Lolo - 2 more years - Confirmed!

[gaijin]

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=280560&cpid=24&CLID=149&lid=&title=PSG+extend+Fournier+deal&channel=France

Looks as if Laurent Fournier has been installed as new PSG coach after been given a 2 year extention to his temporary contract by the PSG staff.

Thoughts?

I personally, think Lolo has done a smashing job, with some pretty poor tools around him.

The past two games higfhlight how far we have come, but show how much needs to be done. We have fought back from 2-0 goals down in the past two matches (Sochaux and Metz) - but of course, it took 4 defenders to score the goals and we leaked 5 in the other end.

Of course, he needs money to rebuild. No matter how well he can get these guys motivated, the current squad is not simply not good enough.

[gaijin]

Sorry for some of the translating. Someitmes, uou find those words that are intranslatebale into English.


Pierre Blayau, pourquoi avoir choisi Laurent Fournier au poste d’entraîneur du PSG ?
Avec Laurent Fournier, nous avons privilégié la compétence. Il a montré qu’il était à sa place. C’est un ancien joueur de haut niveau, il a gagné des titres, et il se rapproche donc d’un Paul Le Guen ou d’un Ricardo. Et puis, il connaît le club. Il a participé à son histoire. Il a l’envie et l’amour du club. Tout cela assemblé, cela doit donner de bons résultats.

Pierre Blayau, why have chosen Laurent Fournier as managaer of PSG?
With Laurent Fournier, we have favoured competence. He has shown that he would be in his place. He's a former player of high quality, he has won titles, and he compares therefore, with Paul Le Guen or Ricardo. And also, he knows the club. He has particpated in its history. He has the desire and love for the club. Together that will give us good results.

Laurent Fournier n’est-il pas un choix par défaut ?
Non, trouver un autre entraîneur aurait été facile. La volonté de l’actionnaire est que le club se donne les moyens d’une plus grande ambition. Nous n’aurions pas buté par exemple sur l’aspect financier.

Laurent Fournier, isn't he a choice by default?
No, finding a another manager, would have been easy. The will of the shareholders gives the club itself the means for a greater ambition. We would not have rebutted, for example on the finanical aspect.

(read = cheap option)

L’arrivée de Paul Le Guen a-t-elle été envisagée ?
Cela ne m’a pas traversé l’esprit. Il n’y a pas besoin de nouvelle rupture au PSG. Il faut privilégier la continuité. Ce qui ne veut pas dire que Paul ne viendra pas dans les 20 ans à venir. C’est long 20 ans (sourire).

The arrival of Paul Le Guen, had that been envisaged at all?
That did not cross my mind. There is no need again to create a new rupture at PSG. It is necessary to favour the continuaty. That is not to say that Paul, will come in 20 years time. It is a long time, 20 years. (smiles)

(Makes sense, no new coach, no unsettling of the squad.)

Quelle est la priorité aujourd’hui ?
Notre priorité, c’est de se remettre au travail et de gagner contre Rennes. C’est un devoir pour le groupe pro. Pour montrer que le PSG de la saison prochaine est déjà en germe. Et puis il faut préparer un bon recrutement.

What is the priority today?
Our priority, is get back to work and to win against against Rennes. Its a duty for the team. To show that PSG, next season, is already rebuilding (growing.)
And also, it is necessary to prepare for a good recruitment [in the summer.]


Jean-Michel Moutier aura-t-il une enveloppe conséquente pour le recrutement ? Si oui, de combien ?
On a des idées. Cela fait partie des délibérations du conseil de surveillance. Si on annonce un gros chiffre, cela va attirer les intermédiaires. Disons que nous n’avons pas beaucoup d’argent, mais que nous voulons attirer de grands joueurs (sourire). On a fixé un budget. J’ai l’intention de faire une grosse et grande équipe. Il faut être humble et mesuré dans l’ambition, mais pour gagner plus de matchs, il faut un recrutement intelligent.

Will Jean-Michel Moutier have any available transfer money for signings? If so, how much?
We have ideas. This is part of the deliberations of the board. If we annouce a large figure, that will attract agents (?). Let's just say that we don't have alot of money, but we want to attract big players (smiles). We have fixed a budget. I have the intention of making a great team. We on has to be humble and measure in ambition, but for winning more matches, it would be neccessary to make a intelligent recruitment.

Où en est-on du recrutement ?
Christophe Landrin a signé. Et nous sommes actuellement en discussion avec un certain nombre de joueurs. Les bruits vont jouer à plein les prochaines semaines.

