:Rémi Garde

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Rémi Garde

| image = Remi Garde 2019.jpg

| caption = Garde in 2019

| full_name = Rémi Marie François Garde{{cite web |url=https://www.verif.com/dirigeants/Remi-GARDE-J43350113/ |title=Rémi Marie François Garde |website=Verif.com |access-date=8 March 2025 |language=fr}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1966|4|3|df=y}}{{Hugman|7022|Remi Garde|access-date=8 March 2025}}

| birth_place = L'Arbresle, Rhône, France

| height = 1.75 m{{cite news |url=https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheJoueur3839.html |title=Rémi Garde |newspaper=L'Équipe |location=Paris |access-date=8 March 2025 |language=fr}}

| position = Defensive midfielder, centre back

| currentclub =

| years1 = 1987–1993

| clubs1 = Lyon

| caps1 = 146

| goals1 = 22

| years2 = 1993–1996

| clubs2 = Strasbourg

| caps2 = 68

| goals2 = 3

| years3 = 1996–1999

| clubs3 = Arsenal

| caps3 = 31

| goals3 = 0

| totalcaps = 245

| totalgoals = 25

| nationalyears1 = 1990–1992

| nationalteam1 = France

| nationalcaps1 = 6

| nationalgoals1 = 0

| manageryears1 = 2011–2014

| managerclubs1 = Lyon

| manageryears2 = 2015–2016

| managerclubs2 = Aston Villa

| manageryears3 = 2017–2019

| managerclubs3 = Montreal Impact

}}

Rémi Marie François Garde ({{IPA|fr|ʁemi ɡaʁd}}, born 3 April 1966) is a French former professional footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer.

He played as a defender and defensive midfielder, spending most of his career with his first club Lyon, with whom he won the 1988–89 French Division 2. In 1993, he moved to Strasbourg, reaching the Coupe de France final and winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in his second season. He joined Arsenal in 1996, where he won the 1997–98 FA Premier League before retiring through injury a year later. Garde was capped by the France national team, featuring in their squad at UEFA Euro 1992.{{cite web|url=http://www.eurosport.com/football/remi-garde_prs211738/person.shtml|title=Remi Garde|website=Eurosport.com}}

Upon retirement as a player, he worked as a coach and assistant manager at Lyon, before taking the managerial position there in 2011. He won the Coupe de France and Trophée des Champions the following year, and left in 2014 for personal reasons. He was hired by Aston Villa in November 2015, and left five months later. He was hired by Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer in November 2017, and was sacked in August 2019.

Club career

Born in L'Arbresle, Rhône, Garde started his playing career at nearby Lyon in 1982, helping the club achieve promotion to Ligue 1 in 1989. Playing as a defensive midfielder or sweeper, he became club captain. Garde left Lyon in 1993 to join Strasbourg, where he spent three seasons and reached a Coupe de France final in 1995. In the summer, the team won the 1995 UEFA Intertoto Cup, defeating Austria's Admira Wacker in the final.

He moved to England in August 1996, joining Arsenal after compatriot Arsène Wenger recommended him to the club; Wenger was not Arsenal's manager at this stage, as he was seeing out his contract at Nagoya Grampus. Garde joined on the same day as Patrick Vieira, though unlike Vieira, the 30-year-old Garde was intended to be more of an experienced cover player rather than a future first-team regular.

Garde became known for his tidy and reliable performances as backup for Vieira or Emmanuel Petit; he played a total of 45 matches over three seasons for Arsenal, and was a member of the Double-winning side of 1997–98, making ten league appearances that season meaning he only narrowly qualified for a Premier League winners' medal. He also made one appearance during Arsenal's FA Cup run, which came in the quarter-final replay at West Ham United. The game went to a penalty shootout and despite Garde missing his kick, Arsenal prevailed.{{cite news |title=West Ham 1 Arsenal 1 (aet, 3-4 on penalties)|url=http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/article/165/7770613/west-ham-1-arsenal-1-aet-3-4-on-penalties|publisher=Sporting Life |access-date=12 November 2013}} He was however not part of the squad as they won the 1998 FA Cup Final against Newcastle United at Wembley Stadium.

With age and a persistent knee injury limiting his appearances, Garde retired from professional football in June 1999, just after he had narrowly missed out on a second successive double with the club, who had finished second in the league and lost the FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United.

