The Bus: A French Football Mutiny (2026) Movie Script
[projector flicks]
[soft piano music playing]
In '98, I was 17.
["I Will Survive"
by Gloria Gaynor playing]
[man] The French football team
are world champions!
The whole of France is celebrating.
I think that after seeing this,
we can die in peace.
I remember being on the Champs-lyses,
seeing their photos
on the Arc de Triomphe,
I had this childhood dream,
"I have to be there one day.
I have to win the World Cup."
[music stops abruptly]
[eerie music playing]
[man] You all suck!
[fans booing and whistling]
[man] When the French team wins,
it brings millions of French people out
into the streets.
[camera clicking]
And the opposite is true when they lose.
[reporter 1] The rumoured clash
becomes reality.
[reporter 2 ] French football has never
experienced such a crisis.
The worst crisis
in French sporting history.
This is a national disgrace.
I never talk about it.
[camera clicking]
[woman] Things are clearly not getting
better for the French team.
They now have gone on strike.
[reporter] The South African fiasco
is turning into a nightmare.
[woman] What's going on?
It's a statement from the players.
-What's happening is a scandal.
-This is unprecedented.
The problem is the traitor in our team.
[tense music playing]
"Go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch."
This is 10% of what was in store for us.
[dramatic music playing]
We wanted the same thing,
but we lost our way.
They tried to portray us
as something we were not.
I had to flee my home
because I was getting death threats.
Football's everything.
[dramatic music building]
I'd forgotten how brutal it all was.
So brutal.
This lie's been going on for 15 years.
I accepted my responsibility.
Now I'd like Raymond Domenech,
the French manager, to accept his.
[music stops]
Let's do this.
[soft, distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[music fades]
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[mouse clicks]
[mouse clicks]
[music intensifies]
-[mouse wheel scrolling]
-[mouse clicking]
[keyboard clicking]
-Okay, let's do it.
-[music fades]
Football saved my life,
I'm not afraid to say it.
[soft music playing]
Les Ulis was a tough neighbourhood.
There were a lot of gangs.
Some of my friends
even lost their lives there.
Sometimes, we'd be talking,
a car would drive by,
and people would shoot at us.
You had to duck behind cars, and so on.
But that's where I learned
to play football.
When I played I said to my friends,
"I'm gonna be
the best left-back in the world."
And they said,
"You're gonna represent us all"
The kids here think that football is
about being as good as Ronaldo,
being able to dribble, that's all.
No, football's about mindset.
You can have the feet,
but if you're not mentally strong,
then forget it.
[vra] I remember I had a trial
for Paris Saint-Germain.
In the dressing room afterwards,
the coach said,
"Patrice, you're very good technically,
you're very fast,
but you're from the projects
and we're afraid
you'll steal from the dressing room"
He said this in front
of all the other kids.
I said to myself,
"Even though this door is closed,
another will open for me."
So I kept on going.
And that's where my story begins.
Patrice vra has an incredible future.
He's an example to the youngsters.
He comes from Les Ulis.
He struggled to begin with.
But at 17, he moved to Italy to play
in the third division in Sicily.
And then he was a sensation in Monaco.
Then he signed with Manchester United,
the most powerful club in the world.
-[announcer] It's gone in!
-[cheering]
by number 3, Patrice vra!
I became captain of Manchester United.
I won the Premier League
with Manchester United.
In 2008, we won the Champions League
and I was voted
the best left-back in the world.
I've always considered myself a survivor.
[chuckles] I've come such a long way.
RAYMOND DOMENECH AND PATRICE VRA
Raymond Domenech gave me my first cap
for the French national team.
I respected him as my coach.
We nearly won the World Cup.
[announcer] Oh, no, not that!
-Not today, not now!
-[crowd booing]
[Domenech] I remember, in 2006,
when I was already the manager, we lost.
The Italians were running
all over the place.
There was confetti swirling around.
And I stood there, alone.
And I thought, "In four years time,
I'll be on the winning side."
Not runners-up.
That result left a very bitter taste.
That's why I was so furious.
-[dynamic music playing]
-[cameras clicking]
Raymond, at the time,
was an intelligent, cultured man.
He was funny. You could talk to him.
He always had interesting stories to tell.
Good morning. How are you?
He is provocative, you know? He loves it.
He adores being the centre of attention.
Now, sit here.
[vra] He loves theatrics.
[director] That's good.
Now, be even clearer.
"Now, sit here."
Now, sit here.
[vra] One time, at a training camp
with the French team,
an orchestra conductor was there.
I said, "He's got his baton,
what's going on here?"
He told us to sing. "La, la, la"
and we all had to sing together.
Raymond said, "If we all sing together,
we'll be more united."
He's mad, and I love it.
[chuckles] I love it, I do. He's my idol.
I did a bit of everything.
I did transactional analysis,
NLP, anything to do
with communication tools
and ways to understand people.
And astrology is one method
I use to understand people.
Raymond Domenech,
manager of the French football team.
Aquarius, Virgo rising.
When I arrived in Lyon,
I studied the players star signs.
And in that team, there were
seven er, six or seven Scorpios.
Basically, my aim was to get rid
of as many of them as possible.
I kept two.
[upbeat drums playing]
[keyboard clicking]
Do we stand a chance
against Switzerland on Saturday?
THE SOOTHSAYER
-Chance has nothing to do with it.
-Of course, hard work and training
No, the stars are aligned.
Aquarius entered the house of Leo
through the constellation of Gemini,
so, chance is for amateurs.
[soothing music playing]
I'm someone
who believes in signs of destiny,
and in 2010, shortly before the World Cup,
I was certain that nothing
at all could go possibly wrong.
[plane engine roaring]
SOUTH AFRICA
GEORGETOWN AIRPORTHE OUTCASTS MAKE THEIR ENTRY
IN A GLASS PARADISE
[reporter] It's 5:45 a.m.
This time, it's official,
the French team are in South Africa.
They've arrived with great fanfare.
[upbeat music playing]
When we landed in South Africa,
we felt at home straight away.
[cheering]
We felt this World Cup
belongs to us. It's ours.
It's ours without a doubt.
-Everybody say, "France!"
-[group] France!
-Everyone say, "Welcome!"
-[group] Welcome!
We arrived in South Africa
with the best players in the world.
[cheering]
We're talking about
the great Nicolas Anelka.
664 GAMES, 208 GOALS, 12 CLUBS
[announcer] That is a special goal
from Nicolas Anelka
"CHELSEA'S GOLDEN BOY."
and that is the Golden Boot.
[whistling]
[vra] Franck Ribry from Bayern.
[announcer] What an electric 75th minute.
That came out of nowhere!
[vra] Yoann Gourcuff.
THE NEXT GENERATION: THE WEIGHT OF LEGACY
People said he's the new Zidane.
[announcers cheering]
[announcer] Almost nothing
can stop Yoann Gourcuff.
[fans singing]
[vra] Thierry Henry for Barcelona.
"THE SOLOIST OF THE INVINCIBLES."
William Gallas, Arsenal
DEFENDER
As a team, we had everything
we needed to go all the way.
We so wanted to be there,
we so wanted to play in this World Cup.
[vra] We were talking
about the very highest level.
"A REAL DEFENSIVE WALL."
[Sagna] It was
my first World Cup as a player.
It was emotional
because it was my parents' homeland.
We were in Africa. It was my culture.
[singing]
The French team was locked and loaded.
We had a chance
and the players believed it.
We were among the favourites.
Our group was gonna be a walk in the park.
Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa.
[singing continues]
[Patrice vra continues singing the song]
Oh, man. That song really
was a curse for us.
[laughs]
[music stops]
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[music stops]
I was there to be a link
between the media
and the players and the coach.
Hello everyone. Thank you for coming.
[Manardo] It was my responsibility
to make sure that the public
was regularly informed
about the French team.
We're here, finally.
This is it. We're here.
[Manardo] The day after we arrived,
the coach said, "I don't want any media."
I said, "No, that's not possible.
We have no choice."
"I don't give a fuck, no media.
That's it, full stop."
There was no room for discussion.
It was pointless.
Or else I'd just piss him off.
Basically, we had a problem.
Thank you.
[Manardo] For two years,
Raymond's relationship with the media
had been slowly souring,
and it was affecting the whole team.
JUNE 2010
[suspenseful music playing]
JUNE 2008
FRANCE ELIMINATED IN THE FIRST ROUND
After total failure at the Euros,
Raymond proposed marriage live
on French national television
to his then-girlfriend, Estelle Denis.
Coming to you live now,
we'll of course be talking
about the French football team,
and their elimination at Euro 2008.
These Euros were a disaster.
Raymond had tears in his eyes.
I knew that look.
I lived with him, I was glued to him,
for nearly 20 years.
He was so depressed. It made me so sad.
And then
What do you want to say
to those calling for your resignation?
[Domenech] Nothing. I only have one plan
right now, that's to marry Estelle.
And today's the day I'm going to ask her.
"One plan, to marry Estelle."
And I thought, "What the hell is this?"
I know things are difficult
but I need Estelle.
Thank you. I'm sure this moment will be
as positive for you personally
as it is negative in a sporting sense.
I hope we're invited to the wedding.
I called him and tore him to shreds.
To absolute shreds.
It was awful,
the worst proposal in history.
And why?
[chanting] Domenech, resign!
In football, you either win and climb
naked on the table and take a pee
no one will bat an eyelid.
-[booing]
-Or you lose.
[whistling]
And if you say one wrong word
But I need Estelle.
you'll get slaughtered.
I think Domenech is the worst coach
in French football since Louis XVI.
COACH FOR THE FRENCH BEACH FOOTBALL TEAM
Things got very tough with the press.
Really tough.
We were in for two years of hell.
[distorted music playing]
A full house today.
Of course it is.
The smell of blood intoxicates you.
So I'm off to a good start, then?
That's good, really good.
[Tarrago] We'd go to a press conference
always expecting a fight.
I'm not asking you if you think
this is your last press conference.
Anyway, that's your last question.
Thank you, goodbye.
JUNE 2008
[Tarrago]
The atmosphere was just terrible.
It was war.
[booing and whistling]
2010 WORLD CUP
LAST QUALIFYING GAME
The match against Ireland
well, it changed everything.
[camera clicks]
[announcer] We can clearly see the hand.
[announcer 2] It was
a deliberate handball, you can see it.
Even a double handball.
The ref was the only one
who didn't see it.
-All the players saw it.
-Yeah.
The French team qualifies
for the World Cup
thanks to a handball by Thierry Henry.
-[sombre music playing]
-[booing and whistling]
And immediately [scoffs]
THE AWKWARD MOMENIt came as no surprise Raymond Domenech
and the whole team
were accused
of stealing Ireland's qualification.
[presenter] Do they even deserve
to go to the World Cup?
Eight out of ten French people
said "No." It's unbelievable.
-I'm of the same opinion.
-There we go.
Allow me to enjoy this feeling
and share this moment of joy
with those who are happy
that France has qualified.
And there are many!
He is someone who thrives on adversity.
So, for him,
the more enemies he makes,
the more balanced he becomes.
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
I was hated as a player,
I was hated as a manager.
Well, bring it on. [laughs]
It drives me forward.
It fuels me.
[booing and whistling]
the smell of blood intoxicates you.
NOVEMBER 2009
JUNE 2010
[Manardo] At the Pezula,
we isolated ourselves.
The directive was
to avoid personal contact
between the players and the media.
[vra] Domenech's speech
to us in South Africa was like this,
"Guys, from now on, it's us against them."
And we're like, "Too right!"
No, no
[Tarrago] Throughout the tournament,
most of the training sessions
were closed to the press.
Well done.
Raymond had started a war.
He'd put up tarps, send in security.
What I really can't stand?
Photographers.
[cameras clicking]
They're in your face.
Click, click! From all angles.
I hate that.
For him, it was like,
"This is my last stand."
"And they are gonna bite the dust."
[cameras clicking]
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
I was one of the most experienced players
in that World Cup.
And I was the vice-captain.
Which meant that I was gonna be captain.
Captain of the French football team.
Which meant that if we won,
who is presented with the Cup?
Who's gonna lift it before anyone else?
It's William.
It's me! What do you want me to say?
It's me!
But the armband doesn't go to him.
It goes to vra.
When Domenech made me captain,
I didn't feel particularly happy about it.
I was thinking about William Gallas.
I was worried
that William would think that I'd.
that I'd screwed him over.
Was William told before? No. Why? [sighs]
Because that's the way
the boss did things.
