National coach from 2004 to 2010, with a World Cup final to his credit in 2006 but also the Knysna fiasco, during the South African World Cup, four years later, Raymond Domenech is best known in the collective memory for his work under the aegis of the French Football Federation, he who also led the French Espoirs for a long time, between 1993 and 2004.
Before making a name for himself in the upper echelons of French football, the former rough defender who played for Lyon, Strasbourg, PSG, Bordeaux and Mulhouse had learned his skills on the bench in the latter club, but also and above all within his favorite team – his training OL. Between 1988 and 1993, the person concerned coached more than 200 matches at the head of the flagship club of his hometown.
It was at this time, among the Gones, that Raymond Domenech had under his command a certain Bruno Ngotty, another native of Rhodan raised at the OL school, from 1988 to 1995, the year of his transfer to PSG. However, the former Parisian defender, sole scorer in the 1996 Coupe des Coupes final, has not forgotten the precepts of coach Domenech.
“He wanted me to hit harder in general”
In an interview with L’Equipe, Bruno Ngotty remembers the most memorable talk he has ever attended as a player. “ That of Raymond Domenech before a derbyhe whispers. Any chat before a derby, for that matter. Let’s say he put all the terms, and you knew exactly where he was going. You knew that if a Stéphanois found himself on the ground, at one point, he would be happy… »
Break the Green, such could have been the order given by Raymond Domenech while he was in charge of OL. And Bruno Ngotty recounts another striking scene: “ I was 17, it was a D2 match with OL in Le Havre, and I knocked out Frank Stapleton, the former Arsenal and Ireland center forward, with one punch. He made me unpin, elbowed me, but it’s always the same, the referee only saw the reaction. I understood that you had to be responsive and be respected, but on a tackle, for example, not on a punch away from the ball. Yes, I felt alone when I returned to the locker room. But that has only happened to me two or three times in my twenty-two year career. It was Raymond Domenech, the coach, he wanted me to hit harder in general but, at the time, he told me that there were other ways (smiles). »
