With the appointment of Rudi Garcia as manager, Napoli’s coaching staff has been overhauled. Forza Napoli Press profiles Garcia’s new coaching staff.
Stéphane Jobard – Assistant Coach
Jobard worked as Garcia’s assistant at Marseille in 2018/19 and last season at Al-Nassr. Neither season ended well. Garcia stepped down at Marseille and was sacked by Al-Nassr. In between, Jobard was the manager of two French clubs. He spent one season at Dijon, who finished 16th in the league. However, that wasn’t a terrible finish for a club whose objective was survival. When the season was cut short due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dijon were hovering just above the relegation zone, as they had been for most of the campaign. Jobard was sacked in November of the following season, having earned only three points through the first nine rounds.
Dijon went on to finish bottom of the table, 14 points behind their nearest rival, and were relegated to Ligue 2. After a year off, Jobard took control of third division side Boulogne. He joined the club during the winter break, when Boulogne were second from the bottom of the table. Failing to improve, Boulogne were relegated to the fourth division.
Claude Fichaux – Assistant Coach
Fichaux is a long-time collaborator of Garcia, working together for his entire professional coaching career. Prior to joining Garcia in 2009, Fichaux had coached Strasbourg U19, where he spent six seasons. In his second season with Garcia at Lille, the pair won the league. After four seasons together in northern France, Fichaux followed Garcia to Italy to be the Technical Director at Roma. The pair spent three seasons together in the Italian capital before returning to France. Fichaux worked as Garcia’s assistant for five more seasons in their home country: three at Marseille and two at Lyon. Finally, after taking a one-season sabbatical, Fichaux reunited with Garcia at Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League.
Paolo Rongoni – Athletic Trainer
Rongoni was already an experienced Athletic trainer when he joined Garcia at Roma. Rongoni began his professional career at Perugia, two hours west of his hometown of Fermo. After two seasons with I Grifoni, Rongoni moved to Switzerland, where he worked as a rehabilitation coach for six seasons: half a season with FC Sion in the Swiss second division; two-and-a-half seasons at FC Lugano, winning the league in 2000/01; and three seasons at FC Servette back in the second division. After Italy and Switzerland, the natural next step for Rongoni was France, where he first crossed paths with Garcia.
Rongoni was the Athletic Trainer at Le Mans for six seasons, working under Garcia in 2007/08 – a record season for the French club. Though Le Mans faded away at the end of the season, their 9th-placed finish was still a club record. Le MUC72 were third in the table after ten rounds and remained as high as fourth in the table through 26 rounds. Meanwhile, Le Mans reached the semi-finals of the Coupe de la Ligue, another club best. Rongoni and Garcia parted ways the following season. Garcia leveraged the strong season at Le Mans to earn an appointment at Lille, while Rongoni remained at Le Mans for three more seasons.
With Garcia’s departure, Le Mans’ results deteriorated, suffering relegation in 2009/10. After failing to earn promotion the following season, Rongoni moved to Turkey. His short stay at Samsunspor was not much better. In his lone season with the club, Samsunsor finished third-from-bottom and were relegated. That prompted a return to Italy, where Rongoni he spent one-and-a-half seasons as Athletic Trainer at Lazio.
Lazio finished fourth in the league in Rongoni’s first season in Rome, coached by former Napoli manager Edy Reja. Rongoni remained with Lazio for half a season after the departure of Reja, before reuniting with Garcia at city rivals Roma the following season. Like Fichaux, Rongoni stuck by Garcia’s side from that point onward, working together at Roma, Marseille, Lyon and Al-Nassr. This season, Rongoni replaced Francesco Sinatti as Athletic Trainer after Sinatti handed in his resignation.