Yes, Gallas wasn't made captain.
Because if he was to be captain,
that would make me a general.
He is no captain.
I said, "Are you disappointed
in my behaviour?"
He wasn't up to it.
It's not a problem. Just tell me.
We're all adults.
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
William wasn't with us anymore.
He was in his own world.
Full of hate.
I knew it would stir shit up
within the team.
[Manardo] The armband incident
was the first sign.
Internally, the tension
was beginning to be clearly felt.
It was palpable.
It was brewing. It was bubbling.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick
[announcer] What a night in Cape Town!
France and Uruguay head
to this marvellous playing surface
[Tarrago] When France faced Uruguay,
it was clear that everyone
expected France to win.
It was felt to be an easy match.
-[fans cheering]
-[upbeat music playing]
From the start
[drums playing]
The match was mediocre.
It was crap. [chuckles]
[music softens]
We weren't inspiring our nation.
We were playing badly.
[sombre music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[Estelle] Raymond became paranoid.
He wasn't himself.
He had doubts. And he never had doubts.
He was so decisive
but now he was drawing diagrams.
Over and over, and he wasn't like that.
I could feel how hard it was for him.
[keyboard clicking]
[music fades]
Players came up to me
like I was their nanny,
'cause the coach wasn't there.
[man] Yes!
"Pat, have a word with the coach.
Training's shit, things have to change."
[man] Yep. Over here!
So I went to see Raymond.
"Coach" And he said,
"I know what you want."
"You want me to sacrifice the lamb."
Yep. Come on.
"I'll guillotine him then.
Gourcuff won't play tomorrow."
[distorted music playing]
I said, "Coach,
what are you talking about?"
He said,
"No, I don't give a fuck, shut up."
"It's final. Gourcuff's not playing."
-[man 1] I'll put it in the van?
-[man 2] Yeah, please.
I told the guys.
I asked him. He said,
"No, he's not changing his mind."
"Gourcuff's not playing."
The guys went nuts, they said,
"Can't you see
we're on a collision course?"
"He's insane!"
[intriguing music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
-[tense music playing]
-[ticking]
[announcer] Welcome to Polokwane.
Here, tonight,
Les Bleus are playing for their future.
Defeat is not an option.
2ND GAME
FRANCE - MEXICO
That game was important
because if the goal is
to qualify for the next round,
then you can't afford not to win.
A draw won't cut it.
["La Marseillaise" playing]
[singing in French]
-[anthem finishes]
-[cheering]
The first half was a disaster.
[tense music playing]
Nico!
Raymond wanted Nicolas Anelka
to be the lone striker.
But Anelka wanted to roam free.
He felt that's how he played best.
Obviously, that infuriated Raymond.
[shouting] Nico! Nico! Fuck!
We were on the bench
looking at each other, thinking,
"What is he doing?"
We thought,
"Okay, we have a problem here."
We were lucky with the scoreline
Nil-nil,
against a team that outplayed us.
We were furious with ourselves.
[sombre music playing]
We went back to the dressing room,
but we weren't confident. No
[music building]
[eerie bass playing]
We were in the stands
and when they came back out,
Anelka wasn't there.
[announcer] Andr-Pierre Gignac is
in fact coming on for Nicolas Anelka.
Taking a player off
at half-time is a big deal.
Because it's humiliating for the player.
[whistle blows]
So naturally,
like everyone else, we wondered,
what went on in the dressing room?
[announcer] Flag is down,
chance here for Mexico. Around Lloris!
Javier Hernndez!
Oh, now the referee a big call Penalty!
Blanco against Lloris
But it works!
And Mexico lead France
by two goals to nil [sound fades]
[Tarrago] France lost. It was a disaster.
We were in shock.
We were almost out of the World Cup.
All of us knew,
we were gonna get crucified.
A crushing defeat for France
against Mexico last night.
Les Bleus fans are furious today.
12,000 kilometres. 35-hour journey.
They didn't even get on the pitch.
They were awful. When they played at all.
Anelka was walking.
Walking, instead of running.
They didn't score.
They didn't do anything.
They were absolutely awful!
Useless!
The media had their knives out
and were getting them ready.
Sharpening them to a point.
L'QUIPE - WORLD CUP
THE IMPOSTORS
"Impostors."
It was a very emotive headline.
Everyone agreed on that.
-[reporter] Statement?
-Just a quick word.
Thierry, anything to say?
-Do you have a comment, Florent?
-It was really tough tonight.
I need to find the words
Because there's one game left
Er
We have to play.
The national team's coach
has dug French football's grave.
A coach with a poor work ethic,
with no convictions,
who doesn't communicate well,
who never talks about football.
[keyboard clicking]
[music stops]
[insects buzzing]
[airport announcement]
We arrived at the airport in Polokwane.
It was pretty empty.
We were waiting
for a special flight for the French press.
There were about 50 or 60 of us.
We were exhausted,
and there was a huge delay with the plane.
Three or four hours.
And at one point, a colleague
from broadcasting comes over and says
"Things got extremely heated
at half-time."
"There has been a huge clash
in the dressing room
between Domenech and Anelka."
"That's why he didn't come back
for the second half."
And right away, of course,
we had to verify it.
[Tarrago] I talked to our team
of journalists and told them,
"Go and make some calls, text all
of your contacts, and then we'll see."
The usual!
-[tense music playing]
-[phone ringing]
They came back to me and said,
"Well, we checked, it's true."
"There was an altercation
between Raymond and Nicolas. "
"Nicolas insulted Raymond."
And at half-time in a World Cup match,
that's a bombshell.
I said, "Go ahead, write the story."
"I'll let Paris know."
[man] Around 8:00 p.m.,
I got a call saying,
"We have a big scoop on the French team."
"We'll probably run it on the front page
tomorrow because it's massive."
I said, "Okay, fine."
And he said, "We have three options"
And the subtlest is,
"The Incredible Clash."
THE INCREDIBLE CLASH!
Then there's, "You can go Son of a"
YOU CAN GO SON OF A
We weren't too keen on that one.
It felt like we were pulling our punches.
That we were being soft
and hiding the truth.
The third option was to go all out.
"Go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch."
I said, "Wow, okay."
ANELKA TO DOMENECH
AT HALF-TIME OF FRANCE-MEXICO
They sent me a mock-up.
It was a bit tabloidy. A bit trashy.
They said, "Well, it's trashy
because that's what it is."
I said, "Okay, that makes sense."
We're not gonna put a grass pitch
or the Tricolore on it.
That's trashy.
It was brutal. Really.
[keyboard clicking]
[Manardo] I felt that night like
time was suspended.
Like when a storm is coming straight
towards you and you can feel it coming.
But you haven't been hit by it yet.
I was in bed.
-It was midnight.
-[phone rings]
A call came through. I picked it up
It was Nicolas Anelka, he said,
"Have you heard about
L'quipe's front page tomorrow?"
"Wait, wait, wait, Nicolas"
"What are you talking about?"
"The front page of L'quipe. Tomorrow."
"Have you heard?" "No."
And then he told me what it was.
"Are you sure? No, that can't be possible.
That's just not possible."
"You can go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch.'"
"Well, it is.
It's L'quipe's front page tomorrow."
"But they can't do that."
[thunder roaring]
And then Nico said,
"With football, anything's possible."
So, I hung up and called the coach.
[phone ringing]
[Domenech] I was reading.
I couldn't sleep.
He said, "Something's coming out
in L'quipe tomorrow."
"You can go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch.'"
"Is that so? When is it coming out?"
"Tomorrow. L'quipe. Paris."
[whirring]
"What does that mean for us?"
"Well, we'll see in the morning."
And then I went to sleep.
[switch clicks]
"What should've been done that night?"
is a good question.
We woke everyone up.
We brought
the two protagonists together. "
"Okay, what's our story?"
"Because if we don't have one,
we're just gonna let
the media call the tune."
That's how it should've gone.
That's the action
we should've taken, right?
But this wasn't a normal situation.
[thunder roaring]
[tense music playing]
[reporter 1] The rumour started
to swell last night.
A clash between Nicolas Anelka
and Raymond Domenech
became a reality on the front page
of L'quipe this morning.
A shocking headline,
the Chelsea striker insulting his coach.
[reporter 2] French newspaper
L'quipe broke the story,
splashing on the front page
the vulgar remarks
made by Nicolas Anelka
to Raymond Domenech.
[reporter 1] So these reported comments
from Nicolas Anelka
set fire to the world of football.
It's horrible. This photo's horrible.
Everything was all wrong.
[vra] Wow!
I've never seen this before.
I've never seen these photos before.
This is It's
Ah, no, it's [sighs]
[Duluc] Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It still is a shocking front page.
It's iconic.
I don't want to.
[man] You don't want to see it?
I really don't want to.
This thing here ruined the life
of my whole family for many years.
This
is ten percent
of what was in store for us.
[reporter] Here, we are pointing
the finger at a selfish French team,
the vulgarity of individual players
A new scandal is shaking up
the French football team
These comments attributed to Anelka
have set things on fire here, in Knysna.
[woman] Reactions came from all sides,
anger from the fans,
denunciations from sporting
and political worlds alike.
They didn't behave like sporting heroes,
but rather like street thugs instead.
Anelka will always have
that reputation now.
The French President spoke bluntly
about the Anelka affair.
Here's what he said.
Yes. If the events reported this morning
by the press are accurate,
they are unacceptable.
Unacceptable.
And as a result,
I put my trust in the Minister
to draw the necessary conclusions
from this failure.
The phone keeps on ringing.
It's the lyse Palace.
It's the Prime Minister's office.
It's journalists.
"So then, Madam Minister,
what is your reaction?"
And then I get a call on the phone
from Nicolas Sarkozy.
And he says this to me,
"You are going to meet with the players,
yell at them and tell them to win."
"Your job is to get us
out of this with some dignity."
"And we need to project a positive image
of the French national team."
[distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[sighs] And I thought, "We're in trouble."
But I really had no idea
how much trouble we were actually in.
[music stops]
Picture me waking up.
L'quipe's front page is there.
I was the captain,
I was next to Anelka, he never said that.
[man] So, as far as you're concerned,
there wasn't an incident
in the dressing room with Anelka?
[sombre music playing]
[vra] I remember that day so clearly.
In the dressing room,
I'm here, and Nico is there.
He's on my left. And when Domenech
comes into the dressing room
everyone goes silent.
For 15 minutes.
Imagine that, for ten minutes,
no one says a word.
[ticking]
That's what Raymond Domenech did.
After ten minutes,
the first thing he said,
"Fuck, Nico,
you're really pissing me off!"
He started to lose it.
"You're the only one not doing your job.
And, Nico, it's pissing me off."
It wasn't the right time.
It's half-time, you're there to recover.
Recuperate for 15 minutes.
Your coach should build your confidence.
You don't wanna pick a fight
in front of everyone.
And Nico says to him, "Coach, I'm trying
to suggest something different."
I said, "Just stop and listen!"
"There were ten other people
on the bench with me and we all saw it."
"From the first touch,
you weren't going for it."
And then it was, "You can't do that."
"Yes, I can." "You didn't do that,
you didn't do enough."
"What do you want me to do?
Who do you think I am?"
"We can't get past a training cone."
The pressure built, it got more and more.
And then, when he finished talking,
well, Nico was just sitting there,
like this, and he said, "What?"
"Then, why don't you pick
your own fucking team?"
Then he threw his boots.
And that was the only thing I heard.
[Intriguing music playing]
Of course I'm the one
Raymond called that night.
We lived together, we were madly in love.
Of course he called me.
He said "I told Nico
that he's not playing the way I want."
"And Nico was rude to me."
I said, "What do you mean?"
He was over-familiar.
He had never spoken to me like that.
It had never happened before.
And for me, that was the worst part of it.
[man] But Anelka
didn't call you a son of a bitch?
I'm certain he didn't.
He never said that to me.
[soft bass playing]
[tense music playing]
[reporter] On the pitch here in Knysna,
the French team resume training.
We're looking for Nicolas Anelka,
but the French striker
is nowhere to be seen.
The latest rumour is that Nicolas Anelka
could be excluded from the French team.
So I went to see the coach, and said,
"This is serious."
"I was sitting next to Anelka
and he never said those words."
He said "That's as may be,
but he's going back to France."
"What do you mean,
he's going back to France?"
"He's going."
I said, "We can't do that."
"Please, I'm begging you.
Please, Coach, what if he apologises?"
"If he says sorry, can he stay?"
"I'm asking you, Coach, do it for me."
