At 59 years old, Michel Moulin, business leader, launched an assault on the FFF, supported by personalities from civil life and football. He wants to revive his sport which, according to him, is going through the wall.
Bio express
Michel Moulin is a French entrepreneur born on January 12, 1961 in Alès in the Gard, where uncles, aunts, cousins and cousins still live. He created the newspaper ParuVendu, which he sold to the Hersant Média Group and of which he then became one of the general managers.
In September 2008, he resigned from his group to devote himself to the creation of 10 Sport in partnership with Alain Weill. After a few months, the daily, which does not have the expected results, becomes weekly. He is also the director of a company specializing in electricity and energy issues, Le Studio Led5.
–
–
Why are you a candidate for the presidency of the French Federation?
I am at the Blois club, in Nationale 2 and, above all, I am very friends with a lot of presidents of amateur clubs. Today, there is a total weariness. There are fewer and fewer volunteers and that’s serious, because without them, there is no football.
There are fewer and fewer licensees and arbitrators and that was pre-Covid. I’m not telling you now, it’s going to be a disaster. And we have people who have huge salaries, who are in Paris and who do not leave the periphery. They think it will continue, that people will continue to pay for licenses.
To please, we give some chasubles, some balloons. There is much better to do, we have to find big partners who will help amateur football educate children. You have to surround yourself with specialists like I have on my list: a former minister, a former préfet, high-level people who have real visions on what to do, especially on security.
When you hear people say that there is no racism in football, it is better that they go and do something else, it is not possible, they are not in reality. My football hurts. You have a lot of people in the cities who don’t want to put their son in football anymore because it’s not good, it’s scum. This is the image we give.
His opponents
President of the French Federation since 2011, Christmas Le Graët, the 79-year-old Breton leader, has decided to seek a new four-year term at the head of the FFF. Business leader and politician, he was president of the En avant Guingamp club from June 1972 to September 1991, then from 2002 to 2011. He was also the president of the Professional Football League between 1991 and 2000.
The other candidate is a former president of this same body between 2002 and 2016, Frédéric Thiriez. Aged 69, he has been a lawyer with the Council of State and the Court of Cassation since 1990, he was president of the Association of European Football Leagues from 2013 to 2016.
–
–
You use harsh words …
Real football, real life, is in the territories and we have forgotten it. The people who go to the other lists, before playing football, they do politics. This is not how they are going to save football. I made 35 proposals, I hope that whatever happens, they will analyze them and put them in place, if they have the will.
Otherwise, in ten years, there will be no more football, the football we know. The young people will play among themselves but there will be no more licensees and there will be a European championship in a closed league. There are more and more clubs that are giving way in total indifference.
You have received the support of many personalities (Christine Kelly, Bernard Squarcini, David Douillet, Jean-Bernard Falco, Max Guazzini) and former internationals (Fabien Barthez, Eric Di Meco, Daniel Bravo)… What advantage do you hope for?
They joined me because they too have trouble with their football. They don’t come with me because it’s me. I am not important. All the people who are in football say to themselves that it is over, they see the wall coming too. These people have put their children in football and kidnap them.
What makes you different from other candidates?
The other candidates do not matter to me, I speak without politics, with my passion, with the networks I have, what I can bring, without making any promises. In all the clubs I have been to, I have brought a lot of partners. Anyone can promise castles in Spain, but if you don’t have partners who follow your project, it’s dead.
In my group, I have a boy called Bruno Kemoun. In advertising, everyone knows him, he created the Carat agency which was the biggest in France and has a huge network, like me. To these people, we are telling them: help us, not to sponsor us, but to be partners in our projects for the education of children. My experience means that I know France well, I have partners ready to follow me in all regions and cities. It’s work, you have to go get them, you don’t have to wait in an office in Paris.
Do you not fear that the case of the allegedly rigged matches in Nîmes will harm you?
One, I’m not afraid of anything and two, I’m innocent. My criminal record is clean. So today, stop! How could I have been accused of a match that ended 5-1? Whoever was supposed to win lost 5-1.
Another controversy: Didier Deschamps curtly responded to your order to select Benzema …
No one understood what I meant. I didn’t think I was the manager and I never will be. I’m just saying that as the boss of the French Federation, you have to manage conflicts, like in a business. We manage the problem, we say to the player: I am not selecting you for such and such a problem. He too is presumed innocent today. There are other players who have been sentenced and who are selected today. There cannot be two weights, two measures. The same goes for Corinne Deacon and Amandine Henry, you manage the problem, you manage.
As for Didier Deschamps, when one is an employee of the FFF, I do not see why he comes to put himself in this debate. An employee, he remains in his place, although he is Mr. Deschamps. Me, he reproaches me for being a coach, does he want to be president of the Federation? He is campaigning, if he wants to be president, I am happy to give him the place.
What do you think of the Mediapro fiasco and the controversy over TV rights?
I wrote it in my journal The 10 Sport, two years ago, a flop announced. I had already inquired about Mediapro, which was in difficulty in 2019. When you do not take a financial guarantee… The FFF could have been much more vigilant and put its veto since they wrote that they were very happy with it. arrival of a partner like Mediapro. The Federation made a serious mistake there too.
The club spirit on the shoulder
Michel Moulin made a name for himself as a sports director or advisor at Red Star, Istres, PSG and Le Mans.
He has always been in the world of football, as a modest player and then as a manager. “I started in Manosque in 1967 because my father moved for work. At 18, I returned to Alès because I was doing sports studies in Avignon. I played notably with Jean-François Jullian, who is a cousin by Laurent Blanc. I played for a long time at Miramas in N2, despite a cartilage problem in my knee. I graduated from initiator with Henri Émile and I also have the common core. “
But it is as a leader that he stands out. “I was president of a suburban club for five years, then the Red Star came to get me and we made a semi-final of the Coupe de la Ligue in 2000. I went to Istres for my friend Bertrand Benoit and the club moved to Ligue 1 in 2004. After that, I went to Paris SG in 2008. “
He will still be a sports advisor at Alfortville, then at Le Mans (Ligue 1) between 2009 and 2011. “I also released a lot of players, including Ibrahim Thiam. I also took care of a lot of suburban players,” he says. -he. He is now a manager at the Blois club, in Nationale 2.
–
–
–
