Domenech remains France coach

Days of speculation ended yesterday after a closed door meeting was held between the 18 FFF board members and Domenech. During the meeting, board members quizzed Domenech on some of his questionable choices and tactics for the Euros. It was reported that Doms owned up to a number of mistakes.

Then, in a vote of confidence, all 18 members present (Platini was absent) voted in favour of Doms being retained. A bit surprising perhaps…are they just realistic or vastly out of touch with reality?

Now of course it wasn’t as simple as that (duh we’re talking about les Français here!) as a number of conditions were set in place.

First though, why the heck did they choose to retain him? Well the official line is that our failure wasn’t all down to just Doms, I think a large amount of blame has been placed on the players’ shoulders. Course you could say it’s down to the manager to motivate them etc, but the FFF seem to think they should be held responsible too (ok by me).

The FFF guys also just have a lot of belief in Doms. One could argue that were it not for the return of the Zidane-Thuram-Maks trio he would have been out on his ass a long time ago (and they wouldn’t be wrong!). But, he has held the team together pretty well. I think we’ve been a victim of our own success in that Doms found it incredibly difficult to drop players that so recently led the team to within a missed pk of a World Cup triumph. So, conitnuity was a big part of their decision. Breaking that argument open more, the players were really vocal in their support for Doms. And I don’t think that was just for show, ’cause maybe they knew Doms would stay so they wanted to stay on his good side. There was plenty of anger in the media and players could have justifiably said how they felt. In fact, some did say they were surprised by a few player selections, yet they made it clear that they supported Doms. The FFF took such recommendations seriously, especially since they spanned the “generations”: Vieira, Sagnol, Benzema, Diarra, Ben Arfa had all backed up Doms. Say what you will about Sagnol’s performances, he’s still got big football brains. He knows his career is over but he still backed him up.

The FFF president Jean-Pierre Escallettes also mentioned how Doms track record with the Les Bleus was really quite good and that it would be rash to simply focus on this tournament and dismiss him out of passion.

There may have been a few less explicit factors…one, Domenech would have been owed a lot of money (800.000+ Euros I think) if he were to be fired. Two, I think there really was no one better to replace him. This had to have played on the board’s mind. I really don’t think Didier Deschamps was an option. He doesn’t have much experience and I don’t see how he would have changed things too much.

Plus, the board made it really clear that our performance was embarassing and unacceptable. Things are going to change they clamoured. And I think (as JP pointed out) Doms probably relishes that opportunity.  They specifically said that the Euros gave the world a bad impression of the French team. I think that shows that they’re serious in wanting to change things. From that perspective if Doms is amenable to change, and there isn’t that obvious choice to replace him, why fire him?

So, what’s going to change, according to the FFF? Well, for starters we’re going to be play a more attacking brand of football. Not many details on that though. They made it clear that Doms has to improve his relationship with the media and make the team more accessible. They felt that being so closed off didn’t help when things started to go sour. In a positive development, Doms admitted to being overwhelmed at times, between his on and off the field duties. He said he wants more help from the FFF. In response to that, the FFF are going to create a new group, the “France Club 2010″. It will act as support for him, certainly on the admin side of things and I also think it will be there in times of counsel. In this “club”, there will be a variety of people, including current board members, former players like Thuram, and maybe even a “club representative”, like the Lyon preseident, Aulas (no more than 10 people tops). To me, that’s very promising. It’s a very interesting mix as you get people both close and further away from the field/situation. And if Aulas is included well that will help with the country-club relationship.

The actual coaching staff will also be reevaluated, with Gérard Houllier helping out that transition. A General Manager position, sitting between Doms and the FFF board, will also be created. Houllier will also oversee that process.

Concerning the players, they are going to get a talking too, a “telling off of sorts” the next time the team reconvenes, by Escallettes. He’s going to make clear that it means it a great deal to play for France and they need to respect that. Each player will have to sign a charter, agreeing to values that must be practiced. These will include things concerning attittude, opponents, national anthem and behaviour towards the public. Yes, it’s a bit pedantic, but it shows how serious the FFF are. Apparently, Escallettes was really angry at the fact that the players were so distant from the public. He states how fans that travelled to the Euros, some spending fortunes just to attend one match, could not get “anywhere near their heroes”. He wants the players to understand that it’s a privilege playing for France and that they to have act accordingly.

And perhaps most importantly, Doms is now on a short leash, as the “situation” will be reviewed 3 games into our World Cup qualifying campaign. Of course, that opens a whole ‘nother can of worms, as what does “review” mean and what are the criteria??? It could take time to see results on paper.

Now, I’m going to be really positive about this. Yes, some countries, like Italy, don’t “stand” for this sort thing. You don’t win? You’re fired. The media will love all this, “leave it to the French to do it their own way” etc. But, I think it’s really mature of the FFF. After all, there is no replacement waiting in the wings. Doms, and the FFF, are being transparent about all the shortcomings and the laundry list of things that need changing. They have really looked at this, thought of it and done what they feel is best for French football. The future’s pretty bright with all our young stars. Of course it all depends on results. Oh, and that third game of qualifying?

It’s vs Romania.

–Stéphane F.