He said, "Yes, but he has to apologise
to the group, to me and to the press."
I said, "Fine."
If this meeting happens,
things would settle.
If Nico says sorry,
then Nico stays.
And we move on.
[soft percussion playing]
[vra] I go to check on Nico.
And he says he'll apologise.
"To the group, no problem.
To the coach, no problem."
"But I can't to the press."
"'Cause I didn't say those words."
"How do you expect me to say sorry
for something I never said?"
And I understood.
And I said, "Thanks, Nico, honestly.
You're a good guy."
I felt relieved. I was excited.
I took Anelka to a room,
and I told him to wait right there.
I went down to the front desk and said,
"So, where's the coach?"
"We don't know. Maybe he's in his room."
I call Momo Sanhadji from security.
[phone ringing]
Momo says, "The players want
to talk to you, they're downstairs."
I said, "Momo, look at me."
"If they want to see me, I'm here.
They come to me."
I said, "The players
don't get to summon me,
I'm the manager."
They need to understand that
and get a grip.
-[sombre music playing]
-[ticking]
[vra] We wait for an hour,
but no one can be found,
not the coach, nor the president.
They must be messing with me.
We try to find him.
But he's hiding.
[ticking stops]
Finally, after an hour and a half,
I went to see the coach and the president.
And then, Domenech,
I remember, he says to me,
"It's too late."
"What do you mean, it's too late?"
[tense music playing]
The federation president
made the decision.
He said, "Send him home."
I said, "Okay."
[camera clicks]
Raymond's ego was too big.
He wanted to punish Nico.
[keyboard clicking]
It was personal.
That's the impression I got.
[keyboard clicking]
It was no longer about the French team
nor the whole nation.
It was about ego.
-[keyboard clicking]
-[music fades]
(SOUTH AFRICA)
Jean-Pierre Escalettes, thank you
so much for joining us today. Welcome.
It's a very serious matter
to expel a player from the national team
in the middle of a World Cup,
and we haven't seen this before,
have we, it's quite extraordinary.
Yes, it's most unusual.
And in light of the fact that the comments
that were reported have been confirmed
by the French team's manager,
Raymond Domenech,
and verified,
they are indeed totally unacceptable.
[man] You didn't deny it back then.
[chuckles]
[sighs] Yeah, yeah.
I let it go
Because I didn't care. I just didn't.
You really have no idea
how much I didn't care.
Lying, denying, I couldn't care less.
[gun cocks]
FIRED!
-[cameras clicking]
-[tense music playing]
[reporter] There's a frenzy
here in Knysna, at the Media Center.
They are all competing
with each other with live reports
and repeated phone calls trying
to get the ins and outs of this story.
[Duluc] I've done
over 800 press conferences,
but this one
is in my top one. [chuckles]
Unforgettable.
As the French team's press officer,
I had no idea,
absolutely no idea
what would be said,
how it would be expressed,
or who will speak.
[vra] I'm there, already annoyed,
because in my head, I'm like,
"Why is Nico leaving?"
I'm absolutely furious at that moment,
because I had tried to avoid this moment.
Jean-Pierre Escalettes
was out of his depth.
Patrice?
Any questions for Patrice,
or do you want him to
Yes, Patrice?
Yeah, I'm [sighs]
It's chaos. Complete confusion.
I don't even know
what I'm projecting through the camera.
It's chaos, and Escalette's annoying me.
The way he talks is getting on my nerves.
[reporter] Can you tell us exactly
what happened in that changing room?
Uh, wait a moment, before Patrice speaks,
I'd like to say,
and you rightly just mentioned it,
he's fulfilling his role
as captain at this time
in an extraordinarily efficient
and humane way.
This is a tough time for Patrice.
[reporter] Since the beginning,
the press has been shut out
of everything that's going on
They're not being shut out
'cause they clearly have a friend inside,
someone who tells them
everything that's been going on.
How can they be shut out
if they're writing about
what's going on in the dressing room?
They're not being shut out,
they're right in the thick of it.
[tense music playing]
It was an insane moment
because it symbolised
a complete loss of control.
Let the press call us losers,
whatever they want, I'm fine with that.
They can say we're a complete disaster,
that we're charlatans, whatever they like.
But to print words like that
What will this lead to?
This isn't about football, we're human.
Now don't go and tell me
you're all doing your job.
Is printing insults part of the job?
-I'm not doing that.
-I'm asking.
At that moment,
I was speaking straight from my heart.
It was
The problem we have isn't Anelka.
It's the traitor among us.
The real issue we have is rooting him out
and getting rid of him.
[Duluc] He was overwhelmed by emotions.
Obsessed with finding the mole.
It was like he had this mantra,
"There's a traitor in our midst."
[sombre music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[music stops]
[tense cymbals playing]
[man] The mole.
We needed to know who talked.
It was an obsession.
I was their physical trainer.
I ensured the players
were as fresh as possible.
I talked to some players that I knew,
and very soon, I heard something.
"Who was the leak?" It was the only thing
they were worried about.
It was terrible.
And this was just the start of it.
I thought "This is gonna to get worse."
And I knew they were
all thinking the same thing.
"They want to get him,
they want to catch the mole."
"They want to get the guy who talked."
Basically, it turned into a manhunt.
Everyone wanted to know.
It was the number one priority.
[Gallas] It poisoned the whole team.
"Are you the mole?" "No, it's not me."
Are you the mole?" "No, it's not me."
"Then, who is it?"
"Maybe it's so-and-so."
"That guy doesn't talk that much."
Suspicion fell on Thierry Henry.
[Gallas] In my mind,
it couldn't be any of the players.
It had to be one of the staff.
[tense music playing]
And there was this one physio
who was always snooping around.
It was Michel.
I'd go for treatment,
and I'd be wary of him.
There was also the press officer.
Franois was close to the coach.
Close to the journalists.
Close to the players.
He was the perfect candidate.
But maybe I was a good candidate too.
I wasn't talking to anyone. [chuckles]
Everyone started losing it.
And then I said, "Guys, where's Franck?"
"He's on the Tlfoot TV show."
I try to rise above it all, you know?
I'm a journalist for TF1
and I work on Tlfoot.
After L'quipe ran the story,
everyone tuned into Tlfoot.
Because Domenech was due to appear.
And then, I hear in my earpiece,
"Turn your head to the right,
Franck's here."
So I turn my head,
and it's Franck Ribry.
[Domenech] I was sat
where I could see him coming in.
He was talking to Manardo.
And then Manardo brings him in.
So much for being press officer.
The guy has an atomic bomb coming his way,
and what does he do?
He just lobs it right at me.
It's really intense.
We're live on air.
We had no perspective, no control.
And then Franck showed up with no warning.
Let's welcome Franck Ribry
who's joined us today unplanned.
This is a surprise to us.
Franck, welcome.
Why have you joined us today?
Hello. I
Well, I came
because for the past few days,
it's been a really tough time
for the players, for the whole country
And then Franck launches into a speech
that I found simply extraordinary.
Honestly, when I saw Nicolas leave,
I had tears in my eyes.
-[man] Did you all want him to stay?
-Of course we all wanted him to stay.
And now, we're becoming some sort of
laughingstock in front of the whole world.
France is suffering.
Our country.
I'm speaking from the heart, I really am.
I'm suffering. I'm in pain.
He was holding back the tears.
And Franck Ribry is no actor.
Someone leaked things to outsiders.
Someone was sharing things.
What goes in the dressing room
should stay in the dressing room.
And whoever it was
who was the leak was way out of line.
And then Patrice steps in.
Patrice vra, the team's captain.
[sombre music playing]
I said, "Where were you, Franck?"
And Franck breaks down.
He says, "Wallah"
starts crying and can't control it.
[tense music playing]
I thought, "I have to fix this.
It's utter chaos."
My first priority is
to make sure we all keep together.
I say, "Guys, we need a meeting."
Only the players were at this meeting.
No one else.
We did not agree
with the Federation's decision.
We strongly disagreed.
We were lost and didn't know what to do.
We felt manipulated,
like everyone's puppets.
They did whatever they wanted.
I said, "Guys. What should we do?"
[keyboard clicking]
[reporter] Hi guys, thank you
for waking up with us on Knysna FM.
And today is going to be
a wonderful sunny day.
[eerie music playing]
[reporter] Over 200 fans are about
to watch the French team train
As usual, I sat at the back of the bus.
But as we drew closer
to the training camp,
the tension started to build.
[tense music playing]
-Yeah! Go, France!
-[fans cheering]
ALL TOGETHER FOR A NEW DREAM IN BLUE
[Domenech] I see the players.
They're all there
talking together in small groups.
I knew trouble was brewing.
I was certain of it.
[fans cheering and singing]
[Manardo] We had
the whole French press corps turning up,
and international journalists too,
way more than usual.
They were real geniuses.
All the training sessions had been private
but the one session that really
should've been, they let the press in.
How can you open up that training session
when you'd just sent Nicolas Anelka home?
-[fans cheering]
-[tense music playing]
I'd prepared the warm-up.
My two lines were ready,
my equipment was ready.
And I noticed something.
The players weren't wearing their boots.
They weren't wearing studs.
I didn't understand
and I saw Raymond talking to Pat.
I said, "Pat, it's the World Cup."
"The whole world will be watching."
"Don't do anything stupid
and put yourselves at risk."
[vra] I said, "Coach,
it can't go down like this."
It was humiliating for Nico.
So we chose not to train.
[sighs]
They tore my guts right out.
They were going on training strike.
We weren't gonna accept this injustice.
-[dark music playing]
-[inaudible chatting]
I was facing away from the pitch.
All of a sudden,
I hear a photographer say,
"They're gonna smack
each other." And then
I heard what sounded just like gunfire.
[cameras clicking]
[man] What's going on out there?
The feeling that I had
in that split second made me think
it was the end.
-[man 1] Are they fighting?
-[man 2] Wait. There's so much going on.
Hold on, don't move.
Robert was known to be a hot-head.
And for speaking his mind.
But we didn't understand
what was going on.
He lost it.
[man 1] I hope we got that on camera!
[man 2] Of course we got it!
I didn't care
if we were being filmed. I said,
"Pat, we have to train,
so we're training."
They were right. 200%.
And I was not criticising
the point they were making.
I was criticizing their actions.
This was not the right way
to get your message across.
[man] It's going south with vra.
[sombre music playing]
I know that I failed.
I'm furious that I failed
to convince them of that.
I handled it very badly.
So I blame myself.
It's awful.
[sobbing softly]
Football's everything.
[woman] He's leaving,
I think he just threw something.
[fans cheering]
Without the players,
without football, there's nothing.
I'm nothing.
[man] That's insane!
It's total chaos out there at the moment.
And there's a surreal atmosphere
surrounding the French team.
[man 2] Training's been suspended.
It's been suspended.
[man 3] They've quit or something.
[man 2] It's unbelievable.
Never seen anything like it.
We had it all planned out.
We get there, get off the bus,
sign some autographs,
then go back to the hotel.
And they were saying "Wait, look.
Why isn't the bus moving?"
"What's going on? What the fuck is this?"
[reporter] The bus hasn't left yet.
The players are on the bus.
They're talking.
"Where are the keys?"
I took the keys so they couldn't leave
because I was still convinced that I could
get them to get out there and practice.
[tense music builds and stops]
Nobody moved.
We stuck to the plan.
[menacing music playing]
It had been what? Ten, 15, 20 minutes
that we were all on the bus.
It was hot. There was tension.
There was condensation on the windows.
We were stuck.
-[man] This is legendary.
-Yeah.
It's a unique moment.
We felt like caged animals in a zoo.
And how long did we sit there like idiots?
Should I have just let them leave
right there and then?
Maybe.
Perhaps that was my mistake.
Definitely.
-[tense music playing]
-[yelling]
[man] There is utter confusion here.
We really need some clear information.
-[woman] What's going on?
-What happened?
They can tell you themselves.
We had lost all control. It was chaos.
Total chaos.
[shouting]
What's happening this afternoon
is a scandal.
-Jean-Louis?
-I have no option but to resign.
-What happened?
-I'm sickened and disgusted.
-Do you know who was at fault?
-The team director resigned on live TV.
[man 1] What happened?
[man 2] Are you the mole?
No. Absolutely not.
[woman] What happened on the pitch?
Okay.
And he just left.
But he didn't tell us anything.
[inaudible]
[Manardo] Patrice told me bluntly,
"Franois, read this
to the press, will you?"
[woman] Look, he's got a statement.
He's gonna read us a statement.
