Valentine’s Day doesn’t only bring back good memories for Aimé Jacquet. In 1989, Claude Bez did not hesitate to thank him despite three championship titles and two Coupes de France.
The 1980s were those of the Girondins de Bordeaux. And his trainer Aimé Jacquet. When in 1980, following the departure of Raymond Goethals, Claude Bez decided to appoint Aimé Jacquet, not even 40 years old and only four difficult seasons at Olympique Lyonnais for any experience, the bet seemed daring to say the least.
But in almost a decade, the former midfielder will make the Girondins the benchmark in France, with three French championship titles, two Coupe de France crowns and several European epics. However, when Bordeaux, in the grip of serious financial difficulties, suffered during the 1988-89 season, Claude Bez did not hesitate to sacrifice his coach on Valentine’s Day.
Rebelote one year later
Present at a press conference, the Bordeaux president paid tribute to his former coach. “ When you are club president, you have to do things that are not pleasant on the one hand and above all very clean. And when we have a coach like Aimé Jacquet, who is a serious, hardworking, competent coach, he is dishonest, but it was done, because it had to be done, to thank such a man, he explains in the preamble. In the situation we were in, it is easier to kidnap one man than to eliminate sixteen. If we are there, it is the total responsibility of the players, they know it and are aware of it. »
But the relationship between the two men had weakened for several months and relations had become conflictual, making this violent breakup inevitable.
Aimé Jacquet will not take long to find a job. The following summer, he arrived at the head of the ambitious Montpellier, which finished in third place in the championship the previous season. But the adventure was cut short, the native of Sail-sous-Couzan not liking, from the start, that Michel Mezy was recruiting without consulting him. And finally on the eve of Valentine’s Day, he showed up again…
