When Vincent Labrune left the presidency of Olympique de Marseille (OM) in 2016, Eric Hannezo had never seen his friend so tired since their meeting in the corridors of France 2, in 1994. “He was washed out, remembers the producer-director. The first thing he said to me was, “I need to sleep.” For five years, Vincent had been on constant alert. ”
In recent weeks, Vincent Labrune – arrived on an internship at France Televisions after a DEA in economics – is once again deepening his sleep debt. It is largely on him that the rescue of French football rests, undermined by the default of payment of the Sino-Spanish group Mediapro, main broadcaster of the French championship.
On September 10, 2020, Vincent Labrune (49 years old) came out of the woods to delight the presidency of the Professional Football League (LFP), after an underground campaign model, to a Michel Denisot, the journalist and former club president ( PSG, Châteauroux) arrived pope at the conclave.
That day, in a chic suit but, as always, without a tie, the lucky winner was not jubilant in front of the journalists at the entrance of the Pavillon Kléber (Paris 16e). Neither questions nor excessive joy, he delivered a brief speech full of responsibility and announced that his watchword would be “The“unit” that must find the French professional football ”. It must be said that the show, in the spring of 2020, of dirty dishes sent to the figure between club presidents had succeeded in filling the absence of the matches during the first confinement.
Four months after his election, the ex-communications man of Jean-Luc Delarue within the Reservoir Prod group has succeeded in uniting the great football family behind him. In exceptional circumstances, exceptional unity. Vincent Labrune, whose disjointed style some could mock and see in him as a smarter than average schemer, is today adorned with all the qualities.
For a wise old man like the former president of Lille, Michel Seydoux, “He is the best president that one could find compared to the circumstances”. After having made the short ladder to his new function, Jean-Pierre Caillot, president of the Stade de Reims, observes with pleasure his colleagues supporting other candidates recognize “That Vincent is very comfortable in the costume”.
Starting with Jean-Michel Aulas. In 2015, the boss of the Olympique Lyonnais (OL) gave “Puppet” to his Marseille counterpart, after a tense OM-OL. But that was before. Before Mediapro sinks, before Vincent Labrune exfiltrates, within a reasonable time, the deadbeat. “By making the most of what he could get from this box “, Judge Seydoux, about the 100 million euros recovered from the broadcaster.
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