I skimmed it quickly
and understood straight away.
In front of the bus, Manardo said to me,
"I can't read this out. Seriously.
I'll get fired if I read this out."
I wasn't going to read,
in front of 150 journalists,
a statement from the players
that was against the French
Football Federation, who employ me.
[sombre mood]
From behind me, a voice said,
"Where's that statement?"
"Give it here.
I'll read the fucking letter myself."
The first thing I thought was,
"They didn't fucking write this.
There are no spelling mistakes."
[journalists talking]
[arguing]
Try to get organised, okay?
-[man 1] Ready?
-[man 2] Yeah.
So, here it is, "All the players
of the French team, without exception,
wish to express
their opposition to the decision
of the French Football Federation
to expel Nicolas Anelka."
"As a result, every player in the team
has decided not to participate
in today's training session."
"Signed, the players
of the French football team."
-Thank you. Goodbye
-What are you gonna do?
-Are you going to resign?
-Have you tried to convince them?
Raymond!
We witnessed live on air
the French football team's funeral.
[tense music playing]
[reporter] The South African fiasco
is now a nightmare.
French football has never before
experienced a crisis quite like this one.
This is a national disgrace.
No, in fact it's a global disgrace.
Things are falling apart
for the French team.
Now there is a fresh crisis,
Les Bleus are on strike.
"Domenech" and "manager" is
an oxymoron at this stage, isn't it?
The French team is like a madhouse.
It's highly unlikely that they'll reach
the last 16 as they'd expected.
Back at the hotel,
the players were all on the phone.
Every single one of them.
[Duluc] They were all talking
to their families, their parents,
fathers, mothers, who were saying,
"Son, what have you done?"
"This is insane. You can't do that."
[music intensifies]
We didn't realize the scale of it.
We didn't know.
All we wanted was to support Nico
and say, "He's one of us."
-[sombre mood playing]
-[keyboard clicking softly]
I got a call that evening,
from Hlne, my eldest daughter.
And she said, "But Dad,
what have you done? Are you with them?"
I said, "What are you talking about?"
"You read their letter!"
Shit!
Fuck, what have I done?
[sombre music continues]
[vra] We had to catch a flight
to our last match
where we were due
to play against South Africa.
For the first time,
I felt panic in the team.
Several of the guys were in touch
with people back home.
And they were like,
"Pat, it's crazy back in France."
"We're dead."
"You really have to apologise, please.
France is in complete uproar."
"Just say it was a way
of rebelling against Anelka's expulsion."
If the players say,
"Pat, apologise," I have to do it.
[tense music playing]
[Manardo] It was the day before the match,
and we were required
to hold a press conference.
So vra knew he had
this window of opportunity.
[plane engines roaring]
"We'd like to apologise
if we've given off a bad impression
of the French team
and France as a nation."
Simple.
I thought it was a great idea.
I went to see Raymond,
and he said,
"I don't think that's a good idea."
[plane engines roaring]
I can still remember the scene
as if it were yesterday.
And I had never seen the coach
rush to a press conference
as fast as he did then.
[tense drums playing]
I got out quickly
and jumped straight in the car.
[Manardo] He said, "In, let's go."
We were both in the back.
He didn't say a word to me.
Then I said, "Where's Franois?"
-[phone vibrates]
-"Coach, Pat's calling me."
No answer. He doesn't pick up the phone.
-So I take the call.
-"Put the coach on."
[tense music playing]
You made your bed.
You were their leader, were you not?
You were the one who came up
with this whole thing.
Well done.
And now, you think that I'm going
to sit there next to you
while you apologise?
Why don't you say it was my fault,
while you're at it?
I said, "Listen, you've said
enough stupid things. Just keep quiet."
And he hung up.
For me, personally, I wanted to say sorry
to the whole country.
But I was denied that right.
And then it was clear to me
that the coach had decided to censor
the captain of the French football team.
[crowd murmuring]
I turned on the TV.
The coach wanted
to totally dominate this press conference.
If you have microphones for the questions,
please use them.
THE FRENCH TEAM BACK IN TRAINING
PRESS CONFERENCE
To anticipate most of the questions
you're going to ask me,
I'll address them before we start.
It'll be much easier.
First of all, I'd like to point out that
the sanction imposed
upon Nicolas Anelka is justified,
and I support the Federation
in this decision.
First point, addressed. Second point.
Why did I intervene
and read out the statement?
The only thing he cared about
was saving his own skin.
[Domenech] Let me be clear.
I do not in any way condone
this document or this attitude.
-That's it. Thank you.
-[man] Thank you.
"I have issues with my team,
so I'll expose them to the media,
to the whole world."
"Come on, show them
what spoiled little brats they all are."
"Let's portray them as millionaires
who won't train."
Yeah, nice one. Brilliant.
[tense music playing]
I turned my room upside down,
and said, "I'm outta here."
"I'm going back to France."
[music stops]
Knock, knock, knock on my door.
[dramatic echo]
"Hello, sir,
I'm Mrs. Bachelot's bodyguard."
"She'd like to see you."
I mean, what the I said to myself,
"This is never going to end."
[soft, distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[Bachelot] I felt like
I was entering a fortress.
There were barriers, police officers.
And right from the start,
I felt uncomfortable.
I told Jean-Pierre Escalettes
and Raymond Domenech
that I wanted to talk
to the players face to face.
She took the players
and then she kicked us out.
I felt like I was back
in elementary school,
with the teacher coming
to scold the class.
Imagine that suddenly,
with a wave of her magic wand,
Mrs. Fairy Bachelot would
transform the world of football.
Wonderful.
[Gallas] In that meeting,
she said everything
that what we wanted to hear.
I kept a copy
of that speech.
"I have not come before you
to pass judgment or to conduct trials."
"One thing's certain,
you have lost the communications battle."
"But you have lost much more than that."
"You have lost the sports world,
the public,
the youth."
"It is a disaster."
"Fight! Fight!"
There, now we had, finally a real coach.
She was the coach we wanted.
"Tomorrow is the last game of this stage."
[vra] "Yes."
"How do you wish to be remembered?"
We finally heard a coach's speech.
It really moved us.
It drew us close to her.
It was very impressive.
vra was like a baby.
-[man] Did he cry?
-Oh, yes.
Poor little thing.
It was difficult.
What was happening was so hard.
They were overwhelmed.
It was too hard for them.
It was like our mum was talking to us.
There were tears in our eyes.
A mother scolds,
but she will always love you.
[emotional music playing]
[woman] But the responsibility
lies somewhere, minister.
There's still one more match to play.
Anything can happen.
Rest assured that I am the minister
for the French national team
in good times and in bad.
3RD GAME
FRANCE - SOUTH AFRICA
[dramatic percussion playing]
[vra] On the day of the match,
Raymond announced the lineup.
He said, "I don't want you to play."
I said, "I'll play. You'll see."
My mindset was like, "You don't get
to call the shots anymore."
I said, "No, I'm the manager."
"I pick who I want."
"And this is the team I want, okay?"
"And you're not in it."
[string music playing out of tune]
I can be nice, I can be kind,
and kick you out.
[vra] That was typical Domenech.
He had his guillotine
And he wielded it with pleasure.
With a smile.
I had absolute power.
[soft piano music playing]
[vra] He abandoned me.
He finished me off.
"You don't exist, Patrice."
I would say that that moment,
was the most difficult.
That's when it really hit me.
-[music fades]
-[vuvuzelas buzzing]
[supporters cheering]
[soft, distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[reporter] The World Cup runners-up
leave by the back door.
France will need some time
to get over this.
They are the laughingstock of the world.
[keyboard clicking]
Bye bye, South Africa.
Oh, what a beautiful dream it was.
The shit show will continue,
it's going to be so tough.
[fans shouting]
[man] We came all this way to support you!
[whistling and booing]
[reporter] A departure
to a chorus of boos.
Les Bleus crash out of the World Cup
and leave by the back door.
[woman] This was a disastrous performance
on the pitch
and even more so off it.
Spoiled, arrogant millionaires on strike.
That's the image
of the French football team now.
The team have returned from South Africa.
A pathetic but fitting end to the fiasco.
[plane engines roaring softly]
[Sagna] Returning to France
was very tense.
At the airport,
the reception we got was hostile.
They should walk back, not fly.
They shouldn't even come back ever!
We don't want them.
What are they doing?
Are they scared to come out, or what?
Let them face the whole nation.
I remember a row of taxis
with tinted windows, all lined up.
[tense music playing]
POLICE
Eggs were thrown at the car.
[fan] Bunch of losers!
[booing and shouting]
The aggression and loathing,
the red-eyed hatred of those people.
[reporter] After
the "Black-White-Arab" saga,
here comes the disaster
of the lazy, spoiled brats.
I started getting death threats
on my windshield,
insults were shoved under my door.
We had to escape!
I was scared. I was terrified.
[reporter] France will need
some time to get over this.
They are the laughingstock of the world.
Madam Minister of Health and Sports,
you have the floor.
[Bachelot] Mr. President,
my fellow members of Parliament,
I can only acknowledge,
as you all have as well, this disaster.
A helpless coach with no control,
with no authority,
a football federation in utter turmoil,
and a French football team
where immature thugs
rule over frightened kids.
In front of the media,
she destroyed us.
She slandered us.
She spat on us.
"They're thugs, they're scum,
they're frightened."
Where did she see that?
I thought
how could you come to us
and spend time with us all?
We were with you. We respected you.
And then you destroy us
like that in Parliament!
Who was the real thug?
[scoffs]
[man] Who were you referring to?
I would rather not answer that question.
I So that's all.
It's not I said what I had to say
and that's all there is to it.
That kicked off the political manipulation
regarding the origins of certain players.
There are cliques in the team.
Both ethnic and religious.
And these factions are clearly creating
some kind of apartheid
LEADER OF THE NATIONAL FRONT PARTY
within the team itself.
When things went wrong,
who took the flack?
[booing]
But when we won
[cheering]
When we won the World Cup,
it was "Black-White-Arab."
I think I had forgotten
how brutal it all was.
How brutal the whole story was.
-[sad piano music playing]
-It was so brutal.
[Gallas] You have to remember
that we all have families.
When they said,
"William Gallas may be a thug"
I had to justify myself to my parents.
I remember taking my kids out
for the day, to an amusement park,
and I saw two legs appear close to me.
It was a woman, and she simply lost it.
My son was in his stroller.
And she was hurling insults at me.
I didn't react,
but the same afternoon, I left.
I packed my bags and I left.
I fled my country.
[Intriguing music playing]
[man] Do you think about the players?
Yes, I do think about them,
sometimes with a certain
bitterness.
They moved on.
Went back to their various leagues.
Carried on with their lives.
For me, it all changed.
Everything changed completely.
But perhaps it was for the best.
[tense music playing]
[vra] It was a dream
to wear the French football strip.
I was proud to wear the captain's armband.
I took my role very seriously.
I took it to heart.
[music continues playing]
[music fades]
I've got a question for you.
Did they ever find the mole?
No, but
There was no traitor. There was no Judas.
There was no mole.
It wasn't a question of betrayal.
I'll say it like it is,
it was sheer stupidity.
I think the mole
was unaware of being the mole.
That's what's fascinating in all this.
What I mean by that is
that the player who told a journalist
what happened
at half-time in the dressing room
didn't know that he was the mole.
He still doesn't know.
It all started
after Ribry made some comments
in the mixed zone after the game.
-[reporter] Statement?
-Just a quick word.
Allegedly he said,
"Fuck! It got heated
between the coach and Nico at half-time."
From there,
the journalists started digging.
So who did they call?
They called the players' brothers,
their agents,
everyone they knew close to the team.
And that is
when the whole story just blew up.
Uh
Maybe Franck will admit it one day,
I don't know.
But I don't hold it
against him at all. [chuckles]
Well, Franck's still my guy.
[laughing]
[intriguing music playing]
The letter, that piece of paper.
I should have kept it.
-[man] Where is it? Do you know?
-We don't know.
I don't know what became of it.
I would have framed it.
Hung it up on my wall somewhere.
[man] Someone did keep it and frame it.
No!
-Really?
-Yeah.
Oh, that's amazing.
I thought it was gone for good.
Was it the president?
A player?
You're joking. No one's got it.
Manardo?
It was Franois Manardo who kept it.
What a bastard.
I'm absolutely happy to, uh
to share it with him.
I'll make a photocopy.
I'll send it to you and you can
forward it to him, no problem.
I'll make a copy.
[Intriguing music continues]
[soft piano music playing]
In '98, I was 17.