International career

Garde made his debut for France at the 1990 Kuwait Tournament at the Al-Sadaqua Walsalam Stadium in Kuwait City. His first appearance came against the hosts in a 1–0 win on 21 January. He won six caps for his country, and was a member of the French squad at Euro 92 but did not play at all in the competition, in which the French were eliminated at the group stage in Sweden.{{cite web | url=http://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/seven-things-you-might-not-know-about-prospective-aston-villa-boss-remi-garde_sto4975335/story.shtml | title=Seven things you might not know about prospective Aston Villa boss Remi Garde | date=2 November 2015 | publisher=Eurosport | access-date=3 November 2015}}

Coaching career

=Lyon=

File:Rémi Garde (3).JPG in 2013]]

After a period working as a pundit on French television, he rejoined his old club Lyon as a coach in 2003, and helped the club to win Ligue 1 titles in 2003–04 and 2004–05. After the departure of Paul Le Guen as manager in the summer of 2005, Garde became assistant to his replacement Gérard Houllier. In May 2007, with his contract due to expire, Garde was linked to a return to Arsenal as director of football, a new role created to replace that of the recently departed vice-chairman David Dein.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Article/Wenger-en-froid-avec-ses-ex/707854|title = Wenger en froid avec ses ex}}

In 2010, he worked as the director of the Centre Tola Vologe, Lyon's training complex. On 22 June 2011, he was appointed as Lyon's new manager to replace Claude Puel.{{cite news |url=http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11806/7000101/lyon-turn-to-garde |title=Lyon turn to Garde |publisher=Sky Sports |date=22 June 2011 |access-date=30 October 2015}}

While at the helm of Les Gones, Garde won the Coupe de France title of 2011–12 as well as the Trophee des Champions of the same year.{{cite web | url=https://int.soccerway.com/coaches/remi-garde/193975/ | title=R. Garde |work=Soccerway | publisher=Global Sports Media| access-date=14 January 2016}}{{cite news |url=http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2011/06/20/%e2%80%9cen-garde%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-defending-remi-garde-and-the-potential-problems-at-lyon/ |title="En garde!" – Defending Rémi Garde and the potential problems at Lyon |first=Jason |last=Milligan |publisher=French Football Weekly |date=20 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328095614/http://frenchfootballweekly.com/2011/06/20/%E2%80%9Cen-garde%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-defending-remi-garde-and-the-potential-problems-at-lyon/ |archive-date=28 March 2012}} He left at the end of the 2013–14 season for personal and family reasons.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27391722 |title=Lyon manager Remi Garde to leave Ligue 1 club |publisher=BBC Sport |date=13 May 2014 |access-date=30 October 2015}}

=Aston Villa=

On 2 November 2015, Garde agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal to become the manager of Premier League side Aston Villa who were bottom of the table.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34704734 |title=Remi Garde: Aston Villa confirm ex-Lyon boss as manager |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2 November 2015 |access-date=14 January 2016}} Six days later, in Garde's first match in charge, his new team drew 0–0 with league leaders Manchester City.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/nov/08/aston-villa-manchester-city-remi-garde-premier-league-report|title= Aston Villa frustrate Manchester City as Rémi Garde makes instant impact|date=8 November 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London|access-date=10 November 2015}}

Garde put a strong emphasis on discipline at Villa. He dropped midfielder Jack Grealish from the first team after he went partying following a 4–0 loss at Everton and warned the team not to party excessively over the Christmas period.{{cite news|title=Aston Villa boss Remi Garde: Christmas not a party time for us|url=http://www.espnfc.co.uk/aston-villa/story/2738995/remi-garde-christmas-not-party-time-for-aston-villa|access-date=30 December 2015|publisher=ESPN FC|date=4 December 2015}} On 29 March 2016, with Villa still bottom of the league, Garde left the club by mutual consent.{{cite news|title=Club statement: Rémi Garde|url=http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~5455200,00.html|access-date=29 March 2016|publisher=Aston Villa F.C.|date=29 March 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330164710/http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0%2C%2C10265~5455200%2C00.html|archive-date=30 March 2016}}

