Guy Roux

Guy Marcel Roux (; born 18 October 1938) is a French former football player and manager known for being in charge of Auxerre for more than 40 years and for leading the team to national and worldwide prominence.

Managerial career A native of Colmar, Guy was the son of Marcel Roux, a young Aspirant officer from the military school of Saint-Maixent, transferred to the 152nd infantry regiment (known as the "red devils of 15/2"), and Alice Lorry, daughter of a former market gardener who became a merchant supplier of vegetables to the Army. He played for Auxerre between 1954 and 1957 and became player-manager of the then Division d'Honneur (fourth level) club in 1961 to become its living legend and symbol. In 1970, Auxerre got promoted to the Division 3 League, and Roux retired as a player. In 1974, Auxerre got promoted again, this time to Division 2. With Roux in charge, the team made it to a Coupe de France final in 1979 and progressed to Division 1 in 1980. . Thus was born a strong friendship between Roux and Michel Hidalgo, who had previously had an important role at the UNFP, that is to say for the benefit of professional players.

Roux has always had a great admiration for Alf Ramsey, coach of the famous England team at the World Cup in 1966. Guy Roux, like Georges Boulogne and Michel Hidalgo, believed that a strong infrastructure was paramount to long-term success. The inauguration of the AJA training center in 1982 was a great moment in his life as a coach. In 1980, Roux rejected the chance to sign French international striker Olivier Rouyer in favour of opening this state-of-the-art youth academy. He also helped rebuild the careers of players such as Laurent Blanc and Enzo Scifo, after they had experienced poor spells.

Roux retired from managing Auxerre in June 2005 to be replaced by Jacques Santini. At the end of his career as Auxerre manager, Roux led the team through about 2,000 games, including a European record of 890 top-flight league matches.

He briefly came out of retirement in June 2007 when he signed a two-year contract with Lens. However, he resigned on 25 August 2007 during a 2–1 defeat at Strasbourg after only four matches without a win at the helm. Coupe de France: 1993–94, 1995–96, 2002–03, 2004–05 UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1997

Individual Ligue 1 Manager of the Year: 1995–96 UEFA President's Award: 2000 Officer of the Legion of Honour: 2008