["I Will Survive"
by Gloria Gaynor playing]
[man] The French football team
are world champions!
The whole of France is celebrating.
I think that after seeing this,
we can die in peace.
I remember being on the Champs-lyses,
seeing their photos
on the Arc de Triomphe,
I had this childhood dream,
"I have to be there one day.
I have to win the World Cup."
[music stops abruptly]
[eerie music playing]
[man] You all suck!
[fans booing and whistling]
[man] When the French team wins,
it brings millions of French people out
into the streets.
[camera clicking]
And the opposite is true when they lose.
[reporter 1] The rumoured clash
becomes reality.
[reporter 2 ] French football has never
experienced such a crisis.
The worst crisis
in French sporting history.
This is a national disgrace.
I never talk about it.
[camera clicking]
[woman] Things are clearly not getting
better for the French team.
They now have gone on strike.
[reporter] The South African fiasco
is turning into a nightmare.
[woman] What's going on?
It's a statement from the players.
-What's happening is a scandal.
-This is unprecedented.
The problem is the traitor in our team.
[tense music playing]
"Go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch."
This is 10% of what was in store for us.
[dramatic music playing]
We wanted the same thing,
but we lost our way.
They tried to portray us
as something we were not.
I had to flee my home
because I was getting death threats.
Football's everything.
[dramatic music building]
I'd forgotten how brutal it all was.
So brutal.
This lie's been going on for 15 years.
I accepted my responsibility.
Now I'd like Raymond Domenech,
the French manager, to accept his.
[music stops]
Let's do this.
[soft, distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[music fades]
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[mouse clicks]
[mouse clicks]
[music intensifies]
-[mouse wheel scrolling]
-[mouse clicking]
[keyboard clicking]
-Okay, let's do it.
-[music fades]
Football saved my life,
I'm not afraid to say it.
[soft music playing]
Les Ulis was a tough neighbourhood.
There were a lot of gangs.
Some of my friends
even lost their lives there.
Sometimes, we'd be talking,
a car would drive by,
and people would shoot at us.
You had to duck behind cars, and so on.
But that's where I learned
to play football.
When I played I said to my friends,
"I'm gonna be
the best left-back in the world."
And they said,
"You're gonna represent us all"
The kids here think that football is
about being as good as Ronaldo,
being able to dribble, that's all.
No, football's about mindset.
You can have the feet,
but if you're not mentally strong,
then forget it.
[vra] I remember I had a trial
for Paris Saint-Germain.
In the dressing room afterwards,
the coach said,
"Patrice, you're very good technically,
you're very fast,
but you're from the projects
and we're afraid
you'll steal from the dressing room"
He said this in front
of all the other kids.
I said to myself,
"Even though this door is closed,
another will open for me."
So I kept on going.
And that's where my story begins.
Patrice vra has an incredible future.
He's an example to the youngsters.
He comes from Les Ulis.
He struggled to begin with.
But at 17, he moved to Italy to play
in the third division in Sicily.
And then he was a sensation in Monaco.
Then he signed with Manchester United,
the most powerful club in the world.
-[announcer] It's gone in!
-[cheering]
by number 3, Patrice vra!
I became captain of Manchester United.
I won the Premier League
with Manchester United.
In 2008, we won the Champions League
and I was voted
the best left-back in the world.
I've always considered myself a survivor.
[chuckles] I've come such a long way.
RAYMOND DOMENECH AND PATRICE VRA
Raymond Domenech gave me my first cap
for the French national team.
I respected him as my coach.
We nearly won the World Cup.
[announcer] Oh, no, not that!
-Not today, not now!
-[crowd booing]
[Domenech] I remember, in 2006,
when I was already the manager, we lost.
The Italians were running
all over the place.
There was confetti swirling around.
And I stood there, alone.
And I thought, "In four years time,
I'll be on the winning side."
Not runners-up.
That result left a very bitter taste.
That's why I was so furious.
-[dynamic music playing]
-[cameras clicking]
Raymond, at the time,
was an intelligent, cultured man.
He was funny. You could talk to him.
He always had interesting stories to tell.
Good morning. How are you?
He is provocative, you know? He loves it.
He adores being the centre of attention.
Now, sit here.
[vra] He loves theatrics.
[director] That's good.
Now, be even clearer.
"Now, sit here."
Now, sit here.
[vra] One time, at a training camp
with the French team,
an orchestra conductor was there.
I said, "He's got his baton,
what's going on here?"
He told us to sing. "La, la, la"
and we all had to sing together.
Raymond said, "If we all sing together,
we'll be more united."
He's mad, and I love it.
[chuckles] I love it, I do. He's my idol.
I did a bit of everything.
I did transactional analysis,
NLP, anything to do
with communication tools
and ways to understand people.
And astrology is one method
I use to understand people.
Raymond Domenech,
manager of the French football team.
Aquarius, Virgo rising.
When I arrived in Lyon,
I studied the players star signs.
And in that team, there were
seven er, six or seven Scorpios.
Basically, my aim was to get rid
of as many of them as possible.
I kept two.
[upbeat drums playing]
[keyboard clicking]
Do we stand a chance
against Switzerland on Saturday?
THE SOOTHSAYER
-Chance has nothing to do with it.
-Of course, hard work and training
No, the stars are aligned.
Aquarius entered the house of Leo
through the constellation of Gemini,
so, chance is for amateurs.
[soothing music playing]
I'm someone
who believes in signs of destiny,
and in 2010, shortly before the World Cup,
I was certain that nothing
at all could go possibly wrong.
[plane engine roaring]
SOUTH AFRICA
GEORGETOWN AIRPORTHE OUTCASTS MAKE THEIR ENTRY
IN A GLASS PARADISE
[reporter] It's 5:45 a.m.
This time, it's official,
the French team are in South Africa.
They've arrived with great fanfare.
[upbeat music playing]
When we landed in South Africa,
we felt at home straight away.
[cheering]
We felt this World Cup
belongs to us. It's ours.
It's ours without a doubt.
-Everybody say, "France!"
-[group] France!
-Everyone say, "Welcome!"
-[group] Welcome!
We arrived in South Africa
with the best players in the world.
[cheering]
We're talking about
the great Nicolas Anelka.
664 GAMES, 208 GOALS, 12 CLUBS
[announcer] That is a special goal
from Nicolas Anelka
"CHELSEA'S GOLDEN BOY."
and that is the Golden Boot.
[whistling]
[vra] Franck Ribry from Bayern.
[announcer] What an electric 75th minute.
That came out of nowhere!
[vra] Yoann Gourcuff.
THE NEXT GENERATION: THE WEIGHT OF LEGACY
People said he's the new Zidane.
[announcers cheering]
[announcer] Almost nothing
can stop Yoann Gourcuff.
[fans singing]
[vra] Thierry Henry for Barcelona.
"THE SOLOIST OF THE INVINCIBLES."
William Gallas, Arsenal
DEFENDER
As a team, we had everything
we needed to go all the way.
We so wanted to be there,
we so wanted to play in this World Cup.
[vra] We were talking
about the very highest level.
"A REAL DEFENSIVE WALL."
[Sagna] It was
my first World Cup as a player.
It was emotional
because it was my parents' homeland.
We were in Africa. It was my culture.
[singing]
The French team was locked and loaded.
We had a chance
and the players believed it.
We were among the favourites.
Our group was gonna be a walk in the park.
Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa.
[singing continues]
[Patrice vra continues singing the song]
Oh, man. That song really
was a curse for us.
[laughs]
[music stops]
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[music stops]
I was there to be a link
between the media
and the players and the coach.
Hello everyone. Thank you for coming.
[Manardo] It was my responsibility
to make sure that the public
was regularly informed
about the French team.
We're here, finally.
This is it. We're here.
[Manardo] The day after we arrived,
the coach said, "I don't want any media."
I said, "No, that's not possible.
We have no choice."
"I don't give a fuck, no media.
That's it, full stop."
There was no room for discussion.
It was pointless.
Or else I'd just piss him off.
Basically, we had a problem.
Thank you.
[Manardo] For two years,
Raymond's relationship with the media
had been slowly souring,
and it was affecting the whole team.
JUNE 2010
[suspenseful music playing]
JUNE 2008
FRANCE ELIMINATED IN THE FIRST ROUND
After total failure at the Euros,
Raymond proposed marriage live
on French national television
to his then-girlfriend, Estelle Denis.
Coming to you live now,
we'll of course be talking
about the French football team,
and their elimination at Euro 2008.
These Euros were a disaster.
Raymond had tears in his eyes.
I knew that look.
I lived with him, I was glued to him,
for nearly 20 years.
He was so depressed. It made me so sad.
And then
What do you want to say
to those calling for your resignation?
[Domenech] Nothing. I only have one plan
right now, that's to marry Estelle.
And today's the day I'm going to ask her.
"One plan, to marry Estelle."
And I thought, "What the hell is this?"
I know things are difficult
but I need Estelle.
Thank you. I'm sure this moment will be
as positive for you personally
as it is negative in a sporting sense.
I hope we're invited to the wedding.
I called him and tore him to shreds.
To absolute shreds.
It was awful,
the worst proposal in history.
And why?
[chanting] Domenech, resign!
In football, you either win and climb
naked on the table and take a pee
no one will bat an eyelid.
-[booing]
-Or you lose.
[whistling]
And if you say one wrong word
But I need Estelle.
you'll get slaughtered.
I think Domenech is the worst coach
in French football since Louis XVI.
COACH FOR THE FRENCH BEACH FOOTBALL TEAM
Things got very tough with the press.
Really tough.
We were in for two years of hell.
[distorted music playing]
A full house today.
Of course it is.
The smell of blood intoxicates you.
So I'm off to a good start, then?
That's good, really good.
[Tarrago] We'd go to a press conference
always expecting a fight.
I'm not asking you if you think
this is your last press conference.
Anyway, that's your last question.
Thank you, goodbye.
JUNE 2008
[Tarrago]
The atmosphere was just terrible.
It was war.
[booing and whistling]
2010 WORLD CUP
LAST QUALIFYING GAME
The match against Ireland
well, it changed everything.
[camera clicks]
[announcer] We can clearly see the hand.
[announcer 2] It was
a deliberate handball, you can see it.
Even a double handball.
The ref was the only one
who didn't see it.
-All the players saw it.
-Yeah.
The French team qualifies
for the World Cup
thanks to a handball by Thierry Henry.
-[sombre music playing]
-[booing and whistling]
And immediately [scoffs]
THE AWKWARD MOMENIt came as no surprise Raymond Domenech
and the whole team
were accused
of stealing Ireland's qualification.
[presenter] Do they even deserve
to go to the World Cup?
Eight out of ten French people
said "No." It's unbelievable.
-I'm of the same opinion.
-There we go.
Allow me to enjoy this feeling
and share this moment of joy
with those who are happy
that France has qualified.
And there are many!
He is someone who thrives on adversity.
So, for him,
the more enemies he makes,
the more balanced he becomes.
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
I was hated as a player,
I was hated as a manager.
Well, bring it on. [laughs]
It drives me forward.
It fuels me.
[booing and whistling]
the smell of blood intoxicates you.
NOVEMBER 2009
JUNE 2010
[Manardo] At the Pezula,
we isolated ourselves.
The directive was
to avoid personal contact
between the players and the media.
[vra] Domenech's speech
to us in South Africa was like this,
"Guys, from now on, it's us against them."
And we're like, "Too right!"
No, no
[Tarrago] Throughout the tournament,
most of the training sessions
were closed to the press.
Well done.
Raymond had started a war.
He'd put up tarps, send in security.
What I really can't stand?
Photographers.
[cameras clicking]
They're in your face.
Click, click! From all angles.
I hate that.
For him, it was like,
"This is my last stand."
"And they are gonna bite the dust."
[cameras clicking]
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
I was one of the most experienced players
in that World Cup.
And I was the vice-captain.
Which meant that I was gonna be captain.
Captain of the French football team.
Which meant that if we won,
who is presented with the Cup?
Who's gonna lift it before anyone else?
It's William.
It's me! What do you want me to say?
It's me!
But the armband doesn't go to him.
It goes to vra.
When Domenech made me captain,
I didn't feel particularly happy about it.
I was thinking about William Gallas.
I was worried
that William would think that I'd.
that I'd screwed him over.
Was William told before? No. Why? [sighs]
Because that's the way
the boss did things.
Yes, Gallas wasn't made captain.
Because if he was to be captain,
that would make me a general.
He is no captain.
