FORMER FRANCE COACH Raymond Domenech was sacked by Nantes today after less than two months in charge, with the club hovering just above the Ligue 1 relegation places.
A club source said Domenech had been released, although the club made no official statement.
French media report that former Nantes player Antoine Kombouare is set to take over as the struggling club look to break a run of 16 matches without a win in all competitions. Domenech had been in charge of seven of those games following his appointment in late December.
News of his sacking emerged during Nantes’ 4-2 defeat to Lens in the French Cup today, a defeat Domenech could not attend as he was in isolation following a positive Covid-19 test on Monday.
Nantes fans were never convinced by Domenech, who arrived at the club a decade after his rollercoaster reign as France coach ended in a player strike and early elimination at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The 69-year-old took charge of Les Bleus in 2004, lost the 2006 World Cup final to Italy in an infamous match in which Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi, led his team to bottom of their group in Euro 2008 and then suffered humiliation two years later.
The 2010 World Cup was a fiasco for France, with temperamental striker Nicolas Anelka sent home and players refusing to train before the team was knocked out in the group stage.
Before being hired by Nantes, Domenech had not managed a team since his sacking as national coach in September 2010.
Domenech was greeted at his first Nantes training session in December by a band playing circus music with a ‘ringmaster’ taking aim at him and club owner Waldemar Kita.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Kita Circus! The Kita Circus brings you some new, amazing new acts,” boomed a member of a supporters’ club to a background of deafening music, saying Domenech would “make us laugh”.
The club sit 18th in Ligue 1, four points above the automatic relegation places.
Dundalk is everything i love about football. A team who runs on the dedication of volunteers, a team who gets f all support from the fai can go off and more then hold their own in europe. If everbody who goes to England to watch the prem could go down to their local loi team even just once a season it would make such a difference. But then when i see that dundalk won the equivalent of 3 loi titles or john Delaneys wages it make me so angry. That man is a clown and needs to go
I still haven’t seen one fact that supports this mob against Delaney. As a policy they invest in grassroots football to hopefully raise the game as a while. Not put money into LOI clubs that can’t reach the heights will give a return on investment. Well done Dundalk but the CEO of the national football association should be on 6 figures.
@James Darcy: Wait a minute – James Darcy, John Delaney… JD…. John is that you!?
@James Darcy: the CEO of a minor footballing nation should not be on the same as the combined salaries of the Italian and French FA’s, as much as the President of America and double what an Taoiseach is paid. Get real lad.
JD, so improve the grass roots so we can send better players to England?
@Hoofedup Bravo:
The grass roots in FAI parlance are a few very strong mainly Dublin underage league teams like Home Farm, St Kevin’s, to them the LOI is an obstruction, these clubs should be feeder clubs as happens in every other properly run league.
This causes another issue Dundalk earned 3 times last night in one match than they would do over a series of games in a hole season, this makes no sense. Dundalk are financially better drawing one of there last group games than trying to win there remaining matches in LOI. With such a setup up how can in Delany’s words “the problem child” expand and improve what Dundalk have achieved is incredible and against all odds.
Well spotted Billy!
few tickets for the replay there John . oh James :)
Hopefully Dundalk with all this money can set up a new football association called the AFI (Association Football Ireland) and we can see the end of that toxic money grabbing crowd once and for all.
@Padraig: now that’s a good idea.
Stick that up your hole John Delaney!
Equal to how much John Delaney earns a year
He’s 100% going to use this success to justify a hefty bonus this year.
I grew up supporting (and still do) my local club Tranmere Rovers. We live in the shadow of the Liverpool and Everton giants and even our ground is enclosed by houses proudly displaying red or blue colours despite their proximity to Prenton Park. Our average attendance is less than 5,000, peanuts in comparison to the volume of local football fans. It means I have a real sense of pride when my club achieves something against all these odds, even if they are few and far between. A loss is greeted with a shrug, a victory with joy. Bigger clubs shrug after a win because 3 points is expected, no less. I’m sure I get more pleasure following a perennial underdog than fans of the superclubs. I hope the real Dundalk fans are basking in every minute of their success and, more importantly, I hope football fans in the local area switch their sights from the English giants to their local club doing their town proud.
Who cares about the money? An Irish team is competing in Europe toe to toe with their opponents.
@Stephen Mcevoy, your are right, I walked round the town this morning and the place is buzzing.
Up dundalk from waterford
Quarter final at the very least
An incredible achievement for a team from this small Republic. It puts LOI football on the map. They deserve to be bursting with pride.
@Leo Lowe:as long as your sectarian club Linfield gets favourable treatment by the IFA,including Linfield supporting referees appointed to referee Linfield matches soccer in the colony will remain in the backwaters,the domain of bigots from loyalist housing estates.
@Juan Franc: LOI and IL fans put all that sectarian nonsense long behind them as demonstrated during the Setanta cup. Only the bar-stoolers think such hatred still exists. LOI fans leave that nonsense to the 2 ugly sisters of Scottish football.
@Juan Franc: It is very sad to read such comments, particularly when clubs have been striving to eliminate sectarianism and racism.
@Padraic Reid: He obviously doesn’t attend any games either. When LOI travelled up to Belfast for the games with Linfield they were welcomed with open arms and both enjoyed pints together, same when the Linfield lads came down south.
So basically John Delaney would need one win a year in Europe to pay his salary. That’s good to know
So much to admire about Dundalk. Just hope Cork can pip them
Oops cut off… But they are a shining example to LOI clubs.
Zenit will leather them unfortunately
@Minom Pnom: Zenit were 3-0 down to Maccabi until the 82 minute and only got a 95th minute winner by chance