Mmy training as a doctor means that I don’t like shooting at ambulances. And I am even less of an informer, even if I have several times pointed out the abuses and shortcomings of a “system” that I have been able to observe closely for several years.
The new governance crisis that French football is going through has this time put the president of the French Football Federation (FFF), Noël Le Graët, on the front line. It is therefore the quarry, justified by the behavior and statements of Mr. Le Graët. Behind the scenes, the contenders for his succession are already sharpening their weapons, because the position is attractive and the soup excellent.
However, none of them can say that the former president of Guingamp is a “little new” whose failings they would suddenly discover. President of the Professional Football League (LFP) from 1991 to 2000, President of the FFF since June 2011, Noël Le Graët is one of the historical godfathers of French football. He worked closely with all those who transformed him, from Jean-Claude Darmon to Charles Biétry, via Jean-Michel Aulas [président de l’Olympique lyonnais depuis 1987] and many others.
Stubborn and touchy, he had also opposed his allies in July 2000, which had cost him the presidency of the LFP, before returning to the presidency of the FFF then in great difficulty.
Operating through a ministerial delegation, the French Football Federation is an association under the 1901 law which itself delegates to a league (another 1901 association) the task of managing and commercially exploiting professional competitions. The FFF nevertheless retains the management and operation of the French teams, whose players are employees of French or foreign clubs.
Many actors “who make football” have an interest in seeing the current system continue, hence this culture of compromise and small arrangements between friends, including the regular slippages, whether financial or related to manners, make the headlines of the media, but afflict the true lovers of this wonderful sport.
If I stayed away from football authorities, it is because I very quickly understood that to be part of it, you had to deny your convictions and make “allegiance” to the power in place, that it is that of the president of the LFP [actuellement Vincent Labrune] or that of the president of the FFF.
Inflated presidential egos
I noticed, sometimes at my expense, that without the support of certain networks, without compromise (or compromises) or alliance, it was illusory to think of having any influence there. However, I have exercised five club presidencies, made some important interventions here and there, some of which have had a real impact on our professional football.
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