I said, "Are you disappointed
in my behaviour?"
He wasn't up to it.
It's not a problem. Just tell me.
We're all adults.
[tense music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
William wasn't with us anymore.
He was in his own world.
Full of hate.
I knew it would stir shit up
within the team.
[Manardo] The armband incident
was the first sign.
Internally, the tension
was beginning to be clearly felt.
It was palpable.
It was brewing. It was bubbling.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick
[announcer] What a night in Cape Town!
France and Uruguay head
to this marvellous playing surface
[Tarrago] When France faced Uruguay,
it was clear that everyone
expected France to win.
It was felt to be an easy match.
-[fans cheering]
-[upbeat music playing]
From the start
[drums playing]
The match was mediocre.
It was crap. [chuckles]
[music softens]
We weren't inspiring our nation.
We were playing badly.
[sombre music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[Estelle] Raymond became paranoid.
He wasn't himself.
He had doubts. And he never had doubts.
He was so decisive
but now he was drawing diagrams.
Over and over, and he wasn't like that.
I could feel how hard it was for him.
[keyboard clicking]
[music fades]
Players came up to me
like I was their nanny,
'cause the coach wasn't there.
[man] Yes!
"Pat, have a word with the coach.
Training's shit, things have to change."
[man] Yep. Over here!
So I went to see Raymond.
"Coach" And he said,
"I know what you want."
"You want me to sacrifice the lamb."
Yep. Come on.
"I'll guillotine him then.
Gourcuff won't play tomorrow."
[distorted music playing]
I said, "Coach,
what are you talking about?"
He said,
"No, I don't give a fuck, shut up."
"It's final. Gourcuff's not playing."
-[man 1] I'll put it in the van?
-[man 2] Yeah, please.
I told the guys.
I asked him. He said,
"No, he's not changing his mind."
"Gourcuff's not playing."
The guys went nuts, they said,
"Can't you see
we're on a collision course?"
"He's insane!"
[intriguing music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
-[tense music playing]
-[ticking]
[announcer] Welcome to Polokwane.
Here, tonight,
Les Bleus are playing for their future.
Defeat is not an option.
2ND GAME
FRANCE - MEXICO
That game was important
because if the goal is
to qualify for the next round,
then you can't afford not to win.
A draw won't cut it.
["La Marseillaise" playing]
[singing in French]
-[anthem finishes]
-[cheering]
The first half was a disaster.
[tense music playing]
Nico!
Raymond wanted Nicolas Anelka
to be the lone striker.
But Anelka wanted to roam free.
He felt that's how he played best.
Obviously, that infuriated Raymond.
[shouting] Nico! Nico! Fuck!
We were on the bench
looking at each other, thinking,
"What is he doing?"
We thought,
"Okay, we have a problem here."
We were lucky with the scoreline
Nil-nil,
against a team that outplayed us.
We were furious with ourselves.
[sombre music playing]
We went back to the dressing room,
but we weren't confident. No
[music building]
[eerie bass playing]
We were in the stands
and when they came back out,
Anelka wasn't there.
[announcer] Andr-Pierre Gignac is
in fact coming on for Nicolas Anelka.
Taking a player off
at half-time is a big deal.
Because it's humiliating for the player.
[whistle blows]
So naturally,
like everyone else, we wondered,
what went on in the dressing room?
[announcer] Flag is down,
chance here for Mexico. Around Lloris!
Javier Hernndez!
Oh, now the referee a big call Penalty!
Blanco against Lloris
But it works!
And Mexico lead France
by two goals to nil [sound fades]
[Tarrago] France lost. It was a disaster.
We were in shock.
We were almost out of the World Cup.
All of us knew,
we were gonna get crucified.
A crushing defeat for France
against Mexico last night.
Les Bleus fans are furious today.
12,000 kilometres. 35-hour journey.
They didn't even get on the pitch.
They were awful. When they played at all.
Anelka was walking.
Walking, instead of running.
They didn't score.
They didn't do anything.
They were absolutely awful!
Useless!
The media had their knives out
and were getting them ready.
Sharpening them to a point.
L'QUIPE - WORLD CUP
THE IMPOSTORS
"Impostors."
It was a very emotive headline.
Everyone agreed on that.
-[reporter] Statement?
-Just a quick word.
Thierry, anything to say?
-Do you have a comment, Florent?
-It was really tough tonight.
I need to find the words
Because there's one game left
Er
We have to play.
The national team's coach
has dug French football's grave.
A coach with a poor work ethic,
with no convictions,
who doesn't communicate well,
who never talks about football.
[keyboard clicking]
[music stops]
[insects buzzing]
[airport announcement]
We arrived at the airport in Polokwane.
It was pretty empty.
We were waiting
for a special flight for the French press.
There were about 50 or 60 of us.
We were exhausted,
and there was a huge delay with the plane.
Three or four hours.
And at one point, a colleague
from broadcasting comes over and says
"Things got extremely heated
at half-time."
"There has been a huge clash
in the dressing room
between Domenech and Anelka."
"That's why he didn't come back
for the second half."
And right away, of course,
we had to verify it.
[Tarrago] I talked to our team
of journalists and told them,
"Go and make some calls, text all
of your contacts, and then we'll see."
The usual!
-[tense music playing]
-[phone ringing]
They came back to me and said,
"Well, we checked, it's true."
"There was an altercation
between Raymond and Nicolas. "
"Nicolas insulted Raymond."
And at half-time in a World Cup match,
that's a bombshell.
I said, "Go ahead, write the story."
"I'll let Paris know."
[man] Around 8:00 p.m.,
I got a call saying,
"We have a big scoop on the French team."
"We'll probably run it on the front page
tomorrow because it's massive."
I said, "Okay, fine."
And he said, "We have three options"
And the subtlest is,
"The Incredible Clash."
THE INCREDIBLE CLASH!
Then there's, "You can go Son of a"
YOU CAN GO SON OF A
We weren't too keen on that one.
It felt like we were pulling our punches.
That we were being soft
and hiding the truth.
The third option was to go all out.
"Go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch."
I said, "Wow, okay."
ANELKA TO DOMENECH
AT HALF-TIME OF FRANCE-MEXICO
They sent me a mock-up.
It was a bit tabloidy. A bit trashy.
They said, "Well, it's trashy
because that's what it is."
I said, "Okay, that makes sense."
We're not gonna put a grass pitch
or the Tricolore on it.
That's trashy.
It was brutal. Really.
[keyboard clicking]
[Manardo] I felt that night like
time was suspended.
Like when a storm is coming straight
towards you and you can feel it coming.
But you haven't been hit by it yet.
I was in bed.
-It was midnight.
-[phone rings]
A call came through. I picked it up
It was Nicolas Anelka, he said,
"Have you heard about
L'quipe's front page tomorrow?"
"Wait, wait, wait, Nicolas"
"What are you talking about?"
"The front page of L'quipe. Tomorrow."
"Have you heard?" "No."
And then he told me what it was.
"Are you sure? No, that can't be possible.
That's just not possible."
"You can go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch.'"
"Well, it is.
It's L'quipe's front page tomorrow."
"But they can't do that."
[thunder roaring]
And then Nico said,
"With football, anything's possible."
So, I hung up and called the coach.
[phone ringing]
[Domenech] I was reading.
I couldn't sleep.
He said, "Something's coming out
in L'quipe tomorrow."
"You can go fuck yourself,
you dirty son of a bitch.'"
"Is that so? When is it coming out?"
"Tomorrow. L'quipe. Paris."
[whirring]
"What does that mean for us?"
"Well, we'll see in the morning."
And then I went to sleep.
[switch clicks]
"What should've been done that night?"
is a good question.
We woke everyone up.
We brought
the two protagonists together. "
"Okay, what's our story?"
"Because if we don't have one,
we're just gonna let
the media call the tune."
That's how it should've gone.
That's the action
we should've taken, right?
But this wasn't a normal situation.
[thunder roaring]
[tense music playing]
[reporter 1] The rumour started
to swell last night.
A clash between Nicolas Anelka
and Raymond Domenech
became a reality on the front page
of L'quipe this morning.
A shocking headline,
the Chelsea striker insulting his coach.
[reporter 2] French newspaper
L'quipe broke the story,
splashing on the front page
the vulgar remarks
made by Nicolas Anelka
to Raymond Domenech.
[reporter 1] So these reported comments
from Nicolas Anelka
set fire to the world of football.
It's horrible. This photo's horrible.
Everything was all wrong.
[vra] Wow!
I've never seen this before.
I've never seen these photos before.
This is It's
Ah, no, it's [sighs]
[Duluc] Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It still is a shocking front page.
It's iconic.
I don't want to.
[man] You don't want to see it?
I really don't want to.
This thing here ruined the life
of my whole family for many years.
This
is ten percent
of what was in store for us.
[reporter] Here, we are pointing
the finger at a selfish French team,
the vulgarity of individual players
A new scandal is shaking up
the French football team
These comments attributed to Anelka
have set things on fire here, in Knysna.
[woman] Reactions came from all sides,
anger from the fans,
denunciations from sporting
and political worlds alike.
They didn't behave like sporting heroes,
but rather like street thugs instead.
Anelka will always have
that reputation now.
The French President spoke bluntly
about the Anelka affair.
Here's what he said.
Yes. If the events reported this morning
by the press are accurate,
they are unacceptable.
Unacceptable.
And as a result,
I put my trust in the Minister
to draw the necessary conclusions
from this failure.
The phone keeps on ringing.
It's the lyse Palace.
It's the Prime Minister's office.
It's journalists.
"So then, Madam Minister,
what is your reaction?"
And then I get a call on the phone
from Nicolas Sarkozy.
And he says this to me,
"You are going to meet with the players,
yell at them and tell them to win."
"Your job is to get us
out of this with some dignity."
"And we need to project a positive image
of the French national team."
[distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[sighs] And I thought, "We're in trouble."
But I really had no idea
how much trouble we were actually in.
[music stops]
Picture me waking up.
L'quipe's front page is there.
I was the captain,
I was next to Anelka, he never said that.
[man] So, as far as you're concerned,
there wasn't an incident
in the dressing room with Anelka?
[sombre music playing]
[vra] I remember that day so clearly.
In the dressing room,
I'm here, and Nico is there.
He's on my left. And when Domenech
comes into the dressing room
everyone goes silent.
For 15 minutes.
Imagine that, for ten minutes,
no one says a word.
[ticking]
That's what Raymond Domenech did.
After ten minutes,
the first thing he said,
"Fuck, Nico,
you're really pissing me off!"
He started to lose it.
"You're the only one not doing your job.
And, Nico, it's pissing me off."
It wasn't the right time.
It's half-time, you're there to recover.
Recuperate for 15 minutes.
Your coach should build your confidence.
You don't wanna pick a fight
in front of everyone.
And Nico says to him, "Coach, I'm trying
to suggest something different."
I said, "Just stop and listen!"
"There were ten other people
on the bench with me and we all saw it."
"From the first touch,
you weren't going for it."
And then it was, "You can't do that."
"Yes, I can." "You didn't do that,
you didn't do enough."
"What do you want me to do?
Who do you think I am?"
"We can't get past a training cone."
The pressure built, it got more and more.
And then, when he finished talking,
well, Nico was just sitting there,
like this, and he said, "What?"
"Then, why don't you pick
your own fucking team?"
Then he threw his boots.
And that was the only thing I heard.
[Intriguing music playing]
Of course I'm the one
Raymond called that night.
We lived together, we were madly in love.
Of course he called me.
He said "I told Nico
that he's not playing the way I want."
"And Nico was rude to me."
I said, "What do you mean?"
He was over-familiar.
He had never spoken to me like that.
It had never happened before.
And for me, that was the worst part of it.
[man] But Anelka
didn't call you a son of a bitch?
I'm certain he didn't.
He never said that to me.
[soft bass playing]
[tense music playing]
[reporter] On the pitch here in Knysna,
the French team resume training.
We're looking for Nicolas Anelka,
but the French striker
is nowhere to be seen.
The latest rumour is that Nicolas Anelka
could be excluded from the French team.
So I went to see the coach, and said,
"This is serious."
"I was sitting next to Anelka
and he never said those words."
He said "That's as may be,
but he's going back to France."
"What do you mean,
he's going back to France?"
"He's going."
I said, "We can't do that."
"Please, I'm begging you.
Please, Coach, what if he apologises?"
"If he says sorry, can he stay?"
"I'm asking you, Coach, do it for me."
He said, "Yes, but he has to apologise
to the group, to me and to the press."
