Born in Sail-sous-Couzan, about fifty kilometers from Saint-Etienne, Aimé Jacquet is part of the history of the Stéphanois club, with which he evolved during 13 seasons from 1960 to 1973. An indelible trace which was proud when receiving the city medal during the opening of the Museum of Greens in late 2013.
The one who became the hero of an entire country on July 12, 1998, could have kept a certain resentment against his lifelong club. Victim of a rupture of the Achilles tendon in 1970, the former midfielder will take two years before finding the fields but Robert Herbin, named coach during his absence, prefers young Christian Synaeghel to him, which pushes him to turn his back to ASSE to join Olympique Lyonnais.
Aimé Jacquet will play for two seasons at OL before hanging up his crampons to launch his career as a coach and replace at the raised foot Aimé Mignot on the Bench Lyonnais. A strong memory for Raymond Domenech, then Lyon player.
“The former coach, the other loved, Mignot this one, had just been dismissed and you had been asked to replace him to direct those who were still only your partners. I do not remember the exact words that you pronounced, but I still share your emotion and I see tears on your cheeks ”, had he said in The team.
“Some had seen only weakness. I understood that the weight of responsibilities was not the trigger. It was rather a vague feeling of betrayal for the one who had brought you coming and which you replaced, he had continued. School that honors you and that I also felt not yet knowing that it was the link that unites the respectful coaches. The rest of your career will prove that humanity and respect for others were not a facade. »»
“Aimé Jacquet was ahead of his time”
Another player evolving at OL, Alain Olio was also marked by the beginnings of Aimé Jacquet in the coach costume.
“He has enormous rigor and great professionalism, these are words that stick to him perfectly. He is modest, he learned a lot, read, looked at. He was very meticulous, nothing was left to chance. Anyway, we see the journey that he had behind, there is never chance. With work and capacities have succeeded in things ”he had entrusted to
Ouest-France.
“It was the first to arrive, the last party, he took time to help us and make us learn,
had he continued. Aimé was ahead of his time. He was the first to give significant expertise to each field. He brought Jean-Marcel Ferret, the first sports doctor in a wardrobe, he was at the forefront in terms of tests and statistics. Passion is loved, it is the word that best sticks to him. Without passion we cannot succeed what he has succeeded. It is an extraordinary chance to have liked to have liked as a coach. He is someone from the land, the earth and he shares it. He's almost someone in the family, he marked my life that’s clear.
