Raymond’s Photo Album

May 9th, 2008 | by: Inara | View Comments

Hello everyone! I’ll be helping out Laurie and Jeff to keep you all updated as Euro 2008 approaches (we’re going to win, duh). As some of you know, I am fascinated by Raymond Domenech. He’s exasperating, makes strange decisions, and is on the verge of starting a cold war with Italy. He’d certainly make a good case study for some lucky psychologists.

And yet…he brings a smile to my face. Everyone hates him, and maybe that’s why I like him. So you can imagine how thrilled I was that his authorized biography will be coming out May 22nd. Featuring interviews of his friends and relatives, this biography will finally offer us insight into this complex, intriguing, and sometimes very odd man.

To prepare for this event, I thought we could all go back in time and visit Raymond’s past.

Raymond was born on January 24, 1952 in Lyon. Growing up, he was obsessed with football and would often sleep in his playing shorts and shirt so that he wouldn’t be late for a game the following morning. When he was eight, he signed for Olympique Lyonnais’s youth academy, where he was groomed as a right back.

Raymond at the age of 10.

At 17, he was promoted to Lyon’s senior team.

See if you can spot Raymond in this team photo from 1971.

In 1973, he helped win Lyon’s first ever piece of silverware, the Coupe de France.

One of his nicknames was “Leg Breaker” because of his rough and tough ways.

Another nickname that he had was “Terror of the Pitch” because of his scary looks.

His first ever call up for Les Bleus was in 1973, against Ireland.

Raymond played in three French Cup finals in Lyon, the last of which was in 1976. Interestingly, it took Lyon 32 years to qualify for another French Cup final (which they did last night).

He certainly knew how to work those short shorts.

He had this to say about St. Etienne (Lyon’s hated rivals): “I dream about having my lawn painted red and blue so I’ll no longer have to see green first thing in the morning.”

In 1977, he moved to RC Strasbourg.

“It’s true I liked playing the character of a nasty man on the pitch. It allowed me to unsettle our rivals, that’s what counts the most after all.”

At Strasbourg, he won his first ever league title in 1979.

In 1981, Raymond signed for PSG, stayed for only a year, and then moved to Bordeaux, where he won another French Cup.

In 1984, he knew that he was nearing the end of his career, so he left Bordeaux for FC Mulhouse in Division 2, who offered him a position as a player-manager so he could learn how to manage a football team. He formally hung up his boots in 1988. While at Mulhouse, his goal was to get his team promoted to the topflight, and he came closest in 1987 but was ultimately prevented due to a loss to…Lyon, who were then in the second division.

The newly appointed president of Lyon, Jean-Michel Aulas, convinced Raymond to leave Mulhouse and return to his hometown club. Aulas not only wanted Lyon in the first division but also in Europe within five years. Everyone else laughed at those lofty ambitions, but not Raymond.

Lyon’s original power troika of Raymond, Aulas, and Bernard Lacombe (an old Lyon teammate of Raymond’s).

Raymond dragged Lyon into France’s topflight after only one season in charge, and two years after that, had them qualified for the UEFA Cup.

The French Football Federation were so impressed with his work at Lyon that they put him in charge of France’s U21 squad, a position he held for 11 years.

At this post, he groomed players such as Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Patrice Evra, and William Gallas. Though he didn’t win anything, he led Les Bleuets to the finals of the U21 Euro Champions, where he lost to the Czech Republic on – you guessed it – a penalty shoot out.

After the poor showing of Les Bleus in Euro 2004, the FFF fired then-manager Jacques Santini, and, in what was considered a shock move, appointed Raymond in his place.

Here is Estelle, who has many intimate connections with the France NT. She is indirectly responsible for some of Raymond’s squad selections.

He led Les Bleus to the 2006 World Cup final but lost to Italy in a penalty shootout. However, the FFF maintained their confidence in him and renewed his contract.

Raymond not only plans to be at the Euro 2008 finals on June 28th, but he intends to win.