Emblematic coach of the French championship, passed by Bastia, Nice, Saint-Etienne, Lille or Rennes, Frédéric Antonetti, the current coach of FC Metz, returns for Europe 1 on his career, on the match against Olympique de Marseille on Sunday evening, his club, but he also returns with great emotion to the illness which affected his wife, who died in July 2020.
Antonetti, an exceptional trainer? “I am a simple servant of football”
“I don’t consider myself an exceptional coach. For me, exceptional coaches are those who play every three days and who win titles. I am simply a coach, trainer, who has made his career in Ligue 1, sometimes in Ligue 2. But I would say that it’s the fact of having stayed in the middle for a long time that counts. But I don’t see myself as out of the ordinary. Out of the ordinary it’s the Wengers, it’s Mourinho “It’s Guardiola. Those who are there all the time, every three days. It’s very complicated. They’ve been doing it for decades.
I am a simple servant of football. I must have some qualities to have lasted this long. All the clubs that called me were in trouble. A club that was good never called me. Whether it’s Lille, whether it’s Saint-Etienne, whether it’s Nice, whether it’s Bastia and Metz too because I took them in D2. But afterwards, I can say that I was not lucky enough to have a club that could give me the possibility of playing for the first places. But I’m happy with my journey and I’m happy to have lasted. It’s not easy to last in this profession and still be trusted at 60.”
The confrontation against OM: “We will have our chance”
“Marseille is a big name in French football. That’s obvious. Today, we’re going to sell out. It shows the popular interest that this match represents. Afterwards, for the players, it’s important “I would say it’s motivating to play against Marseille. For Metz, that means we’re in the first division. So it’s always very interesting matches. We’re preparing for it knowing that Marseille have a lot of qualities, so we try to muzzle their strength a bit. If there are a few flaws, we try to make the players understand that we have our chance. We will have our chance. It’s up to us to seize it.
What is motivating is that in these matches, we will have our chance. Marseille have very high level players. I will quote Payet, I will quote Guendouzi, I will quote Kamara, Saliba, surrounded by foreign players who also have a very good level. It’s a team that is technically good. What scares me is that we are all paralyzed by the event and by our situation in the standings. That we don’t make our match, that we don’t free ourselves completely. I would like us to be completely free and try our luck because we have our chance in this game.”
On FC Metz and its symbols: “I look at General de Gaulle”
“I have a lot of respect. You know what’s happening to me right now? It’s going to touch you. I haven’t watched television for three years. But sometimes I go on the internet and watch, for example , General de Gaulle’s press conferences. A great man. Even press conferences from 50 years ago, in the 1960s, which are still topical, with a very sharp geopolitical sense. What he said 50 years ago turned out to be true later. I have a lot of respect for General de Gaulle. So the cross of Lorraine means a lot to me.”
His wife’s illness: “Football has always helped me”
“First, I resigned. I said to the president, ‘Listen, I’m going home. I’m going to stay with my wife, at my wife’s bedside. I’m stopping my contract.’ President Serin didn’t want to. He said to me, ‘No, I want you to continue, even from a distance’. That’s the first condition.
The second condition is that my wife wanted me to continue. So, from there, I continued to follow the club, to watch the matches, to take care of recruitment. But doing both, let’s say that at times it was very complicated, but it was also perhaps a breath of fresh air for me. Football has always helped me and also during this very difficult period. (Silence) I find it hard to talk about it and I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”