But no slap, however stinging it may be, is the result of chance. Among those who nurtured it, some harvested its seeds to the point of rotting. The ambient antipathy surrounding the Blues is the clever mix of all-money, a disrespect felt by the supporters, and the empty words that are no longer usable because they can now be deciphered by any average person. This atmosphere is also the farce on the field, the mutiny of the Bounty’s rebels in training, the prose of Nicolas Anelka, the revealing promises to come, the oligarchic gerontocracy of football institutions, Raymond Domenech facing the screen…
The French have been expressing these reactions for almost six years. More than a depression, this generation of players tends to disappear from memories regarding their 2006 performances. The vox populi will only remember Zidane, Vieira, Barthez, Trezeguet, and perhaps Thierry Henry for this German campaign… the survivors of 1998.
French football died a first time in Seville in 1982, it went through purgatory in 1993 against Bulgaria before reaching paradise one night on July 12, 1998. Now and for several years, hell has been engulfing these Blues. How far? Will the upcoming arrival of Laurent Blanc alone solve the problems, also the work of corrupted links revolving around the French team?
And if ultimately nothing changed, the communication trying to make believe the contrary while today no one is fooled anymore?
The gap would widen even further between this France of football representative of the people and its fans. A team, players who do not feel the revolt coming from behind them.
Another context, another era, different morals, the tragicomic genre has given way in History to the visionary philosophy of Voltaire before the “Happy Shipwreck” by Olympe de Gouges was played in 1789, shortly before a revolution that only the wealthiest did not see coming…
Each era has its downfall or revolution, the one of the Blues is unfortunately initiated. Far from having been the Big Bang of a golden generation, this team has fallen into a self-centered Bling-Bling. Fatal.
