Football Special Report: French Ligue 1 special- Je t’adore mais non plus! (I like you but not much)
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Olympique-Lyonnais-c40130 sporting director, Bernard Lacombe can be the scariest man in France when he does the angry impersonation of Roberto de Niro and Lyon coach, Claude Puel should do well to not to be on the receiving end of the impersonation.
This trend of having a sporting director over a coach isn’t very uncommon in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899.
People say whatever they like about the Lyon coach but can never questions his tenacity. The Frenchman has so far survived a ferocious manager hunt in which players and fans alike are calling for his head and he might be the first managerial casualty in
the French League this season.
Lyon Sporting Director Lacombe recently disclosed in the media that he is no more on speaking terms with the coach and he doesn’t enjoy working with Puel.
People haven’t forgotten that Lacombe is a Lyonnais legend when he was a player and he has been in the Lyon management for over 22 years now.
Most of us have seen the movie “Meet the Parents” and the duo of Puel and Lacombe fit in pretty well as Puel is definitely a Ben Stiller look-alike while Lacombe is definitely not dissimilar to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Robert-c31222 De Niro in that movie.
However, in recent years it is a clubs’ sporting directors who are now every coach’s worst enemies. Ask http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paul-c29347 Le Guen, Jean-Pierre Papin, Didier Deschamps or even Alain Perrin, all who have been stung by their respective sporting directors in France.
Chrisophe Galtier, coach of Saint Etienne must have been over the moon when he found out that his sporting director, Damien Comolli has departed to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809.
But Liverpool isn’t the first English club that has introduced the concept of having a coach and a sporting director together. Jacques Santini was initially very happy when he was introduced as a coach by Tottenham in a bid to rival their arch rivals Arsenal
and also as an answer to Arsene Wenger. But he found out that he will never be in the hot seat as long as Martin Jol (Assistant coach) and Sporting Director, Frank Arnesen was around.
But Santini perhaps learnt a lesson and these days, the Frenchman is the one who is hovering above Lens coach Jean-Guy Wallemme, as his assistant. It seems to be a very peculiar and somewhat weird pair as Wallemme is new to the French Ligue 1 while Santini
has already a league title to his name.
If this wasn’t enough, poor Wallemme has to deal with an even influential sporting director called Daniel Leclercq who famously guided Lens to a league title in 1997-98 and has now earned a cult status among Lens fans. And one thing’s for sure, when Leclercq
starts taking control, a coach should know that his days are numbered. Ask Jean-Pierre Papin!
To be very honest, a sporting director is actually a very frustrated and annoying manager. They just want to be in the action at all times and are always waiting for the coach to run into some deep trouble so that they can take over and are even quick at
highlighting an already-pressurized coach’s shortcomings.
The water boiling between Puel and Lacombe is not very unusual in France. Marseille coach Didier Deschamps was already at loggerheads with his sporting director Jose Anigo and even came close to quitting last season when he had a squabble with Anigo over
summer transfers.
Last season, former Paris Saint Germain coach, Le Guen was forced to quit after he had enough of his indifferent relationship with Alain Roche and same was the case with Olle-Nicolle when he was at Nice.
This sporting director and coach pairing role in France is doing more damage than good, as a coach will always be under pressure and will surely have a breakdown soon as the pressure is always known to be relentless by the sporting directors. A clear cut
example of this is Laurent Blanc who won the league title in 2008-09 without a sporting director hovering around his legs.
Lacombe signed Puel as a coach himself but has now changed his mind. Puel seems to be on his last legs at Lyon at the moment and it is very likely that the former Monaco and Lille coach will shortly be relieved of his duties.
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