Who are some of the potential signings?
Christophe Landrin has signed. And we are currently in discussion with a number of players. More shall be made clear in the coming weeks.

Beaucoup de départs sont-ils à envisager du côté des joueurs ?
Il y aura des départs. Le premier critère c’est de connaître la volonté du joueur de rester. Le second critère, c’est l’adhésion au projet de vie de groupe. Il faut que cela soit accepté, que beaucoup de choses soient partagées.

Are they going to be alot of departures, amongst the players?
There will be departures. The first criteria, is to know who will remain. The second criteria, is the project of who will be joining the team. It is neccesary to accept that alot of choices will be divided.


Quel est l’objectif du PSG pour la saison prochaine ?
Gagner des matchs. Le PSG perd trop souvent ou fait trop de nuls. On doit retrouver le goût de la victoire à trois points. On ne va pas dire que nous ne voulons pas gagner, mais c’est la réalité du terrain qui prévaut. Il y a vingt équipes qui prennent le départ du championnat, et je ne vois pas au nom de quoi le PSG s’interdirait le rêve. Il faut gagner des matchs, renouer avec la victoire, redonner de l’enthousiasme au public. Si au terme de la première année, le PSG obtient une 4eme ou une 5eme place, après avoir été 3eme pendant une bonne partie de la saison plus le, on aura bien travaillé.

What is the objective for PSG next season?
Win games. PSG lost too many or have had too many draws. We must find that taste for victory and 3 points. We don't say that we don't want to win, but its the reality on the pitch which is always going to prevail. There are 20 teams which are in the Le Championnat, and I don't see anything stopping PSG in its dream. Of course, we have to win games, reclaim some wins and bring back the enthusiam of the public. If we finish the first year, with PSG in 4th or 5th place, after been 3rd during a good part of the season, we will have worked well.

Jérôme Rothen a demandé à vous voir et veut des garanties sur le futur. Comment trouvez-vous sa démarche ?
Jérôme Rothen est un très grand joueur, et il l’a démontré ces dernières semaines. Il est normal qu’il se demande de quoi l’avenir sera fait. Mais je ne connais aucune entreprise qui puisse donner des garanties. Ceci dit, je peux dire que l’ambition du club va monter d’un cran et on va le voir à l’intersaison. Cela devrait permettre de redonner de l’ambition aux joueurs cadres.

Jerome Rothen has demanded to see you and wants guarentees for the future. How do you find his approach?
Jerome, is a very good player, and he has demonstarted it, these past few weeks. It is normal that he wants to know the future and what will be done. But, I don't know any business that can give full guarentees. That is to say, the ambition of the club has gone up an notch, and one can see this mid-season. This should allow to bring back the ambition of players in the team.

N’êtes vous pas frustré de ne pas jouer l’Intertoto ou l’UEFA ?
Cela dépendait de notre rang final. Si c’est pour faire trois tours d’Intertoto, cela peut être dangereux. Franchement, si nous avions terminé dernier qualifié pour l’Intertoto, on ne l’aurait pas joué.

Are you frustrated not to be playing in the Interoto or UEFA Cup?
That depends on the final ranking. If its for three rounds of the Interoto, that could be dangerous. Frankly, if we had finished last and qualified for the Intertoto, we would not have played in it.

(Hmmmm. Okay then...)

Again.....my translation is not perfect. Sorry about that.

[Pierre-Henri]

Again.....my translation is not perfect. Sorry about that.


http://www.sissa.ch/nelson.jpg

Merci Nelson :D !

(sorry, you have to be french if you want to understand the joke)

[SportBoy333]

Bah. There's a lot of big names available but they went for the cheap in house guy.

[HalfManHalfAmazing]

Does that surprise you? PSG has been cheap forever. They refuse to spend money, despite being in one of the 10 biggest cities in the entire world.

[SportBoy333]

I'm not making excuses for them but the DNCG, higher employment taxes on players, and the French league being very weak are 3 reasons why PSG doesn't spend as much money as they should. It's not exactly easy to get good players to come play in France if you can't offer them the most money. If PSG were playing in Italy, Spain, or England, I'm sure they'd spend more money and they'd have to in order to compete with their competitors.

[Legion04]

Ganu, thank you for the translation! I enjoyed reading up on recent PSG news.

Allez PSG!!! :)

[Catfish]

Does that surprise you? PSG has been cheap forever. They refuse to spend money, despite being in one of the 10 biggest cities in the entire world.
OUCH!

