvel entraîneur des Chamois
  7. "Contrat non renouvelé pour Pascal Gastien" [Pascal Gastien's contract not renewed] (in French). Chamois Niortais F.C. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  8. "Niort: Coach Pascal Gastien quitte le navire" [Niort: Coach Pascal Gastien leaves the ship] (in French). foot-national.com. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  9. "Niort remercie Gastien" [Niort thank Gastien] (in French). La Nouvelle République. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.

External links