= Montreal Impact =

After more than 18 months out of work, Garde was named coach of Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer on 8 November 2017.{{Cite news| title = Ex-Aston Villa boss Remi Garde finally lands a new job | last = Evans | first = Gregg | newspaper= Birmingham Mail | date = 8 November 2017 | access-date = 8 November 2017 | url = http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/ex-aston-villa-boss-remi-13877542}} In his first competitive fixture, away to fellow Canadians Vancouver Whitecaps FC, the Impact lost 2–1.{{cite news|title=L'Impact s'incline à Vancouver contre les Whitecaps, en lever de rideau de sa saison 2018|trans-title=Impact fall in Vancouver against Whitecaps in 2018 season curtain-raiser|url=https://ici.radio-canada.ca/sports/1087123/impact-montreal-soccer-mls-remi-garde-vancouver-whitecaps|access-date=30 March 2018|publisher=Radio Canada|date=5 March 2018|language=fr}} Montreal competed for a playoff position for much of Garde's first season. After a 1–0 loss to the New England Revolution on the final day of the regular season, the Impact failed to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs.{{Cite news|url=https://montrealgazette.com/sports/soccer/mls/montreal-impact/season-ending-loss-to-revolution-kills-impacts-playoff-hopes|title=Season-ending loss to Revolution kills Impact's playoff hopes|date=29 October 2018|work=Montreal Gazette|access-date=29 October 2018|language=en-US}}

Garde was sacked by Montreal on 21 August 2019, and replaced by former Houston Dynamo head coach Wílmer Cabrera.{{cite web| url = https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/08/21/montreal-impact-part-ways-head-coach-remi-garde-hire-wilmer-cabrera| title = Montreal Impact part ways with head coach Remi Garde, hire Wilmer Cabrera {{!}} MLSSoccer.com}}

Managerial statistics

class=wikitable style="text-align:center" \|+ Managerial record by team and tenure
rowspan=2\|Team !rowspan=2\|From !rowspan=2\|To !colspan=5\|Record !rowspan=2\|{{abbr\|Ref.\|Reference}}
{{abbr\|P\|Matches played}}	{{abbr\|W\|Matches won}}	{{abbr\|D\|Matches drawn}}	{{abbr\|L\|Matches lost}}	{{abbr\|Win %\|Win percentage}}
align=left\|Lyon \|align=left\|22 June 2011 \|align=left\|23 May 2014 {{WDL\|168\|85\|38\|45\|decimals=1}} \|{{cite web \|title=Managers: Remi Garde \|url=http://www.soccerbase.com/managers/manager.sd?manager_id=2399 \|work=Soccerbase \|publisher=Centurycomm \|access-date=29 March 2016}}
align=left\|Aston Villa \|align=left\|2 November 2015 \|align=left\|29 March 2016 {{WDL\|23\|3\|7\|13\|decimals=1}} \|
align=left\|Montreal Impact \|align=left\|8 November 2017 \|align=left\|21 August 2019 {{WDL\|67\|28\|9\|30\|decimals=1}} \|
colspan=3\|Total {{WDLtot\|258\|116\|54\|88\|decimals=1}} !

class=wikitable style="text-align:center"

|+ Managerial record by team and tenure

rowspan=2|Team

!rowspan=2|From

!rowspan=2|To

!colspan=5|Record

!rowspan=2|{{abbr|Ref.|Reference}}

align=left|Lyon

|align=left|22 June 2011

|align=left|23 May 2014

|{{cite web |title=Managers: Remi Garde |url=http://www.soccerbase.com/managers/manager.sd?manager_id=2399 |work=Soccerbase |publisher=Centurycomm |access-date=29 March 2016}}

align=left|Aston Villa

|align=left|2 November 2015

|align=left|29 March 2016

align=left|Montreal Impact

|align=left|8 November 2017

|align=left|21 August 2019

colspan=3|Total

Honours

=Player=

Lyon

Ligue 2: 1988–89

Strasbourg

UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1995{{cite web | url=https://fr.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/match/51953--strasbourg-vs-wacker/ | title=Strasbourg v Wacker | publisher=UEFA | access-date=3 November 2015 |language=fr}}
Coupe de France runner-up: 1994–95

Arsenal

Premier League: 1997–98{{cite web |url=https://www.premierleague.com/players/1129/Remi-Garde/overview |title=Remi Garde: Overview |publisher=Premier League |access-date=16 April 2018}}