a football journalist, has the distinction of having co-written numerous biographies in French football. Collaborator for France Football, in particular, this media man has established strong links with certain big names in French football, such as Youri Djorkaeff or Nicolas Anelka.
Arnaud Ramsay was in contact with the latter when the Knysna episode occurred. The journalist recounted this special moment in an interview with the Aliotalk podcast.
“This Friday evening, late, L’Equipe is preparing to release its famous front page with the insults addressed to Domenech, where we have the impression that Anelka is going to box Domenech (“Fuck you, you dirty son of a bitch!” editor’s note). »
“This front page, a little after midnight, once no one can take it back, it circulates a little. It’s crazy violent…”.
Anelka already wanted to leave before the start of the World Cup
“I was very close to Anelka, I had just released a book where he had just told his story in photos, and where he said in particular that Raymond Domenech was the only coach of the France team who understood him, continues Arnaud Ramsay. All this to say that during a World Cup, I never contact the players, firstly because I don’t always have the contacts – I know where my place is – but, a little provocatively, around midnight, I send a little message to Anelka. I said to him: ‘Is it okay with Raymond?’ He replies: ‘LOL, how did you know?’. I said to him: ‘It’s the front page of L’Equipe the next day’.
“I isolate myself, he calls me back and tells me a little about the decline of this French team. Even in Tunisia, just before leaving for South Africa, he already wanted to leave. It was a drifting boat. And he told me what he said and what happened, which is not really what L’Equipe said. After L’Equipe wanted to embody the sinking of the French team…”concluded the journalist, contextualizing the heavy climate which surrounded the selection in South Africa. The rest is known to everyone… As a reminder, Nicolas Anelka has already stressed on several occasions that the words included in the front page of L’Equipe were absolutely not his own.
