“I could have spent my whole life at AS Monaco” / France / SOFOOT.com
Claude Puel, without a club since leaving Saint-Étienne in December 2021, took the time to complete the writing of his autobiography Free, 50 years in football (Solar Editions). The former coach of Monaco, Lille, Lyon, Nice, Southampton and Leicester, who was also the player of a single club, sweeps away these five decades devoted to his passion.
I had been offered several times to write it, but for me it was still too early. I started writing when I left Southampton, then Leicester and finally Saint-Étienne. I had time, I had to do some research. And I wanted to write this book with my words, my feelings, and not live my own experiences by transposition. My intention was to make a book on football, fluid and accessible, to give my vision of this passion. A book that can speak to coaches, players, supporters, where I tell my experiences in the different clubs of my life, the projects that I accompanied, those that I recovered to put in place.
“For me, the foot, when I started playing it, was above all synonymous with the outdoors, freedom, space to channel my energy. »
You are not looking for settling scores, even if you dwell a little more on the complicated relationships you have maintained, in particular with Jean-Michel Aulas and Bernard Lacombe in Lyon, or Stéphane Ruffier in Saint-Étienne.
It was not the but. I say things as I experienced them, as I felt them. Sometimes my words can perhaps sting, but I didn’t want to make a buzz. I really wanted to talk about football, a sport that, paradoxically, didn’t interest me that much when I was young. I was born in Castres, a land of rugby. My father is not really interested in the foot, my brother a little more. I did not follow the French championship, just Saint-Étienne in the European Cup, even if, at the time, very few matches were broadcast. For me, football, when I started playing it, was above all synonymous with the outdoors, freedom, space to channel my energy. When I was in class, I tended to look outside. And even when I started to have a good level in young people, when I was selected in the France cadet team, one of my teachers was even surprised to learn it. I was not very exuberant, on the contrary.
Would you even have to explain to us how to comment on a man who seems so composed a could transform on the ground into a tough footballer, not afraid of much?
(Laughs.) It is true that in life, I am calm, quiet. And that on a field, I was bloody. I was always in competition, even in training, for small games. When I lost, which I found difficult to bear, I looked forward to the next day to take my revenge. I had a lot of energy in me. When I was in class, I couldn’t express it. So I found with football a good opportunity to do so. But when I was a player, I had to admit that not everyone could have the same mentality as me. And even more when you become a coach, where you have to bring different people together.
Having never been called up to the France team, is that a regret?
I would have liked to taste it, if only once, but I have no regrets. At the beginning of my career, I was versatile, I played central defender, side… I reached maturity around 27 or 28, I had one of my best seasons at 32… The train happened, it really doesn’t matter, I made up for it with a very busy career…
You have spent your entire career as a player in Monaco, you started there as a coach, you live on the heights of the Principality… Could you have stayed forever at ASM, occupying other positions there, such as sports director or manager for example?
Yes, I think I could have spent my whole life in Monaco. I never wanted to leave ASM when I played there, even though I had had offers. But I was in a very good club, which played at the top of the table, I rubbed shoulders with great players like Glenn Hoddle, Jürgen Klinsmann in particular. I played in the Champions League, won titles, and it was the club that gave me the opportunity to turn to a coaching career, after having been a physical trainer then coach of the reserve team. We won the title of champion of France in 2000… Why leave such a club, a place where we felt very good with my family?
In your career, you have chosen clubs where there were not the same means as in Monaco. We think of Lille (2002-2008), then Nice (2012-2016). Looking back, it was a lot more confusing.
And we can add Southampton, England (2016-2017)… Yes, as you say, it was a headache. I am not a careerist. What motivated me, when I agreed to join these clubs, in particular Nice and Lille, was to participate in the construction of a project. Getting out of my comfort zone, in a way. In these two clubs, there were no means, no strong enough structures. It was very motivating to take part in this. In Lille, we had the 19e Ligue 1 budget, we could not recruit, only bring in free or ready players. At the beginning, I participated in the meetings, to better understand the functioning of the club. It was tedious at times, but very rewarding. We worked a lot, and we managed to play the Champions League, to face and beat AC Milan and Manchester United. When you accomplish this, remembering the situation when you arrived, it is a satisfaction. In Nice too, we started from afar, the club found Europe. In Southampton, when I had a first interview with the leaders, I was quite critical, quite tough. I didn’t think they would choose me, by the way. I didn’t want to go somewhere to work in a setting that didn’t suit me. I could have accepted their proposal, without asking anything, but it was stronger than me: I had to be honest with them!
