MONACO

“I disembarked by helicopter at La Turbie for Téléfoot”

They make you experience the matches as if you were there. During the end of the year celebrations, asmonaco.com offers you a series of interviews with the great witnesses of the media, who have vivid memories with the Red and White. Today, meeting with Didier Roustan.

He made his debut in the mythical Téléfoot broadcast on TF1. He joined the sports department of the first French channel in 1976, and presented the flagship Sunday morning program in 1984. A pioneer in the filming of original reports, he showed football from another angle. Since then passed by Canal +, France Télévisions, before joining L’Équipe TV in 1999, Didier Roustan is one of the most famous faces of the football landscape in the media. Meeting with a lover of beautiful football, originally from Cannes and passionate about Argentina and today Honorary President of “The Evening Team”.

Hello Didier. First of all, tell us about this completely crazy episode of Téléfoot, when you disembark La Turbie in a helicopter…

We are in 1987-1988, and I am doing a special AS Monaco Telefoot, the year of the title of champion of France. I’ve done a few interviews before, and I just need to wrap up the show. And as they have training, I tell myself that I will take a walk in La Turbie on the lawn, where there are Arsène Wenger and President Jean-Louis Campora waiting for me. I get off the helicopter, I make my tray, and then I go back up for the end credits. It was a quick, James Bond thing. It was the press secretary at the time who had arranged all this. In the process, I had to take the plane for England or Spain and even if the chopper pretends to go to the heliport, it actually brings me to the Nice Côte d’Azur airport. .

It was a special moment, you weren’t used to it at the time?

I was very friends with Arsène, so he just had to be ok to stop training. Téléfoot was between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm, so that was the end of the session. Things were a bit simpler before (he smiles). But it’s true that I liked doing things that were out of the ordinary.

Arsène Wenger allowed AS Monaco to take the right wagon, and to become a European team. He launched and brought in exceptional players. When we think of George Weah in particular. With Henri Biancheri, they had professionalized recruitment.

Didier RoustanSports journalist on the channel L’Équipe

Tell us more about Arsène Wenger…

It allowed AS Monaco to take the right wagon, and to become a European team. He launched and brought in exceptional players. When we think of George Weah in particular. With Henri Biancheri, they had professionalized recruitment. And then there was the president Jean-Louis Campora, who was part of this generation of great leaders with Claude Bez, Bernard Tapie… I had cordial relations with him, even if there was a big gap between age between us. I had more bond with the players and with Arsène.

Have you had the opportunity to comment on AS Monaco on television?

I remember having covered the final of the Coupe de France that AS Monaco lost 2-0 against Metz in 1984. I was at the stadium legally the year of the victory at the Parc des Princes against Olympique de Marseille with a goal of Gérald Passi one minute from the end. But I don’t remember if I commented on it. Then in the European Cup I often followed the team.

Have you been marked by some matches?

For me, Monaco is an old story. I am Cannes, born in Brazzaville and arrived in Cannes at the age of 3. I stayed until I was 18, before moving to Paris to work on television. My club was AS Cannes, where I even played as a youth, but it was in the second division. So very young, as soon as I went to see first division matches, I would go either to Nice or to Monaco by train with my friends. So I didn’t wait for my arrival at TF1 in 1976 to see AS Monaco matches. I remember the arrival of Omar Pastoriza in the early 1970s (1972-1976). I also remember a play-off against Angoulême in 1970. I was only 12 years old. And from memory, the visitors lead 1-0 with a goal from Edom, and Bora Milutinović hits the crossbar for ASM. I knew the club in those years.

Does another event come to mind?

I remember that I was in the studio the day of the 9-0 against Bordeaux in the new Stade Louis-II. I also have the image of the title match in 1982 with Umberto Barberis’ goal against Strasbourg from a corner. I also unfortunately remember the defeat in the European Cup against Malmö with their online defense in 1977-1978. I have known several generations of players, so there are lots of games that keep coming back to me.

Have you forged links with players / coaches during these years?

