Alain Michel: ...I am free to negotiate with any club...

The coach of Mouloudia, Alain Michel engaged in this interview with Ennahar, about the week when had left his club and also about his future with the flagship club of the capital based on information reported in the press on his possible departure to the Congo.

• Your disappearance for an entire week has given free rein to different interpretations. Would you enlighten us?
  
  I needed a little rest, so I decided to extend the weekend into a whole week after I had felt a great pressure. Now I have resumed work with the team in very good conditions and a good moral. The coach is like the player, he needs a period to decompress. You know, it is not easy for any coach with the pressure prevailing in Mouloudia and its very special environment.
  
  Some have seen this eclipse for a week as something of a divorce between you and the administration of the club. Is this true?
  
  No. And even if I decided to leave the club, I would not go this way. There is a contract that binds me to the administration of the club MCA and both parties are obliged to respect the terms of the contract. I informed the administration that I needed a rest period to settle my personal affairs.
  
  You mean your negotiations with the Congolese Federation. Isn’t it?
  
  I am free to negotiate with any team that would require my services. Guess what, there was not only the Congolese selection who wanted my services but many other clubs.
  Sincerely, the problems I have lived with the Mouloudia and the horrible pressure that I endured made me study seriously the proposals, leave the Mouloudia and cancel the project that I wanted to do with the club.
  
  Regarding these negotiations, they are not a secret. The proposal of the Congo, I had received since the meeting of the team in Tunisia. I had ignored it and I preferred to concentrate on working with the Mouloudia where I intended to do many things if the opportunity was given to me.
  
  It seems that you are decided to leave the Mouloudia.
  
  Frankly, I haven’t signed any document with the Congolese Federation. Currently I am studying all the proposals that I receive. My presence is linked to the Mouloudia’s deep changes which I have always hoped for the club. If things remain as they are now, I do not think I’ll be able to face the devil a second time.
  
  What do you mean by deep change?
  
  I mean the organizational side first, because the club is headed in a chaotic way and follows a policy of Tinkering. The infighting between the leaders does not stop and it is very difficult for a coach to work under such conditions. I acknowledge that I have never experienced such problems.
  
  Do you think you can finish the championship in fourth position as you specified to the administration?
  
  This would be a great achievement if we succeed in doing this. I think the chances are great for the club to occupy the 4th or 5th place. The Mouloudia does not have players like SSE.
  
  Ennahar/