Former France boss Raymond Domenech has revealed his damning assessment of his own players during one of the World Cup’s most explosive episodes.
The French national team endured one of its darkest moments during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, with the squad staging a strike after forward Nicolas Anelka was sent home.
France had entered the tournament as one of the favourites for glory, four years on from Domenech leading them to the 2006 final, where they lost on penalties to Italy.
A new Netflix documentary titled ‘The Bus, the Blues on Strike’ has delved into the drama involving the team in South Africa, where France crashed out at the group stage.
Domenech provided his diary from the World Cup for the documentary, revealing his assessment of his players and their attitudes as France’s campaign rapidly descended into a farce.
The French coach, known for his belief in astrology, wrote that Arsenal legend Thierry Henry – who was born on August 17 – was a ‘banal self-absorbed Leo’.
Raymond Domenech’s brutal assessment of his French squad at the 2010 World Cup has been revealed, with Nicolas Anelka branded by the coach as a ‘complete moron’
Anelka was sent home after explosive details of his dressing room row with Domenech were revealed by L’Equipe
Domenech described forward Thierry Henry as a ‘banal self-absorbed Leo’ in his diary
Domenech branded Yoann Gourcuff as ‘First mildly autistic, then a complete moron’, while he wrote that defender William Gallas was ‘always sulking, I won’t put up with it much longer.’
The French coach was critical of his captain Patrice Evra, stating that the ‘best thing for him would be to keep quiet, and labelled Anelka as being a ‘complete idiot’ after the forward had apparently walked past him without looking at him.
‘I sometimes have bursts of hatred towards these idiots,’ Domenech added on the squad.
Anelka and Evra were among central figures in the drama, with Domenech having had a heated row with the former.
Anelka was sent home from the tournament after refusing to apologise after clashing with the head coach at half-time during France’s shock 2-0 defeat to Mexico.
L’Equipe reported at the time that Anelka had told Domenech ‘Go f*** yourself, you dirty son of a wh***’, leading to the French Football Federation taking action against the forward.
Domenech and Evra denied hearing those insults in the documentary, although Anelka declined to appeal when L’Equipe were acquitted in court in 2011 after taking legal action over their front page.
The French squad had refused to train in protest at Anelka’s expulsion from the squad, with Evra leading players onto their team bus after rowing with their fitness coach.
The France squad’s strike at the tournament has been explored in a Netflix documentary
The squad refused to train and walked onto the team bus after Anelka had been sent home
Domenech had read out a statement from the squad, with France ultimately crashing out of the tournament in the group stage in humiliating fashion
Domenech then read out a statement made by the players to the media, which read: ‘All the players without exception want to declare their opposition to the decision taken by the FFF to exclude Nicolas Anelka from the squad.
‘At the request of the squad, the player in question attempted to have dialogue but his approach was ignored. The FFF has at no time tried to protect the squad. It has made a decision without consulting all the players, on the basis of the facts reported by the press.’
Domenech’s diary revealed his sarcastic view of the players’ strike, writing ‘This is your best collective effort of the entire World Cup. Suicide has been committed! Hallelujah!’
The French boss also expressed surprise that the statement from the players had contained ‘no spelling mistakes’, leading to him theorising that they ‘didn’t write that’.
The strike occurred with France’s World Cup hopes hanging by a thread after they drew their opening match 0-0 with Uruguay, before losing 2-0 to Mexico.
Evra was dropped for their final group stage match, with France losing 2-1 to South Africa to crash out of the tournament by finishing bottom of their group.
Domenech’s contract as France boss ended after the tournament, while he was later sacked by the federation for ‘gross misconduct’.
His handling of Anelka’s expulsion, the team strike and refusing to shake the hand of South Africa’s manager after their final match were among the reasons cited, leading to him being dismissed without compensation.
Domenech later agreed compensation after taking legal action against the federation.
