french football

[Stevie H]

really good read this and quite an endorsement of gerard houllier and the clairefontaine system. 3 years of intensive qualification before you can manage a club. england could learn a thing or two.

 

Bordeaux and Lyon bring new wave of French optimism

With more managers than any other country still in the Champions League, France has much to shout about

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/21/bordeaux-lyon-psg-france-ligue-1

 

It is one of the great anomalies of French football that no coach born on their soil has ever won the European Cup. Despite their reputation for innovation and education, and the fact the competition was conceived by the French, the closest they can claim is the citizenship of Helenio Herrera, the mastermind of two triumphs with Internazionale in the 1960s. Herrera, though, was born in Argentina, had Spanish parents, grew up in Morocco, and ended up taking a French passport, so the link is tenuous at best.

 

The cast of coaches still going strong in this season's Champions League features three Frenchmen. No other nation has more than one. Laurent Blanc, Claude Puel and Arsène Wenger may not be among the favourites to be last man standing but all three can take credit for handling some curveballs during this tournament with concentrated coolness.

 

Bordeaux topped a troublesome group and have won seven consecutive European matches. Lyon were tactically superb in cutting down Real Madrid. Arsenal responded to a mini-disaster at Porto to progress stylishly.

 

The French coaching system is flourishing. An extraordinary 18 of 20 clubs in Ligue 1 are guided by local talent. Blanc and Puel, along with Didier Deschamps and Rudi Garcia – the pair whose teams fell out of the Europa League but retain excellent reputations for their progressive work at Marseille and Lille – are leading the way while all in their forties. All have benefitted from the methods introduced by Gérard Houllier, who set up a training programme at Clairefontaine in the 1990s. It is a three-year course, involves several internships, and evidently its graduates are given a fantastic schooling.

 

Not only does France have the most coaches left in the Champions League, it also has the most players by a long way. With 20, they top the list drawn from the starting line-ups who played in the last round of matches. Brazil are second with nine. England could muster only five.

 

For the French Football Federation, the reasons to be cheerful are manifold. With more clubs in the Champions League now than Spain, Italy or Germany (and the guarantee of one in the semi-finals after the draw paired Bordeaux and Lyon), a title race thrilling enough to have six teams at the top within a whisker of each other, more goals being scored, a trend for more open football, and domestic talent staying longer and not so easily tempted abroad at a young age, the scene is largely healthy. There is a renewed sense of confidence in French football. As the Lyon defender Cris put it: "People look at us differently now."

 

Blanc feels his Bordeaux side began to believe in themselves when they opened this Champions League campaign with a fighting draw at Juventus. The previous year they had been completely awestruck by Chelsea at the same stage and were thumped 4-0. "That first Juventus game, away against one of Europe's greatest teams, was very important for Bordeaux," Blanc says. "We went to Turin with the desire to play to our strengths and, above all, not feel what French clubs often feel against these big famous clubs – a certain fragility, a certain complex. In that first game, my players managed to lose their complexes. That set us up in the competition and helped us in the games that followed." Lyon certainly had no complex in the Bernabéu, either.

 

"This is not a mickey mouse league," assesses the France Football correspondent Philippe Auclair. "When the English newspapers publish the results and tables on a Monday morning, France is down there with Belgium and Holland in small print. You might have to change your font, my friends."

 

Now flip the coin. Last week, the French game was distraught when the hooligan problems that afflict the capital's club, Paris Saint-Germain, reached its nadir. For years the Parc des Princes has struggled to control running battles between its own fans. It is an insane situation. Rival gangs from opposite ends of the ground, the Kop de Boulogne and Tribune Auteuil, fight routinely. At the end of February, a 37-year-old man was hospitalised with savage injuries. His life support machine was switched off last Wednesday.

 

"The worst has happened," said the French secretary of state for sports, Rama Yade. "Passion has been transformed into sordid rage, senseless and murderous. Love of the team's colours has become hatred of the other person, hatred of sport, hatred of life. It's a victory for barbarity and a defeat for sport, fraternity and civilisation."

 

PSG will play their next three home games without spectators as the authorities try to find some kind of solution to systematic violence that has resulted in the death of one of their own supporters at the hands of another.

 

Although PSG are serial offenders and what happens there is an isolated case, there is concern that pockets of hooliganism have broken out at venues where the police would not expect it. Who would have thought they would need teargas in the Alpine town of Grenoble, or down on the Mediterranean coast when Nice fans ran amok? They, too, must play a match behind closed doors.

 

In the corridors of power they are keen to send out a message that any anti-social behaviour will be dealt with severely. France are bidding to host the 2016 European Championship and, although Italy and Turkey may claim to be in greater need in terms of rebuilding their homes of football, the French believe this tournament is imperative for them, too.

 

Within a couple of years of the World Cup in 1998, they realised the stadium adjustments they had made were already out of date, with the exception of the showpiece Stade de France. There are plans afoot to build new stadiums in Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice. That is three of the current top five teams who badly need to have bigger and better accommodation.

 

Lille, for example, have a ground with a capacity of only 18,000. Lyon's plans for a new 60,000 ground in the east of the city have been ploughing on for some time. Local opponents flutter around their ambitions like a cluster of mosquitos – small, annoying and with the capacity to bite above their size. Just recently the club have been bogged down with research by a team of archeologists to make sure the foundations do not disturb anything, and they will soon be running tests to establish whether the stadium's carbon emissions will have any impact on the neighbourhood.

