Jean-Pierre DARCHEN

Jean-Pierre Darchen was playing amateur football at Lannion, when Stade Rennais signed him up in 1964; and he proved to be a very good and versatile player. In spite of being mostly used in midfield, he would make eight appearances in the role of striker during his first season. He made two of those during Rennes' victorious French Cup run in 1965, but would not get onto the pitch in the two finals, having to settle for a place on the bench. The 1965/1966 season would be the most successful of his career in the First Division, playing in both legs of the European Cup-Winners-Cup tie against Dukla Prague, making a good impression, even being denied by the crossbar from one shot. His good displays in Red and Black even helped him to get called up into the provisionary French squad, and he was regularly in the starting line-up in the league that season, mainly down to his versatility, be it in attack or in defence. He would also go on to play a good number of games in the subsequent 1966/1967 season, where he ended up as a midfielder in place of Ascencio, who was dropped back into a centre-back role. There was then a major clear out at SRUC, and he was released. He moved on to Lorient, who were playing in the Second Division, and served under the stewardship of Antoine Cuissard in 1967. He spent four seasons there, and for the last two of those, he worked as Reserve Team Coach. He ended his playing career in 1971. After hanging up his boots for good, he went on to manage Lannion, and then Perros-Guirec, between 1972 and 1989. He was also Assistant Coach at Guingamp from 1990-1993. Darchen is a big fan of golf, and is an active member of the Stade Rennais Former Players Association.