"I'm having fun" ... Christophe Jallet tells about his new life as a consultant

Christophe Jallet is one of the revelations among the new football consultants for the 2020 academic year. -

• Christophe Jallet has decided to retire at the end of a 2019-2020 season truncated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

• But the former Parisian did not take much time to bounce back and he is already a consultant for the new Téléfoot channel.

• For

  20 Minutes

  , the former French international agreed to tell his new life from the other side of the mirror.

Given the moldy context due to Covid-19, he wondered at length whether he should retire at the end of last season or if he was going to resume another year, just to say his farewells in a slightly more regular manner. .

Finally, Christophe Jallet still said stop after 17 years of a great career exclusively made in France ended with a last unfortunate experience, relegation to Ligue 2 with Amiens.

Fortunately for him, the former Parisian did not really have time to think about or sink into depression since the Téléfoot channel, scenting the right thing, offered him an immediate reconversion as a consultant.

Commenting on the PSG-Angers match on Friday night, Jallet already seems to be having fun in this new role, as he told us.

How are you starting out as a consultant?

Very good.

The media have always interested me, I have always found it easy to talk to them.

Responding to questions and requests wasn't something that bothered me during my career, I liked going to a press conference.

And over the years I was told "hey, if one day you wanted to come and work with us that would make us happy".

So there you have it, I won't go so far as to say that it was written, but it's true that I told myself that somewhere it could be an interesting conversion the day I quit.

It seemed like a good transition between the field and active life, it allows you to keep an eye and a foot in football.

How does it feel to go to the other side of the mirror?

I've always had a good relationship with you because I've always felt, whether you win or lose, that it was part of the job.

Of course, sometimes you don't want to be a little less, but it would be too easy to go there only when you win and everything is going well.

So I didn't mind being sent to the fire every now and then.

And then this consultant's job allows you to stay as close as possible to the game, to the field.

Casually, when you retire, competition is lacking.

There, with this role of consultant, there is a little adrenaline and I can continue to live from my passion, it's great.

Have you been afraid of going through what is called "the little death" after the announcement of your retirement?

Me no, but I knew a lot of players to whom it happened, that's why I quickly asked myself the question of what I was going to do next.

I wondered if I was really going to stop my career on this, on confinement ... I found it quite disgusting to end up like that, on a Covid, on a truncated season concluded in addition by a descent.

And at the same time, when I asked myself, I told myself that having the opportunity to immediately bounce back on a project like this would allow me not to think about it, not to get depressed.

I quickly switched to this new experience and I am very happy with it.

I'm not telling you that it will be forever, but for the moment the field does not miss me, I am thirsty to learn, to know a little behind the scenes, all that fascinates me.

No, I'm really having fun and I have no regrets about having stopped my career, on the contrary.

Good and of course, a word for the duo @juliengbrun - Christophe Jallet who is excellent.

There is no denying it, @telefoot_chaine succeeded in its casting and I can hardly express how pleasant it is not to find the truffles of the last seasons

- Wiloo (@WilooFootball) September 26, 2020

Do you see this as a long term plan or is it too early to tell?

We will say that for the moment I am discovering, but I think that, like everywhere, from the moment we take pleasure in what we do, that we do not go backwards, why not continue yes .

As long as I'm hungry and people want me, because it's still condition # 1 (laughs), I don't set myself a limit.

Afterwards, football still interests me as much and maybe one day I would like to graduate to train, it's possible, but for the moment we're in there.

And if I'm doing a good job and having fun, it's all good and I'll do that as long as possible.

Did you put any particular pressure on yourself before you started commenting?

Obviously a little, yes, because before I talked about myself, my team, things that I knew, then we have to talk about others and it's not the same, it's not always easy.

But it's true that I asked myself questions "will I be as comfortable talking about other players, other teams?

".

Finally, it comes quickly and we must also say that we are very well surrounded, the teams are at the top to support us, guide us, give us advice.

How was your preparation, did you take some sort of media training course?

Not really in the sense that you don't have a journalist role.

I really realize that today: the journalist's work is incredible, they put down a huge preparation job, they are versatile, they have to manage a lot of things at once.

I was not aware of this when I went to the sets.

We have a slightly lighter consultancy role, we don't have all the technical or programming issues to manage.

After that we were obviously briefed, we did test programs, everything was done to put us in the best conditions.

People sometimes think of the consulting job as something quiet that you don't need to prepare a lot.

It's the case ?

Ahah no, there is work!

It's a preconceived idea to imagine the consultant arriving like that by putting his legs under the table.

There, for example, I am commenting on Krasnodar-PAOK Salonika, well if I don't prepare the thing a little it might be complicated to talk about this match (laughs)!

The journalist is necessarily more pointed, he will know almost everything about each player, which we can do without us as a consultant since we will no longer be in the technical and tactical analysis of the match.

But you still have to know who you're talking about, it's a minimum.

So there you have it, it's not: we arrive at 6:45 p.m. for a show at 7 p.m., a lick of makeup and hop off, not at all.

Besides, before, I did not necessarily read the press when I was a player, today this is no longer the case.

Which consultant do you want to become?

I have always had a benevolent gaze on journalists.

So of course a little less on those who hit everyone's face all the time.

This is absolutely what I don't want to become.

And at the same time sometimes it is also necessary to say things because, in these criticisms, truths are expressed and it is necessary to speak about them.

The thing is that there is content and form, you can say things but you don't have to be disagreeable either, that's my view of things.

Like after a match, do you do video debriefs of your performances with comments?

Yes, especially on the first test shows.

And then we also do little debriefs with Julien Brun or Smaïl Bouabdellah [two journalists from the channel], I ask them what has not been, how I can improve, etc.

I am completely open to criticism and I prefer to be told what has not been rather than to be told nothing and continue with my faults.

In a logic of progression it is essential to have feedback.

At work for their first commentary.

Christophe Jallet and Nicolas Douchez on @telefoot_chaine

It's for @DFCO_Officiel v @AngersSCO from 4:15 pm, for D1 of @ Ligue1UberEats #DFCOSCO #Telefoot pic.twitter.com/8MUDwMZwEb

- Julien Brun (@juliengbrun) August 22, 2020

What did you think of the controversy surrounding Eric Di Meco who chose not to comment on the PSG-Bayern final as an OM supporter this summer?

I have a shared feeling about that because it is both our job, that we have this duty of objectivity and at the same time I also fully understand it.

He might not have been able to convey the same emotions as someone neutral or pro-PSG.

But look, he was very good in the quarters and halfs and I never felt the OM supporter behind these comments and he would have been just as good in the final.

After that, it is an assumed choice, that is respected.

You, could you comment on a PSG-OM without difficulty?

Of course it could kick me, then there are guys much bigger than me for this type of match [Grégoire Margotton and Bixente Lizarazu].

But I have no problem with objectivity.

If there is a PSG-OM, obviously I'm for PSG but if I fit into my role as a commentator, I would have no problem being objective and commenting on both teams in the same way.

I am a football lover and if OM were to go to the Champions League final and I had to comment on it, I would have no problem getting excited because I am a supporter of French clubs in the European Cup.

You have to know how to separate things.

Afterwards, for Di Meco it's still different, he won the C1 with OM, so he has a very special relationship with this club and this competition.

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