Faure flying French flag at Rangers
Far from the standards of elite professional football, former Lyon defender Sebastien Faure is seeking to make a name for himself at fallen Scottish giants Rangers, the club he signed for in the close-season.
The Frenchman scored his first goal for the Glasgow outfit – relegated to the country's fourth division after severe financial problems – in a 3-1 victory against Berwick last Saturday, finding the target 15 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.
"Every match at Ibrox Park is played in front of 50,000 fans. All the fixtures are televised. I never experienced anything like this in France. I had to take (the offer) up. I couldn't refuse it," admitted Faure, 22, who is paid four or five times as handsomely as he likely would have been had he stayed in his homeland.
"(Whether) we win, (or) we lose, the supporters are always there to support us. You have to live it to believe it. Honestly, living this way in football, my passion, I can't really complain."
A graduate of Lyon's youth academy, Faure was part of the 1991 generation that produced budding talents such as Clement Grenier and Alexandre Lacazette, now both fixtures in the first-team at Stade Gerland.
But Faure doesn't fear being stuck in the Scottish fourth tier, where Rangers own a commanding 20-point lead at the top of the table.
"It's not my goal to return to France but rather to make a career in British football even though we don't know what opportunities will arise," he revealed.
Faure made a lone senior appearance for Lyon in a 3-1 League Cup home defeat against Metz in November 2008 at the age of just 17.
He never got a second chance.
"In June, I came to the end of my one-year contract with Lyon. I wanted to leave and English football attracted me. I had a desire to change countries. A few clubs were interested," he explained.
"I was reluctant to go and play in the fourth division in Scotland but my agent persuaded me to give it a try. I did a test as a centre-half. My technique and my commitment appealed to the coach Ally McCoist."
"He convinced me," the defender, who signed a three-year-deal in August, said of McCoist.
Having become a peripheral figure after a hernia operation that sidelined him for six weeks earlier in the season, Faure is eager to regain his place in the team.
With the Rangers backline under fire from critics, a second chance may present itself sooner rather than later.
