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10 good reasons to love Raymond Domenech
Overseeing qualification for the World Cup via a blatant handball is unlikely to do much for the popularity of French coach Raymond Domenech, either at home or abroad (his Wikipedia page is currently saying some very nasty things about him, but it will doubtless be put back to its less offensive version soon).
The 57-year-old former defender, whose name is booed at every match, has never made any effort to make himself popular, but here are 10 reasons (or nearly 10) why football fans may want to reconsider their view:
1. He has never won anything as a coach, a characteristic shared by most soccer fans, which makes him less intimidating than, say, Giovanni Trapattoni.
2. He was a workaholic defender with limited skills in his playing days, with makes a nice change in a country full of retired magicians.
3. He is more successful as a coach than the great Michel Platini, under the guidance of whom France failed to win a single match at Euro 92.
4. He convinced Zinedine Zidane, Lilian Thuram and Claude Makelele to come out of retirement and guide France all the way to the 2006 World Cup final.
5. He made Yoann Gourcuff his playmaker when others doubted he even had a place in the starting line-up.
United in for Ribery? Well, it would stop Barcelona getting him
It says more about the value of the pound than it does the value of Franck Ribery that the sum United are supposed to be prepared to pay for him is so high — 63 million pounds, if there’s anything to the story in this morning’s Guardian.
That sum is a shade over 70 million euros, which is a slightly less ridiculous amount than the 100 million euros it would have been a year or two ago but is still, of course, vastly overinflated.
Ribery is a remarkable player — so quick and direct with the ball at his feet that he looked in an altogether different class when he arrived in the Bundesliga in 2007.
I’m sure he’d be menacing in the Premier League as well — Albert Riera is considered to have had a decent first season so heaven knows what sort of plaudits Ribery could expect.
But would he be capable of filling the boots of Cristiano Ronaldo, if United are indeed considering selling the Portuguese winger and replacing him with the Frenchman?
I’d back him to embarrass the weaker defences, to win free kicks against everyone and to shrug off the weight of the price tag quite easily. But could he contribute as many goals as Ronaldo? Would he be so effective in the Champions League? Would he provide the same value to the Untied brand?
Signing Ribery would work well for United in another sense, in that it would stop him moving to Barcelona or Real Madrid.
@Diana:
Doesn’t Arsenal have too many Ribery like players (AA23, Nasri, Rosicky, Walcott) already? And would it be right to overload Barcelona with stars? Is Pep good enough to manage so many?
Raymond Domenech is a man who seems unpopular, yet gets the job done.
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