I said, "Fine."
If this meeting happens,
things would settle.
If Nico says sorry,
then Nico stays.
And we move on.
[soft percussion playing]
[vra] I go to check on Nico.
And he says he'll apologise.
"To the group, no problem.
To the coach, no problem."
"But I can't to the press."
"'Cause I didn't say those words."
"How do you expect me to say sorry
for something I never said?"
And I understood.
And I said, "Thanks, Nico, honestly.
You're a good guy."
I felt relieved. I was excited.
I took Anelka to a room,
and I told him to wait right there.
I went down to the front desk and said,
"So, where's the coach?"
"We don't know. Maybe he's in his room."
I call Momo Sanhadji from security.
[phone ringing]
Momo says, "The players want
to talk to you, they're downstairs."
I said, "Momo, look at me."
"If they want to see me, I'm here.
They come to me."
I said, "The players
don't get to summon me,
I'm the manager."
They need to understand that
and get a grip.
-[sombre music playing]
-[ticking]
[vra] We wait for an hour,
but no one can be found,
not the coach, nor the president.
They must be messing with me.
We try to find him.
But he's hiding.
[ticking stops]
Finally, after an hour and a half,
I went to see the coach and the president.
And then, Domenech,
I remember, he says to me,
"It's too late."
"What do you mean, it's too late?"
[tense music playing]
The federation president
made the decision.
He said, "Send him home."
I said, "Okay."
[camera clicks]
Raymond's ego was too big.
He wanted to punish Nico.
[keyboard clicking]
It was personal.
That's the impression I got.
[keyboard clicking]
It was no longer about the French team
nor the whole nation.
It was about ego.
-[keyboard clicking]
-[music fades]
(SOUTH AFRICA)
Jean-Pierre Escalettes, thank you
so much for joining us today. Welcome.
It's a very serious matter
to expel a player from the national team
in the middle of a World Cup,
and we haven't seen this before,
have we, it's quite extraordinary.
Yes, it's most unusual.
And in light of the fact that the comments
that were reported have been confirmed
by the French team's manager,
Raymond Domenech,
and verified,
they are indeed totally unacceptable.
[man] You didn't deny it back then.
[chuckles]
[sighs] Yeah, yeah.
I let it go
Because I didn't care. I just didn't.
You really have no idea
how much I didn't care.
Lying, denying, I couldn't care less.
[gun cocks]
FIRED!
-[cameras clicking]
-[tense music playing]
[reporter] There's a frenzy
here in Knysna, at the Media Center.
They are all competing
with each other with live reports
and repeated phone calls trying
to get the ins and outs of this story.
[Duluc] I've done
over 800 press conferences,
but this one
is in my top one. [chuckles]
Unforgettable.
As the French team's press officer,
I had no idea,
absolutely no idea
what would be said,
how it would be expressed,
or who will speak.
[vra] I'm there, already annoyed,
because in my head, I'm like,
"Why is Nico leaving?"
I'm absolutely furious at that moment,
because I had tried to avoid this moment.
Jean-Pierre Escalettes
was out of his depth.
Patrice?
Any questions for Patrice,
or do you want him to
Yes, Patrice?
Yeah, I'm [sighs]
It's chaos. Complete confusion.
I don't even know
what I'm projecting through the camera.
It's chaos, and Escalette's annoying me.
The way he talks is getting on my nerves.
[reporter] Can you tell us exactly
what happened in that changing room?
Uh, wait a moment, before Patrice speaks,
I'd like to say,
and you rightly just mentioned it,
he's fulfilling his role
as captain at this time
in an extraordinarily efficient
and humane way.
This is a tough time for Patrice.
[reporter] Since the beginning,
the press has been shut out
of everything that's going on
They're not being shut out
'cause they clearly have a friend inside,
someone who tells them
everything that's been going on.
How can they be shut out
if they're writing about
what's going on in the dressing room?
They're not being shut out,
they're right in the thick of it.
[tense music playing]
It was an insane moment
because it symbolised
a complete loss of control.
Let the press call us losers,
whatever they want, I'm fine with that.
They can say we're a complete disaster,
that we're charlatans, whatever they like.
But to print words like that
What will this lead to?
This isn't about football, we're human.
Now don't go and tell me
you're all doing your job.
Is printing insults part of the job?
-I'm not doing that.
-I'm asking.
At that moment,
I was speaking straight from my heart.
It was
The problem we have isn't Anelka.
It's the traitor among us.
The real issue we have is rooting him out
and getting rid of him.
[Duluc] He was overwhelmed by emotions.
Obsessed with finding the mole.
It was like he had this mantra,
"There's a traitor in our midst."
[sombre music playing]
[keyboard clicking]
[music stops]
[tense cymbals playing]
[man] The mole.
We needed to know who talked.
It was an obsession.
I was their physical trainer.
I ensured the players
were as fresh as possible.
I talked to some players that I knew,
and very soon, I heard something.
"Who was the leak?" It was the only thing
they were worried about.
It was terrible.
And this was just the start of it.
I thought "This is gonna to get worse."
And I knew they were
all thinking the same thing.
"They want to get him,
they want to catch the mole."
"They want to get the guy who talked."
Basically, it turned into a manhunt.
Everyone wanted to know.
It was the number one priority.
[Gallas] It poisoned the whole team.
"Are you the mole?" "No, it's not me."
Are you the mole?" "No, it's not me."
"Then, who is it?"
"Maybe it's so-and-so."
"That guy doesn't talk that much."
Suspicion fell on Thierry Henry.
[Gallas] In my mind,
it couldn't be any of the players.
It had to be one of the staff.
[tense music playing]
And there was this one physio
who was always snooping around.
It was Michel.
I'd go for treatment,
and I'd be wary of him.
There was also the press officer.
Franois was close to the coach.
Close to the journalists.
Close to the players.
He was the perfect candidate.
But maybe I was a good candidate too.
I wasn't talking to anyone. [chuckles]
Everyone started losing it.
And then I said, "Guys, where's Franck?"
"He's on the Tlfoot TV show."
I try to rise above it all, you know?
I'm a journalist for TF1
and I work on Tlfoot.
After L'quipe ran the story,
everyone tuned into Tlfoot.
Because Domenech was due to appear.
And then, I hear in my earpiece,
"Turn your head to the right,
Franck's here."
So I turn my head,
and it's Franck Ribry.
[Domenech] I was sat
where I could see him coming in.
He was talking to Manardo.
And then Manardo brings him in.
So much for being press officer.
The guy has an atomic bomb coming his way,
and what does he do?
He just lobs it right at me.
It's really intense.
We're live on air.
We had no perspective, no control.
And then Franck showed up with no warning.
Let's welcome Franck Ribry
who's joined us today unplanned.
This is a surprise to us.
Franck, welcome.
Why have you joined us today?
Hello. I
Well, I came
because for the past few days,
it's been a really tough time
for the players, for the whole country
And then Franck launches into a speech
that I found simply extraordinary.
Honestly, when I saw Nicolas leave,
I had tears in my eyes.
-[man] Did you all want him to stay?
-Of course we all wanted him to stay.
And now, we're becoming some sort of
laughingstock in front of the whole world.
France is suffering.
Our country.
I'm speaking from the heart, I really am.
I'm suffering. I'm in pain.
He was holding back the tears.
And Franck Ribry is no actor.
Someone leaked things to outsiders.
Someone was sharing things.
What goes in the dressing room
should stay in the dressing room.
And whoever it was
who was the leak was way out of line.
And then Patrice steps in.
Patrice vra, the team's captain.
[sombre music playing]
I said, "Where were you, Franck?"
And Franck breaks down.
He says, "Wallah"
starts crying and can't control it.
[tense music playing]
I thought, "I have to fix this.
It's utter chaos."
My first priority is
to make sure we all keep together.
I say, "Guys, we need a meeting."
Only the players were at this meeting.
No one else.
We did not agree
with the Federation's decision.
We strongly disagreed.
We were lost and didn't know what to do.
We felt manipulated,
like everyone's puppets.
They did whatever they wanted.
I said, "Guys. What should we do?"
[keyboard clicking]
[reporter] Hi guys, thank you
for waking up with us on Knysna FM.
And today is going to be
a wonderful sunny day.
[eerie music playing]
[reporter] Over 200 fans are about
to watch the French team train
As usual, I sat at the back of the bus.
But as we drew closer
to the training camp,
the tension started to build.
[tense music playing]
-Yeah! Go, France!
-[fans cheering]
ALL TOGETHER FOR A NEW DREAM IN BLUE
[Domenech] I see the players.
They're all there
talking together in small groups.
I knew trouble was brewing.
I was certain of it.
[fans cheering and singing]
[Manardo] We had
the whole French press corps turning up,
and international journalists too,
way more than usual.
They were real geniuses.
All the training sessions had been private
but the one session that really
should've been, they let the press in.
How can you open up that training session
when you'd just sent Nicolas Anelka home?
-[fans cheering]
-[tense music playing]
I'd prepared the warm-up.
My two lines were ready,
my equipment was ready.
And I noticed something.
The players weren't wearing their boots.
They weren't wearing studs.
I didn't understand
and I saw Raymond talking to Pat.
I said, "Pat, it's the World Cup."
"The whole world will be watching."
"Don't do anything stupid
and put yourselves at risk."
[vra] I said, "Coach,
it can't go down like this."
It was humiliating for Nico.
So we chose not to train.
[sighs]
They tore my guts right out.
They were going on training strike.
We weren't gonna accept this injustice.
-[dark music playing]
-[inaudible chatting]
I was facing away from the pitch.
All of a sudden,
I hear a photographer say,
"They're gonna smack
each other." And then
I heard what sounded just like gunfire.
[cameras clicking]
[man] What's going on out there?
The feeling that I had
in that split second made me think
it was the end.
-[man 1] Are they fighting?
-[man 2] Wait. There's so much going on.
Hold on, don't move.
Robert was known to be a hot-head.
And for speaking his mind.
But we didn't understand
what was going on.
He lost it.
[man 1] I hope we got that on camera!
[man 2] Of course we got it!
I didn't care
if we were being filmed. I said,
"Pat, we have to train,
so we're training."
They were right. 200%.
And I was not criticising
the point they were making.
I was criticizing their actions.
This was not the right way
to get your message across.
[man] It's going south with vra.
[sombre music playing]
I know that I failed.
I'm furious that I failed
to convince them of that.
I handled it very badly.
So I blame myself.
It's awful.
[sobbing softly]
Football's everything.
[woman] He's leaving,
I think he just threw something.
[fans cheering]
Without the players,
without football, there's nothing.
I'm nothing.
[man] That's insane!
It's total chaos out there at the moment.
And there's a surreal atmosphere
surrounding the French team.
[man 2] Training's been suspended.
It's been suspended.
[man 3] They've quit or something.
[man 2] It's unbelievable.
Never seen anything like it.
We had it all planned out.
We get there, get off the bus,
sign some autographs,
then go back to the hotel.
And they were saying "Wait, look.
Why isn't the bus moving?"
"What's going on? What the fuck is this?"
[reporter] The bus hasn't left yet.
The players are on the bus.
They're talking.
"Where are the keys?"
I took the keys so they couldn't leave
because I was still convinced that I could
get them to get out there and practice.
[tense music builds and stops]
Nobody moved.
We stuck to the plan.
[menacing music playing]
It had been what? Ten, 15, 20 minutes
that we were all on the bus.
It was hot. There was tension.
There was condensation on the windows.
We were stuck.
-[man] This is legendary.
-Yeah.
It's a unique moment.
We felt like caged animals in a zoo.
And how long did we sit there like idiots?
Should I have just let them leave
right there and then?
Maybe.
Perhaps that was my mistake.
Definitely.
-[tense music playing]
-[yelling]
[man] There is utter confusion here.
We really need some clear information.
-[woman] What's going on?
-What happened?
They can tell you themselves.
We had lost all control. It was chaos.
Total chaos.
[shouting]
What's happening this afternoon
is a scandal.
-Jean-Louis?
-I have no option but to resign.
-What happened?
-I'm sickened and disgusted.
-Do you know who was at fault?
-The team director resigned on live TV.
[man 1] What happened?
[man 2] Are you the mole?
No. Absolutely not.
[woman] What happened on the pitch?
Okay.
And he just left.
But he didn't tell us anything.
[inaudible]
[Manardo] Patrice told me bluntly,
"Franois, read this
to the press, will you?"
[woman] Look, he's got a statement.
He's gonna read us a statement.
I skimmed it quickly
and understood straight away.
