Laurent Blanc: il pete plus haut que son cul (1)

…. that’s a useful French phrase which means the person breaks wind higher than the place from which they usually break wind. Too big for their boots, in other words. In case our Laurent doesn’t get the message – you don’t go around calling SAFC a little club unfit for one of your players – here it is in slightly different terms:


Bordeaux: un petit club avec des grandioses prétentions. Avec le joueur rejeté par Sunderland, David Bellion – qui parmi nous se souviennent comment il s’est mit a courir 50 metres, mais souvent aussi la façon dont il s’est terminé en deposent le ballon en plein Row Z? – sur la fin comme remplacement (dernier match), ils ont gagné le titre de Ligue 1 sous les yeux de Marseille, qui avait semblé en route pour le championnat francais. Il ne fallait que j’ai annoncé la possibilité de l’OM comme champions dans le presse, suite ils ont immédiatement perdu 3-1 à domicile contre Lyon. Bellion*? Champions? OK, le jeune homme a sans aucun doute connu une amélioration depuis ses années a Sunderland, ou il a fait beaucoup de vent pour rien. Monsieur Blanc était grand joueur. Grace a la betise de Slaven Bili?, il a subi une absence triste de la finale de la Coupe du Monde 1998 (le fameux un-deux-trois victoire sur le Brésil), mais il gère une équipe qui pourrait remporter le championnat français, mais aura probablement condamné au milieu de la classement s’ils jouaient en Angleterre. La plupart des joueurs français de merite vont d’ailleurs as quickly as their little legs will carry them. Les étrangers qui commencent à développer leur carrière en France le faire dans l’espoir que les clubs des premières ligues des pays voisins et de se tenir à l’écart. Et Laurent Blanc a l’audacité de dire Sunderland ne sont pas un assez grand club pour Marouane Chamakh.

And where exactly would Bordeaux finish if playing in the Premier League? 10th? 12th? 14? 7th in an exceptional season? A Fulham, Wigan sort of club …
… I meant to call him to task for it last week when I spotted his pompous comments in the French press. Now Mike Tivnen, over at the Blackcats list, reminds us of what he had to say, now that the remarks have crossed the Channel…

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc has again ruled out the departure of Marouane Chamakh to Sunderland by insisting he will only let the wantaway striker join a “big club”.

Chamakh has outlined his determination to leave Les Girondins and move to the Premier League but Blanc has already said he would only allow Chamakh to move if what he views as a bigger club came in with an offer, and he has reiterated his stance while on a pre-season tour to Canada with Les Girondins.

The former France defender told French daily newspaper L’Equipe: “I am going to do everything to make sure he does not go to just any club.”

He added: “With him, things are clear. After the season he’s had, if he has to go, it will be to a big club. That’s why I am standing in the way of a departure to Sunderland.

“I am not going to change what I said to him at the start of the year. If an offer comes from a big club, I will not stand in the way. The door is half-open.”

Mike commented:
Seems a very odd attitude to me. If I was the player and my boss was telling me who I could and couldn’t go to for reasons other than finance – or maybe club rivalry – I think I’d tell him to f*** off. Particularly when he seems to get his knowledge of the Premiership from watching Sky,


* My new friend kamini-le-ouf, who supplied the caricature of Marouane reports that Bellion is “as bad as ever”!

Colin Randall, aka Monsieur Salut, is a Sunderland supporter from boyhood, a freelance journalist and the owner of the Salut! group of websites covering subjects from SAFC to France, travel, the media and current affairs. Pete Sixsmith taught in Ferryhill before opting for early retirement, knows football inside out and gets to most Sunderland games. Joan Dawson, formerly co-ordinator of Wear Down South, the newsletter of the London & SE branch of SAFC Supporters' Association, frequently acts as stand-in editor. Her brother, Malcolm, former chairman and still information officer of the Heart of England SAFCSA branch, is now deputy editor.

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