INTERVIEW
At a time when the weathervanes are numerous in the French football landscape, Romain Thomas, he stays the course. He had already expressed himself at the start of the Coronavirus health crisis on the airwaves of Europe 1 to evoke the drop in wages to help his club, Angers SCO, to get through this crisis. He had also expressed his reservations about the resumption of the championship. A few months later, his speech did not move an iota. "The decision to stop the championship was the right one," he said on Europe 1. "As for the other championships, I assume that we do not know if they will go all the way. There are cases right to left in some teams. It's their decision. "
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"This is not how I want to play football"
And if we point out that France is the only major European championship not to resume, Romain Thomas tickles a little, but does not deviate from his line. "If they go to the end, and we have not taken over, we may pass for idiots," admits the Angevin defender. "But, beyond that, the health crisis, nobody had mastered it, no doctor in France knew what decision to make, it was super complex and today when I see Bundesliga matches, frankly, it "is sad. The empty stadiums, the substitutes with masks three feet apart ... Me, that's not how I want to play football."
However, health restrictions should still be in effect when the Ligue 1 resumes in late summer. "It's true that we will have to live with that too, but I tell myself that over time, even if the stadiums are not full, we may have the right to put a few people, just that , we will be happy, "says Romain Thomas, echoing the words of Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu. "Playing behind closed doors is worse than watching it. I cross my fingers so that we can find our former life."
Without an audience, "the results would be different"
Especially since the player has experienced empty stadiums, which leaves him with a bad memory. "When there is no audience, it is not exciting. I have already played in Marseille or Saint-Etienne in partial closed doors, I was already frustrated not to play in full stadiums, me sport without spectator, it is not compatible ", he explains. "It transcends us. The results would be different."
But Romain Thomas, as a good competitor as he is, admits that he still has ants in his legs at the idea, already, of resuming collective training. "We all need to meet, have the atmosphere of the locker room, casually it is a big lack when there is not this adrenaline and competition, we need that to live."