In front of the bus, Manardo said to me,
"I can't read this out. Seriously.
I'll get fired if I read this out."
I wasn't going to read,
in front of 150 journalists,
a statement from the players
that was against the French
Football Federation, who employ me.
[sombre mood]
From behind me, a voice said,
"Where's that statement?"
"Give it here.
I'll read the fucking letter myself."
The first thing I thought was,
"They didn't fucking write this.
There are no spelling mistakes."
[journalists talking]
[arguing]
Try to get organised, okay?
-[man 1] Ready?
-[man 2] Yeah.
So, here it is, "All the players
of the French team, without exception,
wish to express
their opposition to the decision
of the French Football Federation
to expel Nicolas Anelka."
"As a result, every player in the team
has decided not to participate
in today's training session."
"Signed, the players
of the French football team."
-Thank you. Goodbye
-What are you gonna do?
-Are you going to resign?
-Have you tried to convince them?
Raymond!
We witnessed live on air
the French football team's funeral.
[tense music playing]
[reporter] The South African fiasco
is now a nightmare.
French football has never before
experienced a crisis quite like this one.
This is a national disgrace.
No, in fact it's a global disgrace.
Things are falling apart
for the French team.
Now there is a fresh crisis,
Les Bleus are on strike.
"Domenech" and "manager" is
an oxymoron at this stage, isn't it?
The French team is like a madhouse.
It's highly unlikely that they'll reach
the last 16 as they'd expected.
Back at the hotel,
the players were all on the phone.
Every single one of them.
[Duluc] They were all talking
to their families, their parents,
fathers, mothers, who were saying,
"Son, what have you done?"
"This is insane. You can't do that."
[music intensifies]
We didn't realize the scale of it.
We didn't know.
All we wanted was to support Nico
and say, "He's one of us."
-[sombre mood playing]
-[keyboard clicking softly]
I got a call that evening,
from Hlne, my eldest daughter.
And she said, "But Dad,
what have you done? Are you with them?"
I said, "What are you talking about?"
"You read their letter!"
Shit!
Fuck, what have I done?
[sombre music continues]
[vra] We had to catch a flight
to our last match
where we were due
to play against South Africa.
For the first time,
I felt panic in the team.
Several of the guys were in touch
with people back home.
And they were like,
"Pat, it's crazy back in France."
"We're dead."
"You really have to apologise, please.
France is in complete uproar."
"Just say it was a way
of rebelling against Anelka's expulsion."
If the players say,
"Pat, apologise," I have to do it.
[tense music playing]
[Manardo] It was the day before the match,
and we were required
to hold a press conference.
So vra knew he had
this window of opportunity.
[plane engines roaring]
"We'd like to apologise
if we've given off a bad impression
of the French team
and France as a nation."
Simple.
I thought it was a great idea.
I went to see Raymond,
and he said,
"I don't think that's a good idea."
[plane engines roaring]
I can still remember the scene
as if it were yesterday.
And I had never seen the coach
rush to a press conference
as fast as he did then.
[tense drums playing]
I got out quickly
and jumped straight in the car.
[Manardo] He said, "In, let's go."
We were both in the back.
He didn't say a word to me.
Then I said, "Where's Franois?"
-[phone vibrates]
-"Coach, Pat's calling me."
No answer. He doesn't pick up the phone.
-So I take the call.
-"Put the coach on."
[tense music playing]
You made your bed.
You were their leader, were you not?
You were the one who came up
with this whole thing.
Well done.
And now, you think that I'm going
to sit there next to you
while you apologise?
Why don't you say it was my fault,
while you're at it?
I said, "Listen, you've said
enough stupid things. Just keep quiet."
And he hung up.
For me, personally, I wanted to say sorry
to the whole country.
But I was denied that right.
And then it was clear to me
that the coach had decided to censor
the captain of the French football team.
[crowd murmuring]
I turned on the TV.
The coach wanted
to totally dominate this press conference.
If you have microphones for the questions,
please use them.
THE FRENCH TEAM BACK IN TRAINING
PRESS CONFERENCE
To anticipate most of the questions
you're going to ask me,
I'll address them before we start.
It'll be much easier.
First of all, I'd like to point out that
the sanction imposed
upon Nicolas Anelka is justified,
and I support the Federation
in this decision.
First point, addressed. Second point.
Why did I intervene
and read out the statement?
The only thing he cared about
was saving his own skin.
[Domenech] Let me be clear.
I do not in any way condone
this document or this attitude.
-That's it. Thank you.
-[man] Thank you.
"I have issues with my team,
so I'll expose them to the media,
to the whole world."
"Come on, show them
what spoiled little brats they all are."
"Let's portray them as millionaires
who won't train."
Yeah, nice one. Brilliant.
[tense music playing]
I turned my room upside down,
and said, "I'm outta here."
"I'm going back to France."
[music stops]
Knock, knock, knock on my door.
[dramatic echo]
"Hello, sir,
I'm Mrs. Bachelot's bodyguard."
"She'd like to see you."
I mean, what the I said to myself,
"This is never going to end."
[soft, distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[Bachelot] I felt like
I was entering a fortress.
There were barriers, police officers.
And right from the start,
I felt uncomfortable.
I told Jean-Pierre Escalettes
and Raymond Domenech
that I wanted to talk
to the players face to face.
She took the players
and then she kicked us out.
I felt like I was back
in elementary school,
with the teacher coming
to scold the class.
Imagine that suddenly,
with a wave of her magic wand,
Mrs. Fairy Bachelot would
transform the world of football.
Wonderful.
[Gallas] In that meeting,
she said everything
that what we wanted to hear.
I kept a copy
of that speech.
"I have not come before you
to pass judgment or to conduct trials."
"One thing's certain,
you have lost the communications battle."
"But you have lost much more than that."
"You have lost the sports world,
the public,
the youth."
"It is a disaster."
"Fight! Fight!"
There, now we had, finally a real coach.
She was the coach we wanted.
"Tomorrow is the last game of this stage."
[vra] "Yes."
"How do you wish to be remembered?"
We finally heard a coach's speech.
It really moved us.
It drew us close to her.
It was very impressive.
vra was like a baby.
-[man] Did he cry?
-Oh, yes.
Poor little thing.
It was difficult.
What was happening was so hard.
They were overwhelmed.
It was too hard for them.
It was like our mum was talking to us.
There were tears in our eyes.
A mother scolds,
but she will always love you.
[emotional music playing]
[woman] But the responsibility
lies somewhere, minister.
There's still one more match to play.
Anything can happen.
Rest assured that I am the minister
for the French national team
in good times and in bad.
3RD GAME
FRANCE - SOUTH AFRICA
[dramatic percussion playing]
[vra] On the day of the match,
Raymond announced the lineup.
He said, "I don't want you to play."
I said, "I'll play. You'll see."
My mindset was like, "You don't get
to call the shots anymore."
I said, "No, I'm the manager."
"I pick who I want."
"And this is the team I want, okay?"
"And you're not in it."
[string music playing out of tune]
I can be nice, I can be kind,
and kick you out.
[vra] That was typical Domenech.
He had his guillotine
And he wielded it with pleasure.
With a smile.
I had absolute power.
[soft piano music playing]
[vra] He abandoned me.
He finished me off.
"You don't exist, Patrice."
I would say that that moment,
was the most difficult.
That's when it really hit me.
-[music fades]
-[vuvuzelas buzzing]
[supporters cheering]
[soft, distorted version
of "La Marseillaise" playing]
[reporter] The World Cup runners-up
leave by the back door.
France will need some time
to get over this.
They are the laughingstock of the world.
[keyboard clicking]
Bye bye, South Africa.
Oh, what a beautiful dream it was.
The shit show will continue,
it's going to be so tough.
[fans shouting]
[man] We came all this way to support you!
[whistling and booing]
[reporter] A departure
to a chorus of boos.
Les Bleus crash out of the World Cup
and leave by the back door.
[woman] This was a disastrous performance
on the pitch
and even more so off it.
Spoiled, arrogant millionaires on strike.
That's the image
of the French football team now.
The team have returned from South Africa.
A pathetic but fitting end to the fiasco.
[plane engines roaring softly]
[Sagna] Returning to France
was very tense.
At the airport,
the reception we got was hostile.
They should walk back, not fly.
They shouldn't even come back ever!
We don't want them.
What are they doing?
Are they scared to come out, or what?
Let them face the whole nation.
I remember a row of taxis
with tinted windows, all lined up.
[tense music playing]
POLICE
Eggs were thrown at the car.
[fan] Bunch of losers!
[booing and shouting]
The aggression and loathing,
the red-eyed hatred of those people.
[reporter] After
the "Black-White-Arab" saga,
here comes the disaster
of the lazy, spoiled brats.
I started getting death threats
on my windshield,
insults were shoved under my door.
We had to escape!
I was scared. I was terrified.
[reporter] France will need
some time to get over this.
They are the laughingstock of the world.
Madam Minister of Health and Sports,
you have the floor.
[Bachelot] Mr. President,
my fellow members of Parliament,
I can only acknowledge,
as you all have as well, this disaster.
A helpless coach with no control,
with no authority,
a football federation in utter turmoil,
and a French football team
where immature thugs
rule over frightened kids.
In front of the media,
she destroyed us.
She slandered us.
She spat on us.
"They're thugs, they're scum,
they're frightened."
Where did she see that?
I thought
how could you come to us
and spend time with us all?
We were with you. We respected you.
And then you destroy us
like that in Parliament!
Who was the real thug?
[scoffs]
[man] Who were you referring to?
I would rather not answer that question.
I So that's all.
It's not I said what I had to say
and that's all there is to it.
That kicked off the political manipulation
regarding the origins of certain players.
There are cliques in the team.
Both ethnic and religious.
And these factions are clearly creating
some kind of apartheid
LEADER OF THE NATIONAL FRONT PARTY
within the team itself.
When things went wrong,
who took the flack?
[booing]
But when we won
[cheering]
When we won the World Cup,
it was "Black-White-Arab."
I think I had forgotten
how brutal it all was.
How brutal the whole story was.
-[sad piano music playing]
-It was so brutal.
[Gallas] You have to remember
that we all have families.
When they said,
"William Gallas may be a thug"
I had to justify myself to my parents.
I remember taking my kids out
for the day, to an amusement park,
and I saw two legs appear close to me.
It was a woman, and she simply lost it.
My son was in his stroller.
And she was hurling insults at me.
I didn't react,
but the same afternoon, I left.
I packed my bags and I left.
I fled my country.
[Intriguing music playing]
[man] Do you think about the players?
Yes, I do think about them,
sometimes with a certain
bitterness.
They moved on.
Went back to their various leagues.
Carried on with their lives.
For me, it all changed.
Everything changed completely.
But perhaps it was for the best.
[tense music playing]
[vra] It was a dream
to wear the French football strip.
I was proud to wear the captain's armband.
I took my role very seriously.
I took it to heart.
[music continues playing]
[music fades]
I've got a question for you.
Did they ever find the mole?
No, but
There was no traitor. There was no Judas.
There was no mole.
It wasn't a question of betrayal.
I'll say it like it is,
it was sheer stupidity.
I think the mole
was unaware of being the mole.
That's what's fascinating in all this.
What I mean by that is
that the player who told a journalist
what happened
at half-time in the dressing room
didn't know that he was the mole.
He still doesn't know.
It all started
after Ribry made some comments
in the mixed zone after the game.
-[reporter] Statement?
-Just a quick word.
Allegedly he said,
"Fuck! It got heated
between the coach and Nico at half-time."
From there,
the journalists started digging.
So who did they call?
They called the players' brothers,
their agents,
everyone they knew close to the team.
And that is
when the whole story just blew up.
Uh
Maybe Franck will admit it one day,
I don't know.
But I don't hold it
against him at all. [chuckles]
Well, Franck's still my guy.
[laughing]
[intriguing music playing]
The letter, that piece of paper.
I should have kept it.
-[man] Where is it? Do you know?
-We don't know.
I don't know what became of it.
I would have framed it.
Hung it up on my wall somewhere.
[man] Someone did keep it and frame it.
No!
-Really?
-Yeah.
Oh, that's amazing.
I thought it was gone for good.
Was it the president?
A player?
You're joking. No one's got it.
Manardo?
It was Franois Manardo who kept it.
What a bastard.
I'm absolutely happy to, uh
to share it with him.
I'll make a photocopy.
I'll send it to you and you can
forward it to him, no problem.
I'll make a copy.
[Intriguing music continues]