When the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off on 13 January 2024, at the helm of Côte d’Ivoire, Jean-Louis Gasset hopes to lead the Elephants to a third continental title. The local leaders chose him for his experience, which advances to 70 years with an almost impeccable resume of prestigious assistant (Bordeaux, France national team, PSG) or coach’s coach (Montpellier, Saint-Étienne).
“It will probably be my last challenge,” said Jean-Louis Gasset, who had never coached a national team before. It will be short-lived: two defeats in three games, one of them against modest Equatorial Guinea (0-4). , precipitating the end of coach Ghislain Printant’s tenure and ego in a deleterious atmosphere. Former Nantes and Nice player Émerse Faé took over and, against all odds, won the festival with the Frenchman’s squad.
“The task was well done,” Gasset defended himself a little late, referring to a painful chapter. The coach returns home, aware that this footballing life is in danger of ending with this crushing failure. his mother, Éliane, in her nineties, and her loved ones. He returned to “his” club, Montpellier Hérault, which his late father Bernard had created with Louis Nicollin and where he had known everything. Mosson.
Sunday, February 18, a little before midnight. Unable to win a Ligue 1 title for two months, Olympique de Marseille lost to Brest (1-0) after a disappointing performance. Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso abdicated: “We are not a real team, I apologise to the fans. “
He was about to wear out his phone when OM called him.
The station’s cameras capture an impromptu meeting (?) of the OM leaders, hanging on their phones. Subsequently, the Jean-Louis Gasset track was activated. According to our sources, it was presented through sporting director Mehdi Benatia before being validated by president Pablo Longoria. The Montpellier home team saw the attack on television and was about to turn off the phone when it held up.
“He didn’t expect it at all, he was stunned,” one of his relatives told JDD. He has until the next morning to give his answer. Laurent Nicollin recalls: “I was satisfied with him, but I didn’t need him. “take OM before the onslaught that will confront us the following week. His mother, who still comes to the stadium at 90, told him exactly the same thing (laughs). But he said: “Laurent, or I say yes, or “On February 20, OM made official the arrival of their fourth coach of the season. After signing a three-month fixed-term contract, Gasset held his first press conference, twenty-seven days after the Ivorian fiasco. .
Between interest and irritating comments about the age of the new captain, the first deadline comes 48 hours after the explicit incorporation. OM will have to beat Shakhtar Donetsk to continue their European journey. Any other result would only aggravate the sporting and popular crisis with very angry consequences. Revived, Marseille won 3-1 and Gasset can get to work. Four more wins followed for the most productive start through a coach in Marseille since 1962.
But as they say, everything happens very fast in football. So temporarily that OM also fell sharply: five defeats in a row punctuated by all kinds of problems, injuries, suspensions. . . The state of grace was over when Benfica arrived at the Velodrome with a one-goal lead. The coach invited his men to “make history”. And it hits the nail on the head, as it does.
“It’s sunny, it’s contagious”
“Their conversations are extraordinary. At the back we are in a position to die on the pitch,” said one player. Despite an adjustment sheet that included only fourteen professionals, disparate forms, coaches who had “cramps”, up to the It should be noted that two “youngsters” from the academy, Daou and Lafont, unknown at the highest level, had to take advantage of the extra time of the European quarterfinals: the Olympians reached the consequences (1-0, 4-2 pen) in an incandescent stadium. ” Jean-Louis was just happy,” says a close friend of the team. It’s sunny, it’s in a good mood. When I walked him back to the parking lot, he still didn’t notice. “
In ten days’ time, Bergamo will arrive at the Vélodrome for the eighth European semi-final of the OM. One of the most unexpected.
In 2017, Jean-Louis Gasset lost his wife Andrée at just 63 years old. Overwhelmed, he threw himself into the work and accepted Nicollin’s offer to save MHSC’s position in Ligue 1. Life has gone on, but the professional countdown has begun.
His friend Gérard Gili, one of the most important coaches in the history of OM, with whom he helped during two D2 matches in 1994-1995 (“Bernard Tapie was about to leave and we never got paid!”, he reveals), already believes moment: “We will meet for a small meal and a glass of rosé. We have a lot to tell each other about football. . . »
He assures La Provence that his mother is waiting for him as planned when it is all over, “in a month’s time”, and he would like to spend a holiday “in the Bahamas”. He still has a dozen games left to leave a deep mark, and not only on the Caribbean sand.