The announcement by Strasbourg that Laurey's contract had been extended by a year to June 2021 came just a week after the Ligue 1 Conforama season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite the uncertainty, the message from Strasbourg was clear. They wanted Laurey’s immediate future to be settled and to keep hold of the coach who has overseen their return to the top table of French football.

Appointed in May 2016, Laurey is in the midst of the longest continuous stretch of any coach in Strasbourg’s history. Even longer than the great Gilbert Gress, the mastermind of the club’s only league title triumph in 1979 who spent over six years in charge but over three separate spells.

Big shoes filled

Now aged 56, Laurey arrived at the Stade de la Meinau to replace another legendary Strasbourg figure. Jacky Duguépéroux had just taken the club to the third-tier National title. Laurey led the team to the Ligue 2 crown in his first season, clinching promotion on a dramatic final day, and their dramatic upward surge has continued on his watch. In their first top-flight campaign in a decade in 2017-18, Strasbourg secured survival on the penultimate weekend of the season with a home win over Olympique Lyonnais.

In 2018-19, the Alsace side’s return to the highest level was crowned by their victory on penalties against EA Guingamp in the Coupe de la Ligue final, their first major trophy in 14 years. That brought Strasbourg a return to European competition, although they fell to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League play-offs at the start of this season. They sat 11th when the campaign was suspended, but they were only three points off fifth with a game in hand. Laurey’s contract extension was richly deserved.

“We have always supported him, through the good times and the bad. The extension is a mark of our desire to continue developing the club together,” said club president Marc Keller.

Corsican adventure

Laurey started out as a coach in his own right with FC Sète in the third tier in 2007-08. A relegation from Ligue 2 with Amiens SC followed the season after, and Laurey then spent a year at Arles-Avignon before joining minnows Gazélec Ajaccio.

It was on Corsica that his coaching career took off, despite the fact Gazélec were relegated to the third tier shortly after his arrival in 2013. In his first full season they were promoted back to Ligue 2, and a year later they won promotion to Ligue 1. For the first time in their history, Gazélec found themselves hosting top-flight football at their tiny Stade Ange-Casanova. They went straight back down after one season, despite sitting 12th at the halfway stage. Laurey was nominated for the Ligue 1 coach of the year award and left the club with his head held high.

“I had come to the end of the adventure,” he said later in an interview with So Foot. “I had three super years. I think I did the job I was brought in for and another challenge appeared on the table from Strasbourg.”

In that same interview, Laurey spoke warmly of the “strong passion and great expectation” from the supporters in the “Marseille of the east”. He saw in Strasbourg a reflection of his own character, forged in his days on the park as a combative midfielder.

One cap for Les Bleus

Laurey enjoyed a fine career, and indeed got to know Marseille well in his one season as a player at the Vélodrome in 1986-87 as OM finished runners-up to Bordeaux in the league and the French Cup. Later, during his two years at Sochaux, he won his one and only cap for France. Laurey was selected by coach Michel Platini alongside the likes of Laurent Blanc and Jean-Pierre Papin for a 1990 World Cup qualifier against Scotland in March 1989. At a sodden Hampden Park, Les Bleus lost 2-0, a result which effectively ended their chances of reaching the finals.

Laurey never played for his country again, and is best remembered on the field for his long association with Montpellier. He first played there on loan in 1987-88, as a side also featuring Blanc and Roger Milla finished third. Later, after his time at Sochaux and stints at Paris Saint-Germain and AS Saint-Etienne, he returned to Montpellier in 1991 and stayed for seven more years as a player, followed by another eight years in a variety of roles before breaking free to become a coach in his own right. Laurey played 266 times for Montpellier, putting him in their top 10 all-time appearance makers.

Gasset as role model

“What is more important than the number of matches you might play is the image you leave behind, the image that people keep of you. I think a lot of people at Montpellier appreciate me and the feeling is mutual,” he later said in an interview with the club’s website.

Laurey played alongside the likes of Blanc and Christophe Galtier among many others but he cites another great figure in recent French footballing history as his inspiration: Jean-Louis Gasset. “To have been the assistant at Montpellier with him on the bench was a real pleasure,” he said. “It didn’t last long, but I was really lucky to rub shoulders with him and be able to draw inspiration from him. He is a role model for me.”

Feisty

Laurey has not been afraid to show the feisty side of his character at Strasbourg. When Neymar was left badly injured in a tackle in a Coupe de France tie between PSG and Strasbourg last year, Laurey later suggested the Brazilian’s provocative style of play meant he could not complain. “When you overstep the boundaries, you must accept responsibility,” he said. When the dust had settled, Laurey was a tad more conciliatory. “I maybe went a bit too far, but I don’t regret anything.”

It is that character which has helped Laurey the coach enjoy with Strasbourg the kind of success at the top level to which he was accustomed in his playing days. He will hope to pick up where he left off when football eventually return.