 

Lyon will get there eventually, but Euro 2016 would certainly cut through a load of hassle.

 

"France 98 was a low-budget job," says L'Equipe's Erik Bielderman. "2016 is important because the government would be able to overrule local opposition if it is in the general interest of the nation." More than half a million people have signed up to support the bid.

 

Although attendances do not compare to those in the Bundesliga, Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, they are substantially bigger than in the 1998 World Cup year. Lyon and Bordeaux are up by an average of about 10,000 per game. Marseille, who attract crowds of 50,000 regularly, are up by around 20,000. Even Lens are up by around 6,000, and theirs is in a sense the most impressive jump of all as they were champions in 1998 and are currently near the bottom of the table.

 

This weekend, a Wolves fan who wishes to see his team play at Aston Villa is expected to fork out £43. A Bordeaux fan who fancies watching the French champions in a top-of-the-table tussle with Lille can buy a ticket for €16 (£14.50), and can even take a child along for an extra €2.

 

France's successful clubs are eager to capitalise and generate even bigger crowds as, financially, the sums are hard to sustain. TV rights do not increase in line with players' wages. Sponsors are so hard to find that a number of clubs have no hard sell on the front of their shirts. Lyon did arrange something with a betting firm but since the league bans such organisations from appearing on kit, they have been selling sponsorship for individual league games. Not too long ago they advertised a pop band's latest release across their chests. This is Lyon, remember, the seven times champions not so long ago.

 

But who are the English to smirk at a time when a Premier League club are in administration after years of dangerously cavalier spending? The French league has for decades been the advocate of prudence. Every club must submit their accounts for inspection every year to the Direction Nationale du Contrôle de Gestion (DNCG), an independent board with the authority to hand out punishments for unmanageable debt: anything from a transfer embargo to relegation.

 

It seems to be an admirable plan. The Uefa president, Michel Platini, has used the DNCG as the inspiration behind his drive for financial fair play across Europe. But Philippe Auclair is not convinced it is a flawless model, as there is still mismanagement and rule bending in France. "It is healthier than most other leagues, and of the 20 clubs in Ligue 1, probably four are managed to perfection – Lille, Lyon, Bordeaux and Auxerre. But some others are basket cases who are so afraid of the DNCG they borrow or find a cash injection to wriggle out of it. We do have French versions of Portsmouth. The likes of Strasbourg and Nantes [both recently relegated] are not much better."

 

Paris Saint-Germain are likely to have run up a €20m debt by the end of the season, but they will probably get a warning instead of instant sanctions and will find someone or something to help them wriggle out of facing the music for their worrying bank statements.

 

The big financial upshot in France is the depreciation of the euro against the pound. A few years ago the best young talent was sure to be plucked away by wealthier clubs abroad, but now such players as Hugo Lloris and Yoann Gourcuff do not have their heads turned so easily. The French can pay salaries that are not too far from the elite leagues and the players have the bonus of knowing they will be first-choice regulars instead of rotatees at an overseas powerhouse.

 

Because more of the top players are sticking with Ligue 1, the standard is improving. There are high hopes, too, that a new generation is coming through.

 

Promising players, inspiring coaches, a strong chance to land Euro 2016 – particularly as some of the committee men may well feel inclined to do the right thing by Uefa's head honcho, Platini. Once Raymond Domenech has left the building (let's leave that for another day, please), the future might well be blue.

[Earl Hafler]

Good read that, thanks

 

Look at the comparison in costs to see a match - disgraceful. But then, although the article says that wages are not that different, i doubt French clubs' wages bills are anywhere near those of the Premiership, even though t.v money should compensate for that.

[Stevie H]

Good read that, thanks

 

Look at the comparison in costs to see a match - disgraceful. But then, although the article says that wages are not that different, i doubt French clubs' wages bills are anywhere near those of the Premiership, even though t.v money should compensate for that.

the sponsorship aspect is an interesting point, french clubs for years have had a number of different sponsors on their kits and they seem to be struggling for them now.

 

biggest point for me outside the financial stuff is the clairefontaine development of managers - can you imagine gobsh*tes like allardyce studying for three years before they're allowed to even get hold of the reins of a club?

[Earl Hafler]

 

 

biggest point for me outside the financial stuff is the clairefontaine development of managers - can you imagine gobsh*tes like allardyce studying for three years before they're allowed to even get hold of the reins of a club?

 

 

No ! Do any of the French managers wear headsets ? That's the Victoria Cross for a football manager.

 

They should also introduce a similar system for pundits and anchor men. " The Drog " would never have been uttered.

[Stevie H]

No ! Do any of the French managers wear headsets ? That's the Victoria Cross for a football manager.

 

They should also introduce a similar system for pundits and anchor men. " The Drog " would never have been uttered.

never seen one wearing a headset. domenech does consult with his superstitious side before picking a squad though and won't select players with daft beards, but then he's mental.

 

only nickname i recall hearing a french commentator use is 'trezegol' for david trezeguet, but then this was adapted from italy i think. in france 'gol' does not mean 'goal' and 'trezebut' would sound a bit silly.