Forever part of the legend of French football when he won the 1998 World Cup as French coach, Aimé Jacquet was also lucid about the universe in which he was evolving at the time. Former doctor of the Blues, Jean-Marcel Ferret told an anecdote on this subject.
He is and will forever remain the first coach in history to have led the French men’s football team to the top of world football. On the French bench when the Blues of Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps lifted the 1998 World Cup trophy, Aimé Jacquet left his mark on an entire generation. But before getting there, the former midfielder, who played for AS Saint-Étienne and Olympique Lyonnais during his playing career, also coached in Lyon, Bordeaux, Montpellier and Nancy. And it was on the OL side that Aimé Jacquet first crossed paths with Jean-Marcel Ferret. Former doctor of the France team, the latter told an anecdote involving the former French coach.
In an interview given last Sunday to The Team, Jean-Marcel Ferret returned to his very first discussion with Aimé Jacquet. An exchange during which the latter sent him a message in the form of a sad premonition. “ Aimé Jacquet taught me everything about the industry. I started at OL with him in 1976, when he wanted to have a doctor at his side who knew physiology and traumatology. (…) Aimé has always been a visionary, knowing how to give people their responsibilities without intervening. The first thing he said to me was: ‘Doc, don’t expect any recognition from the community. The day it suits them, they will stab you in the back’. »
” He was right “
A message that came back to Jean-Marcel Ferret’s mind twice. First when the latter, after more than ten years of good and loyal service within the French team (1993-2004), was thanked when Raymond Domenech took power, then when the Olympique Lyonnais told him about the exit in 2008. “ I made it my philosophy. And he (Aimé Jacquet) was right because it ended badly with OL and with the France team. And I harbored no resentment. »
