Santini: 'I want everyone to be scared of playing France again'

Euro 2004 qualifiers: Self-styled Mr Consensus of the defending champions faces a battle to win over the critics

Alex Hayes
Sunday 13 October 2002 00:00 BST
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Two hundred and seventy minutes; 270 miserly minutes are all it took for France to throw away four years of world domination. A lone-goal defeat by Senegal, a goalless draw with Uruguay, a 2-0 loss at the hands of Denmark; three matches, one point, no goals scored and a rapid return home. The World Cup in Japan and Korea was, in every sense, a long way from France 98.

270 minutes is also the desperately short time on which the former manager, Roger Lemerre, was ultimately judged by the French Football Federation. 270 minutes to decide the fate of the man who led Les Bleus to victory in the European Championship in the Low Countries in 2000 seems harsh, but international teams have no time. No time to settle, no time to recover. Jacques Santini knows this, and yet the new head coach has deliberately (some say perversely) set himself the now symbolic target of three competitive matches before assessing his own progress. 270 minutes to test his ability to manage at the highest level. Brave or foolish? We will know by the end of Wednesday.

By then, France will have completed the first three laps of their qualification race for Euro 2004. Nine points on the board is, predictably, the first target for the powers-that-be, but smiles back on the faces of the players is equally important in the eyes of Santini. Egos are still very bruised among Les Bleus who travelled to the Far East, so counselling has been one of the main features of the early part of his reign.

"As soon as I took over," the 50-year-old says, "I realised that the majority of those who had lived through that tough Asian experience were traumatised. Even the very experienced players found it hard. I've been there myself as a player [having lost the 1976 European Cup final] and I know how it feels to fail. Time, alone, does not erase everything. Only good performances and results will help turn the page on the Korean misadventure. I've noticed that we have been a little cautious in my first two matches [a 1-1 friendly in Tunisia and a close 2-1 win in Cyprus for the first Euro 2004 qualifier]. We were more worried about not giving the ball away than doing something positive with it. It will take a while, but I hope to draw that confidence back out of the players. I want to make everyone scared of playing France again."

Another of Santini's early tasks is to inject some new blood in a team that was fast becoming the Bleus rinse brigade. Frank Leboeuf, Christophe Dugarry and Youri Djorkaeff made their own excuses, but the international futures of several of the 1998 and 2000 heroes are also in doubt. Bixente Lizarazu, Emmanuel Petit, Vincent Candela, Alain Boghossian and Christian Karembeu are just some of the famous names missing from the latest squad for the games with Slovenia and Malta. Unlike his predecessor, Lemerre, who steadfastly refused to alter the physiognomy of the group, Santini has introduced fresh faces such as Chelsea's William Gallas and Auxerre's Philippe Mexes. However, 10 players from the World Cup remain.

"I am not here to break up everything that has been done before," Santini says. "Some of the older players had a bad day at the office in Korea, but I'm not going to banish them for that. Having said that, I am also keen to introduce a simple but effective rule, by which players are selected on merit rather than reputations. It is imperative that we re-introduce an element of competition within the group.

"By the same token, I want to play my players in their favourite roles. If they are doing well with their clubs, then there is no reason why they cannot do the same job with France. What is the point of putting Thierry [Henry] on one of the wings when he is doing brilliantly as an out-and-out striker with Arsenal?"

Encouraging on the one hand and lowering the age of the squad on the other. Those are the two sub-clauses to Santini's main job, which is obviously to ensure France are in Portugal in two years' time to defend their European title. If you are left unmoved by such an agenda, then do not worry. You are not alone. Large sections of France's football media are questioning the logic behind the Santini appointment and, therefore, his plans. Most accepted that the Class of 98 had become too much of an exclusive club that needed shaking up after the World Cup fiasco, but many felt that the Federation possessed the ideal man within their ranks.

Raymond Domenech has been the manager of the Under-21s for six years, and has thus worked with most of the players in the current senior team. Furthermore, he is known to be a bit of a maverick, someone who likes to challenge his players on and off the field. Santini, for his part, though less charismatic, is also not as implicated in recent failures.

"I accept that I probably did not enjoy unanimity," Santini says without hesitation. "I can imagine that the different football families [National Technical Department and League clubs] had their own wishes about Roger's [Lemerre] replacement. Am I the most conciliatory option? Perhaps. I guess I was neither within, nor too far out of the France family. And, unlike someone like Philippe Troussier [he was in charge of the Japan national team between 1998 and 2002], I have not been managing abroad so have a good knowledge of all the French players. I am Mr Consensus."

Santini is not a larger than life character whose enthusiasm is infectious. Instead, he relies on more old-fashioned and low-key methods. Whether or not that is the type of manager needed by France at this delicate stage remains to be seen. Much of the work required is of a mental nature, and yet Santini's first ever training session before the August friendly away to Tunisia consisted of sitting the squad down in the middle of the pitch, before outlining basic tactical ideas on a black board.

"I will make mistakes along the way," Santini admits, "of course I will. But none will put our qualification at risk. I just need to get to know the players a little better and they need to get used to my methods a little, too. There is no panic."

Santini is a man of few words. Too few, some would argue. In that respect, he is not unlike the manager who formed the nucleus of the current team, Aimée Jacquet. Both believe in building a close-knit group by encouraging frank discussions with their players. Both also like to keep their distance from the media. French newspapers, and the powerful sports daily L'Equipe in particular, have a long-standing distrust of what they call pepere mentalities. Predictably, they see Santini as one of these so-called "fuddy-duddies".

No one is calling for Santini's head quite yet, but you sense it is only a question of time. One French journalist best summed up the way in which Santini is viewed when he said: "The press don't respect him – they spare him." The doubting of a man who mixes thoughtfulness and warmth is a little unfair. His only fault is perhaps that he can have a touch of the David Brent about him. As we sit in his office at the French centre of excellence in Clairefontaine, Santini repeatedly breaks his often monotonous answers with poor jokes and a nervous grin. You quickly realise, though, that this is not a Ricky Gervais-inspired character, but a man who does not find media duties particularly easy. "I'm well aware of the fact that a national manager needs to be comfortable in dealing with journalists," Santini says, "and it is something I am working on."

Santini's manner may be open to scrutiny, but his record as a player and manager is beyond reproach. In his playing days as an attacking midfielder, he was a member of the all-conquering St Etienne team of the mid-to-late Seventies that included the likes of Michel Platini, Jacquet and Jean-Michel Larque. He won four League titles with Les Verts, and was in the 1976 side that lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the final of the then European Cup in Glasgow. Santini hit the bar during the game. Since hanging up his boots in May 1982, he has coached at every level, until his club managerial career reached its climax in May this year, when he helped Lyon lift their first ever French title.

His last chairman has nothing but praise for the man he reluctantly released in the summer. "Jacquet is honest, loyal, and a perfectionist. He has the tools to repair the French machine." Santini agrees. "I know I am the right man for the national job," he says. "I can make France great again. For years, the strength of the French team was that they made football look easy. Well, now that's exactly what I want us to get back to." With the clock ticking away, though, Santini's search for simplicity may prove the hardest task of all.

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