Le Havre: new president justifies Digard's departure and promises manager soon

New president Yacine Alaoui says Digard's sacking was not impulsive but followed weeks of disagreement over the club's sporting direction.

Le Havre's newly appointed president Yacine Alaoui addressed the internal crisis that saw the club lose its president, sporting director and manager within days. Didier Digard was sacked on Saturday following a 5-1 home defeat to PSG, prompting the voluntary departures of president Jean-Michel Roussier and sporting director Demba Ba, who said they were neither informed nor consulted about the decision.

Alaoui, who was promoted from general director to president by the board on Thursday, defended the decision as not impulsive. "It's not something that happened over a weekend because we conceded five against Paris," he said. "There's been a fundamental disagreement for several weeks on how to run this project, particularly on the sporting side." He declined to detail the nature of the disagreement.

The club, bottom of Ligue 1 with two points from nine games, hopes to appoint a new permanent manager before the trip to Troyes on 20 November. Jair Karam, the academy director, will take charge for Sunday's home match against Lorient. Alaoui said the club wants a francophone coach, either an experienced figure capable of rallying the squad in a rescue mission or a younger, more modern tactician.