Raymond Domenech's new job

He's back! The former manager of the national football team, Raymond Domenech, has returned to the Beautiful Game.


Ah how he has been missed since the Fédération française de football (French football federation, FFF) fired him in September for "gross misconduct".

Mind you his latest job is a world removed from the one he held for six years and no way as lucrative. Quite the opposite really as Domenech is lending his indubitable expertise on a voluntary basis to the L'Athletic Club de Boulogne-Billancourt (ACBB) in the suburbs of Paris.

And what will the man who won nothing while coaching Les Bleus, managed just one title (Division 2 champions with Olympique lyonnais in 1989) during his eight years as a club manager and of course was such a shining example of leadership, humility and respectful behaviour (in refusing to shake the hand of South Africa's manager Carlos Alberto Parreira at the end of the France-South Africa match) at the fiasco that was France's World Cup campaign this Summer?

You might well ask.

The 58-year-old will be in charge of ACBB's under-11s.


"It's part of a long-term commitment he has made," Jacques Migaud, the president of ACBB's football section said.

"He'll be training the kids every Wednesday in an advisory role," he continued.

"And he's agreed to do it to get back to basics and simple enjoy being with children. It's entirely voluntary."

Quite.

With the tidy sum of around €5,600 in unemployment benefit rolling in every month and a claim of €2.9 million in compensation from the FFF currently being reviewed by an industrial tribunal, Domenech can more than afford his mastery of football with others - for free.

His first match in charge of ACBB's under-11s will be on Saturday against neighbouring Suresnes.