In Leicester, from October 2017 to February 2019, too, you have shaken up certain habits.
The club, according to my analysis, had to change the workforce in depth to have other ambitions. He lived too much in the memory of the title obtained in 2016. I showed that only a few players should be kept, including Schmeichel and Vardy. And I think I was right. We couldn’t compete with the big teams, but we did some good things. But the accidental death of President Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a man I liked, changed things. His son, who succeeded him, did not have the same patience as his father.
“There were insult tags on the walls of the building where I lived, I was threatened, my family too. It was hard, cruel. We only talk about football. It was too much. »
Your time in Lyon (2008-2011) ended particularly badly. What memory do you keep?
When I signed in 2008, I had the impression that things had to be changed in the way the club operates, to make it more fluid, to work a lot, to regenerate the group. The first season, the players were almost obsessed with the Champions League, much less with the L1. I held mobilizing speeches, and we finished third. Then Karim Benzema, Fred and Juninho left, we reached the semi-finals of the C1 against Bayern Munich, finished second in the league. But the 2010-2011 season was very difficult. I had recovered French internationals traumatized by what they had experienced in Knysna, during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Jérémy Toulalan wanted to end his career. The results that followed were not very good, on the same point in the 17the position in the ranking. President Aulas, with whom everything had gone well until then, released me publicly. The supporters demanded my resignation, even going so far as to hang their banners on certain buildings and bridges in the city. There were insult tags on the walls of the building where I lived, I was threatened, my family too. It was hard, cruel. We only talk about football. It was too much. We managed to qualify for the Champions League despite everything, and when they say that my time at OL was a failure, I don’t agree.
There was also Saint-Étienne, where you were very involved in the running of the club. With hindsight, wouldn’t it have been better, sometimes, to do as many coaches do and focus only on your team?
Maybe yes. In Saint-Étienne, I signed in October 2019, when the team was second to last. When Jean-Louis Gasset left the club, in June of the same year, I was approached, but I felt the aging workforce, not authorized to play in the Europa League. I had not followed up on these first contacts. I finally accepted five months later. I quickly understood that the situation was difficult from an economic point of view. To answer your question, I probably should have sometimes taken more distance, focused on the job of coaching the professional team. Because it is therefore time-consuming to work on training, the development of structures, the economic aspects, in short, the development of a project. But I don’t regret it, I wanted to be in tune with myself and my values, to take up challenges. What I can assure you is that I don’t think I would do it again…
“I like when the players surprise me, when they are creative. As an educator, developing the technical qualities of a player, leading him to go higher, to perform, is passionate. »
You devote several pages of your book to thinking about the game, emphasizing your desire to have your teams practice quality football.
Yes. I always favored, when I became a coach, a polished, creative game. Probably because in Monaco, I played with very technical footballers, including Glenn Hoddle, who was a superb footballer. In Lille or Nice, for example, there was a certain habit of direct football. It’s not what I wanted. Me, I like when the players surprise me, that they show themselves creative. As an educator, developing the technical qualities of a player, leading him to go higher, to perform, is passionate. That’s why I loved going to see the youth teams play. When I sign for a club, I have a game plan, in addition to the other aspects that we have mentioned. It is a whole. This is why, in my view, it is essential to be associated with recruitment as a coach. If you want to set up a style of play, you have to have the players to do it.
How do you imagine your future?
I had requests. National selections, but not in Europe. And I want to stay in Europe. I’m 61, I just want to have fun. I will not go to a club where there is a huge construction site. In the meantime, I watch matches, I go to the Louis-II stadium from time to time, I play sports, I watch them on TV, I enjoy my family, my friends, I’m doing very well.
You refused an offer from FC Porto during your stay in Lille. Everything even seemed tied up. Would your career have been different if you had accepted it?
There are chances. FC Porto is a great European club. If I had signed there and achieved results, it would probably have opened doors for me in other big clubs on the continent. But I couldn’t leave Lille, drop this club, the players with whom we were building great things. And as I have always assumed my choice, I regret nothing.
Hosted by Alexis Billebault