Éric Guérit

Éric Guérit (born 21 July 1964) is a French former professional football player and manager. A defensive midfielder by trade, he made more than 300 senior appearances for seven different clubs during a 14-year playing career spent mostly in the top division of French football. He later went into management, firstly as manager of Bordeaux in 1995, and has since held various positions at a number of clubs in France.

Playing career Born in Niort in the west of France, Guérit played for several clubs around the Deux-Sèvres department as a youth, including Brûlain and ASPTT Niort. He began his senior career with Angoulême and broke into the first team during the 1981–82 campaign, making his debut in Division 2. However, he was released by the club at the end of the season and subsequently moved into amateur football with Division 4 side Chamois Niortais. He spent two seasons with his home-town club, helping the team to a finish fourth in 1983 before securing promotion to the third tier the following year after a third-placed finish.

In the summer of 1984, Guérit returned to his first club Angoulême. The team had been relegated to Division 3 that year after finishing second-bottom of their group the previous season. Angoulême narrowly missed out on promotion twice over the following two years, ending the campaign in third place in 1985 before finishing as runners-up to Bourges a year later. Guérit was ever-present for the senior team during this period, scoring five goals in 60 league matches. Guérit left Bordeaux and returned for a third spell at his former side Angoulême, as assistant manager to Guy Latapie. When Latapie left the club in March 1997, Guérit was installed as head coach, a position he held until December of the following year.

After a short spell as assistant manager to Patrice Neveu at Angoulême, Guérit was hired as manager of the reserve team at Lille in 1999. He spent three years in the job, and his time at Lille culminated in the team winning the Championnat de France amateur (CFA) Group A at the end of the 2001–02 season. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed manager at Championnat National side Angers. In 2007, he joined Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais as a scout, a position he still holds as of May 2013.

Personal life Guérit is one of two brothers to have played professional football; his younger brother Fabrice played 24 matches as a defender for Chamois Niortais between 1991 and 1993.

Honours Lille B Championnat de France amateur Group A winners: 2001–02