"Shouldn't" they be one of the richest and biggest clubs in Europe?

[SportBoy333]

In a perfect world they should be but I explained in my previous post why they aren't. The French League and the laws and rules and restrictions the French teams have to abide by is whats holding them back. Also to add to it they arent as popular as you think compared to the big European clubs. If they played all their home games in the 80,000 seat Stade de France it would be half full for most of their matches. They are handicapped by playing in France if they played in England, Spain, or Italy they would be a bigger club because of the different rules(no DNCG, no higher taxes) and they would spend more money and they would be able to attract better players. The best players go to the best leagues and who pays them the most money and PSG being in the French League hurts their statue in Europe. The only thing that could help them is if the French league got richer and less strict.

[HalfManHalfAmazing]

A) Parc De Princes is undersized and antiquated.

B)Parisians don't follow this team, why? No idea.

C)PSG is one of the richest teams in the world, that doesn't mean they spend the money.

D)I don't care WHAT kind of tax restrictions are placed on this team, the pay in France is a HELL of a lot better than in Africa, and PSG has shown that they will NOT scout Africa like other Ligue 1 teams are doing.

E)Canal+ runs this team with an iron fist, the French movie industry is in the toilet.

F)If PSG has had the ability to cut costs, they have. If they have needed to drop cash to sign a player, they have refused. They have never had a major name player in their prime (MAYBE Jay Jay Okocha, but he's no Ronaldo, Zidane; Rothen is NOT a star, though he could be if he produced).

G)NO French Stars have come through their system, there is most likely a fundamental issue in their youth academy, or a fear that if they become a superstar they wont get paid.

Honestly folks, I think a HUGE issue is that the team is in Paris. Smaller cities like London, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, and LOS ANGELES have multiple major football teams in them (Look at how many teams play in London) and yet Paris has ONE poorly funded and supported club. Red Star and RC92 are NOT well supported either. RC92 is the team of an athetlic club for those that didn't know. It would be like playing for a country club rec team.

The question is, WHY is playing in Paris such a big issue? Too many other things to do? Too many transplants?

It's NOT the French tax system, Lyon and Marseille have both had success in Europe (Though PSG as has well)

[gaijin]

A) Parc De Princes is undersized and antiquated.

B)Parisians don't follow this team, why? No idea.

C)PSG is one of the richest teams in the world, that doesn't mean they spend the money.

D)I don't care WHAT kind of tax restrictions are placed on this team, the pay in France is a HELL of a lot better than in Africa, and PSG has shown that they will NOT scout Africa like other Ligue 1 teams are doing.

E)Canal+ runs this team with an iron fist, the French movie industry is in the toilet.

F)If PSG has had the ability to cut costs, they have. If they have needed to drop cash to sign a player, they have refused. They have never had a major name player in their prime (MAYBE Jay Jay Okocha, but he's no Ronaldo, Zidane; Rothen is NOT a star, though he could be if he produced).

G)NO French Stars have come through their system, there is most likely a fundamental issue in their youth academy, or a fear that if they become a superstar they wont get paid.

Honestly folks, I think a HUGE issue is that the team is in Paris. Smaller cities like London, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, and LOS ANGELES have multiple major football teams in them (Look at how many teams play in London) and yet Paris has ONE poorly funded and supported club. Red Star and RC92 are NOT well supported either. RC92 is the team of an athetlic club for those that didn't know. It would be like playing for a country club rec team.

The question is, WHY is playing in Paris such a big issue? Too many other things to do? Too many transplants?

It's NOT the French tax system, Lyon and Marseille have both had success in Europe (Though PSG as has well)


a) Right. So where do we build a new ground in Paris then? Land prices are through the roof and space to build is sparse. And I am not going to St-Denis to follow my team.

b) Define Parisian. If you mean those people who live in Paris, then of cousre they don't. If you mean people in the burbs, then they do. That said, football is not 'huge' in France, to the level that it is in England. French people prefer to enjoy sport on a recreational level more. Being an out and out fan is something fairly new, excerbated by the World Cup

c) We are not rich. In terms of how rich we are to some of the Italian, Spanish and English teams, then we are far from a state of majestic grandure. Christ even Dinamo Moscow have more money than we do. Blame the DNGC for not allowing us to go nuts. Good move imo. I'd rather see us wallow around the 1st, then be bankrupt in two years.

d) Again, I can't speak for the staff. But they always went down the South American route. I think when the club was founded in the early 70's, the youth system was not paramount (much like most teams at the time)

Still, we have Cana (EDIT: we signed him from Lausanne didn't we?), Mendy and Haddad who all played last week.

e) The entire world movie indutry is in the toilet. Blame America.

f) Hmmmm. Djorkaeff, Weah....? I think we have always had star names. Okay not to the extent of yesteryear, but times have changed. We will never sign stars in their prime. They will go to England, Spain or Italy now.

g) See d) - it was never fully ratified imo. There was always a dependance on steady cash during the history of the club. We used to buy whoever we needed, whilst neglecting a youth policy. Teams like Lyon were forced to use the youth system when they struggled in the early 90's.

