Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 10y

Lens coach: I don't need cry-babies

#INSERT type:image caption:Kombouare has called on his Lens players to show a 'dominating attitude.' END#

Lens coach Antoine Kombouare has told RMC he does not want any "cry-babies" among his squad as he prepares them for Ligue 1 after promotion was confirmed.

Although the players began their preseason programme in late June, Kombouare takes charge of them for the first time this summer on Tuesday after ending a stay-away protest following the validation of the club's promotion.

That step up, earned thanks to a runners-up finish in Ligue 2 last season, was delayed because of a 10 million euro shortfall in the club's budget.

The sum was at least partially guaranteed by owner Hafiz Mammadov, leading to the France Football Federation agreeing to allow Lens to join the top flight on Monday evening.

Kombouare said: "We're going to talk a lot. The players will need to express themselves, and I will want to hear what they have gone through.

"Once we have talked about all that we have gone through and sorted it out, the only thing that will interest me is the present and the future.

"The task is to build the best possible team and to have motivated players in training, because the job is a tough one.

"We are among the elite, and we have to realise how lucky we are. We mustn't complain -- I don't need cry-babies. We have to have a dominating attitude."

While Lens successfully appealed to the French Olympic Committee to help their cause, the committee's refusal to validate the promotion of minnows Luzenac to Ligue 2 means the village club's fight goes on.

The tiny outfit, of which Fabien Barthez is director general, will discover whether the Administrative Court of Toulouse rules in its favour on Wednesday.

Should the club get the decision it wants, the French Football League would have to hastily redraw the fixture list just two days before the start of the season.

League officials have already officially told relegated Chateauroux they will again play in Ligue 2 this season.

^ Back to Top ^