If this is obviously a biography – that of a passionate child who became a player and then a coach – this story also allows us to discover the behind the scenes of professional football. “It is my story, our story, that of my football family more precisely because we are never alone in facing all these trials”, writes Claude Puel in the preamble of his book.
The former Monaco defender – where the Castres native spent his entire playing career between 1979 and 1996 – retraces his career, recounts the personalities he met or met on the pitch, behind the scenes. He deciphers the evolution of an environment that then had little to do with today’s football.
Champion of France in 1982 and 1988, winner of the Coupe de France in 1992 with the club du Rocher, this rugged midfielder, a player in the shadows, has been able, throughout his career, to make himself indispensable in making others shine. Faithful to the Monegasque colors despite some requests – OM in particular – Claude Puel then wore the coach’s uniform. A second life where his “devouring passion” for football remained as strong as ever…
If he started (obviously) at the ASM, with a French champion title up for grabs in 2000, he ended up leaving the Rocca to “be able to develop elsewhere”. Thus he will settle on the benches of Lille, Lyon, Nice, Southampton, Leicester and more recently on that of Saint-Etienne.
“I have never cheated. I gave everything. Player, coach, I never calculated my efforts”, he explains in this life story where he talks about his career as a player and then as a coach, his relationship with the media and, through some anecdotes, portrays characters he has had the opportunity to meet , confront or train.