* Again, its hard to explain - without you having appreciated the French culture and people. Sport is not a big thing. Football does not make headline news.

* England has had a stronger footballing tradition and hence has more teams in the city. France has its population more sparesly based about the country and teams tend to produce one team that dominates and saturates the support base. Again, you gotta understand the French mentality towards the game.

* You have clearly never lived in Paris. :D Its about 10% Romantic, 90% annoying.

Lyon had no history prior to 2000 and Marseille conned their way through the league in the 90's. Both Nantes and Bordeaux who have won the title in the past 7 years, were in fear of getting relegated last week. Success is not always consistent in France.

Lyon have done well, because they very well run and have been implimented their system far before anyone else could have imagined.

[HalfManHalfAmazing]

a) Right. So where do we build a new ground in Paris then? Land prices are through the roof and space to build is sparse. And I am not going to St-Denis to follow my team.

b) Define Parisian. If you mean those people who live in Paris, then of cousre they don't. If you mean people in the burbs, then they do. That said, football is not 'huge' in France, to the level that it is in England. French people prefer to enjoy sport on a recreational level more. Being an out and out fan is something fairly new, excerbated by the World Cup

c) We are not rich. In terms of how rich we are to some of the Italian, Spanish and English teams, then we are far from a state of majestic grandure. Christ even Dinamo Moscow have more money than we do. Blame the DNGC for not allowing us to go nuts. Good move imo. I'd rather see us wallow around the 1st, then be bankrupt in two years.

d) Again, I can't speak for the staff. But they always went down the South American route. I think when the club was founded in the early 70's, the youth system was not paramount (much like most teams at the time)

Still, we have Cana (EDIT: we signed him from Lausanne didn't we?), Mendy and Haddad who all played last week.

e) The entire world movie indutry is in the toilet. Blame America.

f) Hmmmm. Djorkaeff, Weah....? I think we have always had star names. Okay not to the extent of yesteryear, but times have changed. We will never sign stars in their prime. They will go to England, Spain or Italy now.

g) See d) - it was never fully ratified imo. There was always a dependance on steady cash during the history of the club. We used to buy whoever we needed, whilst neglecting a youth policy. Teams like Lyon were forced to use the youth system when they struggled in the early 90's.

* Again, its hard to explain - without you having appreciated the French culture and people. Sport is not a big thing. Football does not make headline news.

* England has had a stronger footballing tradition and hence has more teams in the city. France has its population more sparesly based about the country and teams tend to produce one team that dominates and saturates the support base. Again, you gotta understand the French mentality towards the game.

* You have clearly never lived in Paris. Its about 10% Romantic, 90% annoying.

Lyon had no history prior to 2000 and Marseille conned their way through the league in the 90's. Both Nantes and Bordeaux who have won the title in the past 7 years, were in fear of getting relegated last week. Success is not always consistent in France.

Lyon have done well, because they very well run and have been implimented their system far before anyone else could have imagined.
__________________


I spent 2 weeks in Paris, I am far from an expert at Parisian football.

I agree that Soccer is not paramount to the French, the French are lazy and smelly people, how they won the world cup is beyond me.

Regarding your responses:

A)Where to build? I don't know. Somewhere near Les Halles? It's hard to build new stadiums in Europe and the UK because land is so scarce.

B)I define Parisian by those that live in Paris, the 20,000,000 people that live in the city. You say of course they don't like most people in big cities don't follow teams. Why not? Londoners certainly follow Arsenal, even Los Angelinos follow the Galaxy.

C)Where are your numbers for this? Tickets sold+TV Revenue+Memorabilia Sold=Revenue. I have NO idea how you think Dinamo Moscow can have more money when CERTAINLY Ligue 1 TV rights are CRAZILY more than Russian TV rights. Ticket prices are MUCH lower in Moscow as well. Wallow around 1st what? The first league? What's the point of being mid-table forever?