I stayed from 1976 to 1989 at TF1, and every two weeks during this period, I almost always came to cover the matches at the Stade Louis-II. I was always stuck there, and so I got to know the AS Monaco of Lucien Leduc, Gérard Banide, Arsène Wenger. And then I was very friendly with the players: Courbis, Onnis, Dalger, Emon… Besides, I remember that there was a cafe right next to the stadium, where we met. It was really very warm, very family! Football has obviously changed since then. Even if it was a prestigious team which played the top of the table, the atmosphere has always been very family in Monaco. I have great memories of it and a lot of friends.

Delio Onnis was a surface player, as was Carlos Bianchi. But he took part in the game, because he was very technical and very clever. You could lean on him with your back to the goal because he was protecting the ball well.

Didier RoustanSports journalist on the channel L’Équipe

As lovers of Argentine football, tell us about Delio Onnis …

He was a surface player, as was Carlos Bianchi. But he took part in the game, because he was very technical and very clever. You could lean on him with your back to the goal because he was protecting the ball well. He was playing the short game. He was very funny with his stockings down, with his feet at 10:10 am, hunched over like he was. It is one of the great Argentinian center forward that one could find at a certain time.

Did other players have favor with your eyes?

In the 90s, I was in the world players union, so I followed AS Monaco a little less. Even if I really liked the period of Arsène Wenger and this team called by the duo Mark Hateley – Glenn Hoddle. I’m talking more about the generations of Jean-Luc Ettori, Rolland Courbis, Christian Dalger, Delio Onnis, Alain Moizan, Didier Christophe. And then from this generation of players trained at the club, such as Bruno Bellone, Manuel Amoros, Dominique Bijotat and Claude Puel in particular. Then when I left TF1 in 1989, I continued to follow them and see a few matches at the Stade Louis-II, but much less.

AS Monaco has trained generations of magnificent players…

I forgot Jeannot Petit in the first two generations. Manu Petit later in the 90s, after Bijotat-Puel. Besides, when we look at the 1998 generation, there is therefore Petit, Thuram, Henry, Trezeguet, Djorkaeff and Barthez who come from Monaco have played. It is still not nothing !

To come back to Argentina, a country that is dear to you, what can you tell us about the link between River Plate and AS Monaco?

Already River Plate is a rich club, because they are called the “Millonarios”, and Monaco is famous for being a place where rich people live. But there is also the quality of the game. Boca Junior is more about the heart, the madness, in a kind of fury. While River Plate is renowned for its quality of play. It is Marcelo Gallardo, Pablo Aimar, Pablo Ortega… In this there is also a similarity with AS Monaco. In addition to the resemblance of the jerseys of the two clubs, with this famous diagonal, red on a white background for River, and red and white for the Principality club.

Precisely, as a swimsuit lover, AS Monaco’s is very special!

It is one of the most beautiful jerseys in Ligue 1 and in the world in general, like that of River Plate and Peru, which is very similar with this diagonal that we have talked about. It adds something more to the beauty of the site and to the history of this club. If he had been ugly, maybe we would be less marked by AS Monaco.

When I did a report on Bruno Bellone, I nicknamed him Lucky Luke, because he armed very quickly to strike, so I said he was hitting faster than his shadow. So I dressed him as Lucky Luke afterwards, and I played him a game with the ball. It remained thereafter this nickname.

Didier RoustanSports journalist on the channel L’Équipe

Tell us about the Stade Louis-II …

I especially remember the first one, with the honor stand which was very low, which meant that we saw the sea from the presidential stand. On the left was the zoo, with the elephant who came from time to time to see the matches. He was up there on the rocks, because the zoo was on a point. Sometimes he was present, and once I even did a report where I made him talk. He had a name by the way. As he was moving his head, I took the opportunity to ask a question where he had to answer no. It is very special! I’ve done hundreds of stadiums around the world, but there isn’t one where an elephant is watching the game and the sea is just behind.

Finally, do you have an anecdote in mind to tell us?

When I did a report on Bruno Bellone, I nicknamed him Lucky Luke, because he armed very quickly to strike, so I said he was hitting faster than his shadow. So I dressed him as Lucky Luke afterwards, and I played him a game with the ball. It remained thereafter this nickname. I think that on French TV, in terms of sport in general, I made a bit of an impression at the time with my fairly original reports for the time. Even in the language, it was different from what we saw before.

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