Alain Speaks his Mind

By: John | July 2nd, 2008

In a recent interview in L’Equipe, Alain Perrin spoke about his relationship with Jean Michel Aulas and certain members of the Lyon coaching staff during his tenure as manager. Perrin described the internal and external pressures- JMA and two members of the coaching staff- which created an atmosphere of hostility and the eventual scapegoating that marred his term as coach.

First, Alain Perrin accused JMA of making him a scapegoat for any and all of the club’s potential shortcomings. Perrin went on to say of Aulas:

“I soon understood with him [Aulas] in his announcements, that I would always be held responsible for everything that went wrong. The president often tells his stories in his way. When you want to kill your dog, you say that it has a bad temperment.”

But Perrin seemed more miffed at his treatment by certain members of the technical staff than that of Aulas. A.P. divulged his relationship with two of Lyon’s coaching staff who seemed not to approve of his hiring: Goal keeper coach Joel Bats and Fitness coach Robert Duverne. Perrin claimed a certain hostility from the pair since the beginning, and that they played the largest role in bringing his tenure at Lyon to an abrupt end. A.P. went on to say about the pair:
“After about two weeks, I soon understood that the pair of them were systematically in opposition. There was always an underlying but permanent, aggressive way about them. They were trying to turn the players and Bernard Lacombe against me. But he [Lacombe] was always fine with me. One of my few supporters.”

“You had to act like they [Bats and Duverne] wanted you to , or they would start to moan. With those two there , I often felt like a beginner in the job.”

Perrin went on at length, describing what he felt towards the two trainers. He conveyed his belief for the reason behind the pair’s hostility towards him: “They would have liked someone to have taken over after Gerard [Houllier], someone like Remi Garde(Lyon’s Assistant Coach).”

Perrin also claimed that Bats and Duverne’s disapproval of him was manifested outwardly: “Duverne and Bats polluted the atmosphere. I always spoke directly to the players because I knew that they [Bats and Duverne] were talking about me behind my back.”

A.P. finished the interview by talking about his accomplishments at the club and his personal feelings as a result of the treatment he received by some at Lyon:
“We won plenty of titles, we had a magnificent season, but I leave with great frustration over the way the club is run. I haven’t enjoyed myself and , on a personal level, it’s without a doubt the most unpleasant season I’ve experienced. It seems paradoxical when you think about what we won, but I feel I’ve spent the year gagged and bound like I’ve not been able to express myself in my job.”

Even though I don’t think that Perrin was the coach to lead Lyon to CL glory, I was very harsh in my judgement of him. I didn’t see many Lyon games this year, but I’ve heard he made some tactical blunders in a few matches. That aside, he took an injury-riddled Lyon club, with two of it’s best players, as well as most experienced veteran defenders(Cris and Coupet) out of the line-up, to the knock-out stage of CL, and drew one and lost one against the eventual CL champions. In the league,after a bad start, he kept Lyon in first place from week 11 on, albiet by very narrow margins, and eventually won the league, fighting off a very good and hungry Bordeaux team. He also kept the team focused and ended their Coupe de France curse. My only real complaint was the benching of Ben Arfa, but I began to realize that it was probably a necessary thing even if it meant HBA leaving. I would have liked to see Perrin get a full season with a healthy squad. Maybe things would have been different.