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Journalist
After trying different sports, Thibault turned to a career as an amateur footballer. When making a choice between becoming a professional footballer and a journalist, the qualities tipped the scales to one side. Here he is now in the editorial staff of 10 Sport, after a diploma obtained at the International Institute of Communication in Paris.
Returning to OM as advisor to Pablo Longoria, Jean-Pierre Papin now serves as reserve coach. Having already been on the sidelines of RC Lens, Strasbourg and Chartres, the 1991 Ballon d’Or is therefore experiencing a new experience as a technician. But is he made for this job? Some doubt it. This is the case of Rudy Thalmensi, who knew Papin in Chartres and of whom he does not have great memories.
Before being one of the best coaches in the world, Zinedine Zidane will have been one of the greatest players in history. However, having had a great career on the pitch is not always synonymous with success on the sidelines. Jean-Pierre Papin would he fall into this category? While we remember the performances of the former French striker, Ballon d’Or in 1991, JPP would not be cut out to be a coach, even though he is currently in charge of the OM reserves. Rudy Thalmensi was able to see this more closely when he was at Chartres.
“You had the impression that he had never played football”
Pour Arena, Rudy Thalmensi recounted the very bad memory of Jean-Pierre Papin who led him to Chartres. He then explained: “ Papin, as a coach, I didn’t like it. (…) Papin, as a coach, tactically, you had the impression that he had never played football. I promise you. They will all tell you the same thing. When you talk about football, there is a language, he doesn’t have this football language. He can’t explain. His ideas are not clear. And wrong? A bit of both. The best thing is that they are not clear. And those who were at Chartes with me, they think the same thing. On the other hand, he’s super nice, he’s a great person ».
“In your head you tell yourself that he’s making fun of me”
« It was strange. You have to experience it to understand it. When we say to ourselves it’s Papin and all that, there are a lot of people who say it who say I’m abusing it. But those with whom I was in Chartres and who knew Papin, and even afterwards I met other people who had Papin as a coach, they told me the same thing. In fact, as he’s someone who’s cool, always laughing, we heard him making jokes so much off the field that when we came back, what he said, like it wasn’t clearly, we said to ourselves he’s not serious. We didn’t understand if what he said was really what he wanted. I remember a chat where he spoke to a player, he said to him: “I put you as a right winger”. The player answers yes and Papin says: “What are you doing on the line side then? “. Just little things like that. In your head you tell yourself that he is making fun of me. That was every day. The group didn’t take Papin seriously? No », he then added on Jean-Pierre Papin.
