Oldham Athletic have been on the lookout for a new manager ever since the exit from Pete Wild due to personal reasons.
Oldham Athletic have appointed former Monaco boss Laurent Banide as their new head coach on a one-year deal.
Banide, 51, was most recently in charge of Umm Salal in Qatar.
“He brings a lot of experience and I’m looking forward to working alongside him,” chairman Abdallah Lemsagam said.
“I believe Laurent is a fantastic coach and is the right man to take this club forward going into the new season.”
As a player, the Frenchman began his career with Monaco before moving to Marseille and later returned to Monaco as a coach in 1993.
Banide spent 12 years on the club’s coaching staff before he was appointed as their first-team manager in 2006-07.
He later went on to coach at a number of clubs in the Middle East, including Al-Nasr, Al-Orobah and Al-Kuwait and also returned to Monaco for a short spell in 2011.
Nevertheless, it’s a bold move from erratic Latics owner Abdallah Lemsagam by handing the job to someone who has no experience in the English lower leagues.
Former Manchester United man Paul Scholes was in charge for a short spell last season as the side finished 14th in League Two and he was said to be unhappy about interference from above before leaving after just 31 days.
Opinion:
I’m not going to beat round the bush and pretend that I know the man. He is an unknown manager to the English game and it is a very strange appointment from a club that is becoming a very strange setup.
He has previously managed in the Qatar league with Umm Salal and they are by no means a poor team as they have some good players with significant money and he led them to a ninth place finish this last season.
Throughout his time in Kuwait, UAE and Saudi Arabia he regularly finished mid-table with his teams and never really pushed for great success.
He favours a 4231 formation and he likes his players to be proactive in their approach according to transfermarkt.
At Umm Salal, Al Khor and Al Wasl he only lasted a combined 20 games so Oldham fans should not get used to seeing Banide in the dugout.
He previously was the assistant manager for former Swansea manager – Francesco Guidolin.
All in all, the jury’s still out and it will be interesting to see whether Banide can succeed in EFL League Two