D)There is no historic pipeline from SA to France. There are TONS of African countries that speak French as their first language though, who would feel more comfortable in French culture. (IMHO).

E)My point is that Canal+ is doing poorly because of the French film industry. The US movie industry owns no sporting franchises.

F)Djorkaeff and Weah? What about Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Beckham, Michael Owen, Totti, etc.? I think you are biased as to what qualifies as a Star name. We sold Ronaldinho RIGHT as he was about to blow up. We've never made a play for a big french star. Both Zidane and Henry played in Ligue 1 remember.

G)You make it seem like neglecting a youth squad is OK. Look at all the players that came out of Man U's youth program. If PSG monopolized French talent like Man U monopolizes English (And European) talent, they would be the best team in the entire world. Look at how STRONG French football is. (The Nats)

Lyon has won L1 4 years in a row, they are doing SOMETHING right even if the success is recent.

Yes french teams are up and down, but Nantes has won L1 8 times in their existence. That's beautiful. They have a lot of homegrown French talent which THEY developed, and African players.

[SportBoy333]

Honestly folks, I think a HUGE issue is that the team is in Paris. Smaller cities like London, Berlin, Munich, Barcelona, and LOS ANGELES have multiple major football teams in them (Look at how many teams play in London) and yet Paris has ONE poorly funded and supported club. Red Star and RC92 are NOT well supported either. RC92 is the team of an athetlic club for those that didn't know. It would be like playing for a country club rec team.



Los Angeles only has 2 teams because they are right near Mexico and Mexico is a huge soccer market. It would make sense for the league then to put multiple teams there. Berlin and Munich do not have multiple major football teams. I wouldn't call 1860 Munich that they are not in the 1st division and their crowds are not what a major football team would get. Berlin doesnt have a 2nd major club either. FC Union Berlin is not a big club and they aren't in the top flight. RC92 just got a new wealthy owner who bought the team recently. In 5 years or less they will be in Ligue 1 I gurantee it. If Paris gets the 2012 Olympics a new stadium for them will be coming and even if they dont get the Olympics it still might come. The future for RC92 is looking bright. They finished 6 or 7th this year in the 3rd division and a month ago they were in 3rd place with a chance to be promoted and this was with a undermaned depleted squad. Once they get back to Ligue 1 the crowds will come back. French fans arent gonna turn out in big numbers to see 3rd division teams even if they are historial. They just dont do that like they do in England and Germany.

[SportBoy333]

c) We are not rich. In terms of how rich we are to some of the Italian, Spanish and English teams, then we are far from a state of majestic grandure. Christ even Dinamo Moscow have more money than we do. Blame the DNGC for not allowing us to go nuts. Good move imo. I'd rather see us wallow around the 1st, then be bankrupt in two years.



Yes and I believe PSG would go nuts if they were playing in Italy, Spain, and England. They would have to and they'd be forced to. They'd be a bigger spending club if they played in a richer, better,and less restricted league. It does kinda seem odd from afar that Dinamo Moscow would have more money than PSG but I totally believe it.

[gaijin]

Yes and I believe PSG would go nuts if they were playing in Italy, Spain, and England. They would have to and they'd be forced to. They'd be a bigger spending club if they played in a richer, better,and less restricted league. It does kinda seem odd from afar that Dinamo Moscow would have more money than PSG but I totally believe it.
France has very few Oligrachs willing to invest multi-cash into a football club. :(

More a social thing than anything else.

[SportBoy333]

That is very true it seems. Paris is a large,wealthy city so you'd think their would be a lot of people there who would wanna invest in RC92 and try to help return them to their former glory but nope the new owner is from Switzerland of all places. No rich Paris businessmen wanna buy Racing, Red Star, Paris FC, etc. and sink all their money into them in order to take them to the top. It would be great if that were to happen.

[gaijin]

I spent 2 weeks in Paris, I am far from an expert at Parisian football.

I agree that Soccer is not paramount to the French, the French are lazy and smelly people, how they won the world cup is beyond me.

Regarding your responses:

A)Where to build? I don't know. Somewhere near Les Halles? It's hard to build new stadiums in Europe and the UK because land is so scarce.

B)I define Parisian by those that live in Paris, the 20,000,000 people that live in the city. You say of course they don't like most people in big cities don't follow teams. Why not? Londoners certainly follow Arsenal, even Los Angelinos follow the Galaxy.

