Who wrote the letter of the players of the French football team on June 20, 2010, during the World Cup in South Africa, in Knysna, by which they justified their strike movement in solidarity with Nicolas Anelka, sidelined by the coach, Raymond Domenech? Patrick Braouezec, who had coordinated the information mission set up by the French Football Federation (FFF), claims not to have sought to establish with precision the identity of the anonymous pens that contributed to the players' letter. "It wasn’t very important to know what was behind," considers the former communist deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis, today president of the Plaine Commune territorial public establishment.
In 2011, the magazine France Football had investigated. According to his information, confirmed at World since then, the press release has been written in part by Stéphane Courgeon, former press secretary for Lyon player Jérémy Toulalan. Contacted, M. Courgeon "Do not wish to provide additional comments", without confirming or denying. "It was not only my advisor who wrote it", then declared Jérémy Toulalan, in 2013, in France Football. Contacted, he too did not wish to express himself.
According to information published by The world in 2015, a small nucleus of players had drafted the press release the night before the strike. Before secretly transmitting it, on the morning of June 20, to a lawyer. The latter tried, like some members of the entourage of the Blues, to bring them to reason. In vain. He then tried to soften the first version of the release.
"A big bullshit"
It has long been said that this lawyer was the Lyonnais André Soulier, then head of the legal committee of the Professional Football League. "It’s not me, I have too much affection for Domenech, whom I have known since he was a kid, now answers Me Shoe. If the players had asked me, I would have kicked their ass. "
Today, several converging sources lend to Thierry Braillard a role in the development of the final version of the letter. The one who will become, during the five-year term of François Hollande, secretary of state for sports (2014-2017) was then a lawyer at the Lyon bar, deputy mayor (PRG) for sports in the city, close to Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Olympique Lyonnais (OL).
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