Michel Denisot at the LFP, the man of the reconciliation of French football?

Michel Denisot (here alongside Leonardo) should be the next president of the LFP.

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• After the health crisis linked to Covid-19, French football has never seemed so disunited.

• However, it is now that he will elect the next president of the LFP who will succeed Nathalie Boy de la Tour.

• The big favorite of the election is named Michel Denisot.

  Portrait of a man who could well reconcile the great family of French football.

Gather and appease.

This is not the new slogan of Emmanuel Macron's next election campaign but the roadmap that French football has set for itself when it comes to electing, on Thursday, the future president of the Professional Football League who will succeed Nathalie Boy de la Tour, who has decided not to return to work after her first term.

And among the contenders, the same names have emerged from the hat in recent weeks (Michel Denisot, Vincent Labrune, François Morinière, Gervais Martel and Alain Guerrini) but one man is a big favorite: he is the former boss of PSG and former host of the

of Canal +, Michel Denisot.

An appointment which, given the character, his fame and his knowledge of the environment, does not fail to tickle us a little in the lower abdomen.

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Denisot, the man

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you can't help but love 

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Claude Michy, president of the UCPF and member of the board of directors of the League, however calls on us to be cautious.

“We have to hope that in this rather special world of football, Ligue 1 clubs manage to come to an agreement among themselves.

Be careful therefore, because what is true the night before is not necessarily true the next morning.

It's a somewhat special world in which anything is possible, it's like the Coupe de France, the little ones can beat the big ones.

"

The former president of Clermont remembers that during the previous election, Raymond Domenech, approached to succeed Frédéric "Mustache" Thiriez, had been barred by the board of directors of the League which had preferred Nathalie Boy de la Tour to him. .

“That's why I think we are not immune to something surprising Thursday.

I don't want it, but we can't rule it out either, ”Michy warns.

The name of Michel Denisot still seems to be almost unanimous in the community.

Why ?

Already because the character is appreciated by almost everything that is alive on this earth.

Ask Luis Fernandez who had him as president when he coached PSG: “Michel is someone we cannot not love, he is not someone who feeds on the conflict is a man of consensus ”.

This is indeed a good starting point, but let's face it, being sympathetic has never been a program in itself.

Even if given the tense context surrounding French football since the start of the health crisis, it can be useful.

🗣💬 "The name of Nathalie Boy de la Tour's successor, you know it ... Michel Denisot. The one we call the Nettoyeur de l'Indre or Mimi the cold hand"

🤣 Julien Cazarre paints a portrait of the probable future president of the LFP with an exceptional anecdote at the end pic.twitter.com/lbnhRMC8Nj

- After Foot RMC (@AfterRMC) September 7, 2020

"Someone who listens a lot and who knows how to bring together"

Club presidents who threaten to "crack their mouths" in the middle of the board of directors, others who absolutely seek all possible and imaginable solutions to save the buttocks of their club in the Champions League before finally claiming a fortune in compensation to the LFP, others finally who appeal to the courts to avoid the descent of their team in Ligue 2, it is an understatement to say that the Covid crisis has put a hell of a blow in the lanterns of the famous unit of the “big family” of French football.

“Some recent episodes have left traces that will not be easy to erase, warns Claude Michy.

When you have a meeting of Ligue 1 clubs and Jean-Michel Aulas says nothing but sends a registered letter to claim 117 million from the League, even though he is a candidate to join the board of directors, good… ”“ It is true that we dispersed a bit, everyone spoke indiscriminately, often based on their own interests, ”Luis Fernandez says.

In Germany, Italy, England, Spain, everywhere I seemed to see instances and clubs united in this complicated period.

Except at home… ”Cocorico!

No, not here…

As nice as it is, does Denisot have the shoulders to dive head first into this basket of crabs stamped Ligue 1?

His close friend and former sports director of PSG, Jean-Michel Moutier, does not doubt it for a single moment.

“It hasn't been late for the rain,” he warns.

He is aware that it is a difficult challenge but a very interesting challenge.

But since he's someone who has a strong personality, I think he will be respected by everyone.

For me, he is the ideal person in the sense that he is someone who listens a lot and who knows how to bring people together.

Given his experience in the field, I think he will be unanimous among all football families.

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That's good, that's exactly what French football needs at a time when, paradoxically, French football is doing pretty well (thanks to OL and PSG in Lisbon) but where it has never seemed as divided as it is today behind the scenes.

These two clubs, let's talk about it, they who would have preferred to see François Morinière, the former leader of the L'Equipe group, in place of Denisot at the head of the League.

"It was above all Nasser [Al-Khelaïfi] who pushed Morinière because it would have enabled him to put the managing director of his choice at his side in order to move the files forward as he wanted," says a good connoisseur of the authorities. .

But Morinière never aspired to run for the presidency of the LFP.

"

The president of all pro football clubs

This appointment had no chance of succeeding anyway, the (not so) invisible hand of the big Ligue 1 clubs above Morinière too scary for smaller teams and their own interests.

Conversely, from his experience in football (whether at PSG or Châteauroux) Michel Denisot gives the impression of being the missing link between the often divergent interests of French clubs in the first and second divisions.

“He has a strong football experience.

But when I say in football it's from small to very large, that's why I find it interesting given the situation.

He knows the functioning of clubs of our size as that of European clubs since he has managed ”, appreciates Bruno Allègre, deputy president of the Berrichonne de Châteauroux, where Denisot was still recently serving as vice-president of the club before presenting his resignation on September 2.

ℹ 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙈𝙐𝙉𝙄𝙌𝙐𝙀́ 𝙊𝙁𝙁𝙄𝘾𝙄𝙀𝙇

Meeting today, the Board of Directors of @LaBerrichonne recorded the resignation of Mr. @michel_denisot from his post of Vice-President and Member of the Board of Directors of the Club ...

𝟭 / 𝟮 pic.twitter. com / 7ZlzHorDzQ

- La Berrichonne de Châteauroux (@LaBerrichonne) September 2, 2020

"He also has this ability to listen to a population that goes from the CEO to the most modest person in a company" continues Allègre.

A feeling shared by Pierre Ducrocq who knew the character when he played in the jersey of PSG: “I loved being chaired by this gentleman, he said straight away.

Despite my young age at the time, he behaved with me as he behaved with older people, those who had a higher status than mine.

He's a very good person, someone of honesty and integrity, that can only be beneficial for French football ”.

"He is someone who enjoys a beautiful image wherever he has gone, he has a quite exceptional career and he also has a great knowledge of the political world, the arcana of power, and a great connection with it. », Summarizes Claude Michy.

In short, Denisot seems to tick all the boxes for the job.

Except one, perhaps: his candidate status parachuted by Noël Le Graët, the big boss of the Federation, who actually made him his favorite candidate.

"His election would make us very dependent on the FFF," a Ligue 1 club leader feared to AFP on Wednesday.

A pitfall to which Jean-Michel Moutier absolutely does not subscribe: “If he is president, he is president.

Michel has always assumed his responsibilities and it is not now that he is going to become someone's man.

It is true that he maintains good relations with Noël Le Graët but this does not mean that he will not show great independence in his decision-making.

He will be the real and only boss of the LFP.

Missing more than white smoke.

• Michel denisot

• FFF

• Sport

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• LFP

• Noël le Graët