C)Where are your numbers for this? Tickets sold+TV Revenue+Memorabilia Sold=Revenue. I have NO idea how you think Dinamo Moscow can have more money when CERTAINLY Ligue 1 TV rights are CRAZILY more than Russian TV rights. Ticket prices are MUCH lower in Moscow as well. Wallow around 1st what? The first league? What's the point of being mid-table forever?

D)There is no historic pipeline from SA to France. There are TONS of African countries that speak French as their first language though, who would feel more comfortable in French culture. (IMHO).

E)My point is that Canal+ is doing poorly because of the French film industry. The US movie industry owns no sporting franchises.

F)Djorkaeff and Weah? What about Zinedine Zidane, Thierry Henry, Ronaldo, Beckham, Michael Owen, Totti, etc.? I think you are biased as to what qualifies as a Star name. We sold Ronaldinho RIGHT as he was about to blow up. We've never made a play for a big french star. Both Zidane and Henry played in Ligue 1 remember.

G)You make it seem like neglecting a youth squad is OK. Look at all the players that came out of Man U's youth program. If PSG monopolized French talent like Man U monopolizes English (And European) talent, they would be the best team in the entire world. Look at how STRONG French football is. (The Nats)

Lyon has won L1 4 years in a row, they are doing SOMETHING right even if the success is recent.

Yes french teams are up and down, but Nantes has won L1 8 times in their existence. That's beautiful. They have a lot of homegrown French talent which THEY developed, and African players.

Haw he haw.....we do not like zis cheese et le smell tu stupide Americain!

Yeah, they wear stripey jumpers and berets and ride around on bikes too. :rolleyes:

a) Hmmmm. But many would oppose a move anywhere but Yvelines. Everyone is saying, go to St Denis. I know many people who would recoil in horror at the club getting rid of its Yvelines roots.

We are Paris St-Germain after all. ;)

b) 20m??? More like 11m. Again, its a cultural thing some people just don't like football. Probably 90% of the population in the UK has a team. I think it would equate to about 40% in France with many being casual admirers of the game.

c) Learn about a guy called Aleksei Fedorychev and oligarchs. Even Shakhtar Donetsk have more money than we do. Its nothing about TV rights and ticket revenue. But hey, I know I know the RPL system, I can tell you for a fact the sponsorship money now is growing rapidly and will soon eclipse that in France.

d) No, but there is in PSG. We have always had that South American flair. Just like when signed Coehlo and Bianchi.... Of course we should scout African nations, but we don't, dats me point, we always went down the SA route for no reason whatsoever.

e) I was being sarcastic smartass, and making a point that the US film indutry is the cause of many of the failures of the domestic market. Canal+ are set to offer the best TV money deal in Europe - that can't be bad. We are set for a windfall some say.

f) Riiiight. Zizou made his name in Juve, Rolando in Barca, Owen in Liverpool, Beckham at Man Utd and Totti in Roma. All in Spain, Italy or England. Get the picture? The French league is small currency to those leagues, we will always play second fiddle to those leagues.

Weah won FIFA player of the year btw. And Djorkaeff went on to win the World Cup and European Championships as well. I could name a few more, but me head hurts. Erm.....Ginola, Rai (WC winner with Brazil)....etc etc.

Ronnie moved on, because we were ready to sell him and he wanted to go to a better league. I don't blame him - no French team can buy the best and they never will. Most clubs in Russia have a better chance of signing a star name than we do.

"Hey Elano! You wanna play for us?" What??? he's gone to Donetsk for double the salary we can pay.....oh well.

g) No, I'm not. I'm saying it was never ratified when the club was founded 30 years ago. We never had a decent system in place. I blame the past owners and staff for that. Sadly its hard to monopolise the current market, when you are hardly monopolising the French game.

I wouldn't exactly use the NT to help fund your example. The French team is struggling to get the young players through, because they failed to do so when they had the old guard there. They sat back, watched them get old, refuse to help new talent through and then struggled to get in any quality replacements when they retired at the same time.

That said, France has some quality young players, but they are lead by a complete moron - who is scared of change and making a desicive move.

* Aulas started the system in the early 90's. Only now, the idea of having a strong scouting and youth system and selling with profit became a good idea. In the mid 90's everyone wanted a bit of the action in France. Lyon's prudence is paying off. It took years not months to achieve this turnaround, we must expect the same.

* Nantes are much older than we are, and our success in the same time-frame is fairly comparable. As I said before, its a managment problem, one which was pushed back when cash was always at hand. Wrong move imo.

All that said, without money, you will be forced to play young players. Just ask Guy Roux. ;) Mabye Blayau can do the same....