The former emblematic goalkeeper of OL, Grégory Coupet, agreed for our site to return to the hot news from his favorite club. An interview during which the one who was ousted from the position of goalkeeper coach at the Girondins de Bordeaux in February 2022, talks about his distance from the professional world.
First of all, Grégory, what has become of you? We haven't seen you on football fields for ages…
Grégory Coupet : Things are clear: football is now limited for me to courses for young goalkeepers. In order to train them, to educate them. The rest, and especially the professional world, is over. Everything has changed too much for my taste.
That's to say ?
G.C. Already, I no longer recognize myself in the guards I see at work. Where are those who went out on their feet, who played high, who took risks? I only see guys on their lines, tall, strong, who don't play with movement. I miss Olmeta, Huard, Janot, to name a few, in what I see from time to time on television.
Is it the world of football or the goalkeeper position that has really changed, in your opinion?
G.C. Both. Of course the world of football has changed. And not in a good way, believe me. When in Bordeaux, for my last experience as a goalkeeper coach, you are fired by email and no one then gives you the slightest explanation to get out, it means that there is a big problem on the plan. human, right? We have long been told that the great presidents of the past, Claude Bez, Bernard Tapie, Louis Nicollin, were not always recommendable, but I rather wonder why they are no longer there…
Impossible, therefore, to find yourself in an L1 club in the future as a goalkeeper coach?
GC I don’t think so, no. I am vaccinated on this post, almost rinsed. Staff with a good group of friends no longer exist…
One of your former protégés at OL, Anthony Lopes, is going through a rather unusual situation this season, no longer even appearing in Pierre Sage's professional squad…
GC That too will have to be explained to me. Antho's situation completely escapes me, I don't understand. What I see is that he has gone from being an icon of the club, a full-fledged starter, to nothing. Anthony was swept aside in one go, with total indifference and without anyone stepping up to the plate. It's just mind-boggling. No need to draw a picture of the evolution of the world of football….
“Who spoke to Antho at the start of the season, eye to eye, to tell him that there would be no competition on a sporting level? Person. I mean no one. However, he was ready to fight sportingly…”
Didn't he simply lose his place to Lucas Perri?
G.C. Be careful, and it must be clear, I have nothing against Perri. But who spoke to Antho at the start of the season, eye to eye, to tell him that there wouldn't even be any competition on a sporting level? Person. I mean no one. However, he was ready to fight sportingly, no problem. He would have tried by all means to regain his number 1 place. But that is not at all what happened.
Let's stay on OL and its hot news. Did you follow the last derby against your training club, ASSE?
G.C. I followed that with a distracted eye, yes. Above all, I feared that things would go badly on or off the field, that things would go to hell. We have the feeling today that football is nothing more than problems, with violence in the stadiums or the extra-sporting affairs of certain players. To return to the derby, I was happy to see that it had gone well, and happy that ASSE was not humiliated, as the Lyon president, John Textor, wanted. A very curious statement, that too…
To stay on John Textor, we inevitably have to ask you what inspires you about the economic situation of OL and the risk of demotion to L2 announced by the National Directorate of Management Control (DNCG)?
GC Already, I knew American investors in Bordeaux and we saw how it ended afterwards… When a club is wiped off the map, it is never due to chance. So yes, I am worried, even sad about what my club is going through. It touches me, obviously. I have the feeling that the American businessman John Textor has not yet understood that he is in France, with regulations, laws, and a DNCG which reminds him of his duties.
We sense in his speech a lot of optimism about the future of events
G.C. Yes, he reassures everyone in front of the media. So I want to believe it too! But be careful, this is not the first time that things have gone wrong with the DNCG and when you read certain things, there is really reason to be worried. I read the words of Sidney Govou who felt that Textor had not recovered a very healthy club economically. This is undoubtedly true. But be careful, OL is an institution that must not be damaged. And no one in this club should think they are above the regulations, nor the DNCG.
Collected by Benjamin Danet
