🇫🇷 Idiots, mildly autistic... inside France's 2010 implosion

🇫🇷 Idiots, mildly autistic... inside France's 2010 implosion

This Wednesday, Netflix premiered its long-awaited documentary on the French national team at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, titled "The Bus: Les Bleus on Strike".

The film tries to analyze the explosive atmosphere inside the French dressing room that led to the infamous training strike in Knysna.

However, the main attraction is Raymond Domenech’s personal writings, as he allowed Netflix access to the logbook he kept during the tournament.

The coach’s harshest insults

The notebook reveals violent and unsettling observations about his own players, showing a level of contempt that has shocked people for being so unfiltered. These are some of the strongest expressions Domenech used about his squad:

• About the group in general: "Sometimes I have bursts of hatred toward these idiots".
• About Yoann Gourcuff: "Gourcuff, what an idiot he is. First mildly autistic and then an idiot".
• About Nicolas Anelka: "Anelka walked past me without looking at me. That piece of shit idiot...".
• About Thierry Henry: "Thierry Henry was born on August 17. Typical Leo: he only looks at his own navel".
• About William Gallas: "Gallas is always sulking. I won’t put up with him much longer".

A chaotic ending

These writings help better understand the suffocating atmosphere that reigned over the French camp. Most strikingly, Domenech came to describe the players’ strike almost as a blessing or a personal relief in the face of the despair he felt:

"It’s your best collective act of the entire World Cup! The suicide is complete! Hallelujah!", he wrote after his players’ snub.

Without a doubt, these memoirs complete the portrait of one of the darkest and strangest episodes in the history of modern football.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.