Editor’s Note: This is excerpted from Balls of Fire by David Scharfenberg and Lance Gould, June 1 issue of The Boston Phoenix. The graphic comes from an article by Paul Westman.
French skipper Raymond Domenech is, perhaps, the perfect stand-in for his country: he is the most ridiculed manager in international soccer — and easily the most entertaining.
Domenech famously decided to keep winger Robert Pires off the team because the player was a Scorpio. And the coach (Aquarius, with Virgo rising) has little patience for Leos, either.
“When I have got a Leo in defense, I’ve always got my gun ready,” he once said. “I know he’s going to want to show off at one moment or another and cost us.” The coach’s caprice has not gone over well with astrologically challenged players. But Domenech has managed to piss off even those with more favorable charts.
Once accused of treating star midfielder Claude Makelele, who was born in Africa, like a “slave” by “forcing” him to play for Les Bleus, Domenech replied: “He’s the slave and I’m the slave driver. I crack the whip and he comes running.”