After Montpellier, Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux, Jean-Louis Gasset is on the verge of becoming the head coach of a fourth Ligue 1 team. The former assistant to Luis Fernandez (PSG) and Laurent Blanc (Bordeaux, France, PSG) is expected in Marseille to take over from Gennaro Gattuso, who was sacked this Monday. By banking on this 70-year-old technician, accustomed to the French championship, Pablo Longoria and the OM management are betting on experience to straighten out a drifting locker room. But Gasset, who would arrive at Canebière accompanied by his faithful assistant Ghislain Printant, remains on a difficult experience on the Ivory Coast bench.
You don’t have to go back long to see Jean-Louis Gasset making headlines. On January 24, 2024, then coach of Côte d’Ivoire which is playing the African Cup of Nations at home, the native of Montpellier resigned in the wake of a crushing defeat against Equatorial Guinea (0-4) in the tournament phase. chickens. “We were in a devastated locker room with clashes outside,” he explained a few days later to L’Équipe. We were on the verge of a catastrophe, frankly. I’ve been coaching for thirty-five years and this is the first resignation, but given what was happening… Tell me, you’re useless, you’re old, you’ve never coached in Africa, OK, but now it took a dramatic turn.”
His departure, supposed to breathe new life into a team on the verge of elimination, caused an improbable scenario. Emerse Faé, his 40-year-old deputy, took over the interim role. Miraculously qualified for the round of 16, among the best third-placed teams, the Elephants made an unexpected journey to the final… which they won on February 11 against Nigeria (2-1).
In the summer of 2007, when Laurent Blanc arrived at the Girondins de Bordeaux for his first adventure on a bench, he enlisted the services of the experienced Jean-Louis Gasset. The two men rubbed shoulders in Montpellier at the end of the 1980s. In Gironde (2008-2010) as in the French team (2010-2012) then at PSG (2013-2016), the tandem has a string of excellent results. Together, they won four Ligue 1 (2009, 2014, 2015, 2016), four Coupes de la Ligue (2009, 2014, 2015, 2016), two Coupes de France (2015, 2016) and five champions trophies (2008, 2009). , 2013, 2014, 2015).
The duo’s complementarity is particularly appreciated during training sessions. The “President” prefers to take a step back and speak with the players in individual interviews. It is Jean-Louis Gasset who manages the activities, exercises and implementation. The two men have not worked together since the Parisian adventure, although Laurent Blanc has since officiated on the benches of Al-Rayyan SC (2020-2022) and Lyon (2022-2023).
Article 655 paragraph 4 of the Professional Football Charter stipulates that “the age limit for exercising the profession of football coach is set at 65 years. No coaching contract will be registered in favor of a coach over this age.” However, Jean-Louis Gasset is 70 years old. An exemption granted by the LFP is possible. Claudio Ranieri and Raymond Domenech benefited from it in Nantes, in 2017 and 2020 respectively, just like Guy Roux, in 2007, in Lens.
If the exemption is granted, Jean-Louis Gasset would become the second oldest coach in Ligue 1 behind László Bölöni (70), the Romanian technician from FC Metz. Far from the pursuers Michel Der Zakarian (61 years old) and Pascal Gastien (60 years old).
Could we imagine Dupont without Dupond? Tick without Tick? Gasset without Printant? Without much surprise, Jean-Louis Gasset should be accompanied on the Canebière by his faithful assistant Ghislain Printant, also from Montpellier. “We shared so many things,” he confided in February 2017 to Midi Libre. It started in the 80s when I was preparing goalkeepers when Jean-Louis was training the MHSC reserve. We were then assistants together. We have the same football philosophy, this need to progress and transmit. Plus, we speak the same language. On a daily basis, this benefits the group.”
In Ligue 1, their first collaboration took place on the Montpellier bench from January 2017, for a successful maintenance mission. The duo then officiate in Saint-Etienne (December 2017-May 2019), Bordeaux (August 2020-July 2021) and on the bench of the Ivory Coast (May 2022-January 2024). “Jean-Louis has a bit of the same relationship with Ghislain as a rally driver with his co-driver,” Roland Romeyer, president of the ASSE board of directors, analyzed for RMC. They have complementary skills and a real passion for their profession.”
Far from the volcanic temperament of Gennaro Gattuso, Jean-Louis Gasset is recognized for his ability to manage a group and individuals. Souleymane Diawara, former Bordeaux and OM defender, told an amusing anecdote on this subject in the columns of So Foot, in October 2015: “Maybe if I had been a professional who sleeps at 11 p.m. max , who eats a balanced diet, who doesn’t drink, who doesn’t go out, I would have farted everywhere… When I arrive in Bordeaux, the first match, we host Le Mans. The most rotten match of my career. I say to myself: “Okay, I’m arriving in Bordeaux, I come from London, a bustling city, it’s quiet there.” One month, two months, Jean-Louis (Gasset) calls me: “Tell me dad, what’s the matter? Have you changed anything in your life?” I explain to him that I’m not acting crazy anymore, that I’m not going out anymore.”
And the Senegalese international continued: “On Sunday, we played against PSG. He said to me, “I want you to go back to your bastard life, to be the one we recruited.” On Thursday, things are happening in Bordeaux, it’s student, I go out to Lilian Laslandes’ restaurant. Good food, which is good for the body, good atmosphere, it’s moving, the women… I get home at 2 o’clock, I sleep, I’m knocked out… Sunday, we win 3-0, I score. Gasset, at the end of the match: “What did I tell you, that’s what I want!”
