Skip to main content

Blanc: I am not the bogeyman

France were eliminated from the tournament in South Africa in the first round following a campaign marred by a players' boycott of a training session in support of striker Nicolas Anelka, who was sent home for insulting coach Raymond Domenech.

"I followed the events with great sadness. I was disappointed by the results and I was particularly shocked by some behaviour," Blanc, a member of France's World Cup-winning squad in 1998, told a news conference on Tuesday.

"However, I'm not the bogeyman. It is not my responsibility to take disciplinary action."

President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a wholesale review of French soccer and sports minister Roselyne Bachelot said the resignation of French Federation (FFF) chairman Jean-Pierre Escalettes was inevitable."

Escalettes quit last Friday during a meeting of the FFF's governing body but the council postponed the election of a new president until later this year and will only make a temporary appointment on July 23.

Meanwhile, the 44-year-old Blanc, nicknamed "The President" in his playing days, has been hailed as a messiah after enjoying success in his coaching career by guiding Girondins Bordeaux to the 2009 Ligue 1 title.

He started the news conference by reading a pre-written statement stressing his "total attachment" to the French national team and saying that "precision, discipline and pleasure" will be his motto.

"I shall select them if I think they are the best players available," he said. "I shall have to make choices and, perhaps, some of the players who were in South Africa will not be chosen if I decide they are not the best in their position."

"After a World Cup a new coach could hope to be able to rely on a core, a fruit stone, of players but after what happened that stone is nothing more than a melon pips," Blanc said.

"My first task will be to rebuild that core of players."

Follow FFT.com on Twitter
Join FFT.com on Facebook