Domenech making more friends

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/6385126

Domenech goes out of his way to slam his former Scotland counterpart, saying he chased the bank account rather than his country. While he might have a point, why express it in such a manner, it does nothing for the French national team nor their ability to qualify for the Euro....

All this does is demonstrate to me that Domenech still needs a lot of work on the PR angle of the job. Being a national team manager, especially of a footballing power, is a high profile job not just in your nation but globally. With the amount of money that is floating around in global football this has become big business - just the Champions League generates close to $1b....

It is clear that with this money the club vs country row will only get deeper. With this in mind, national team managers need to do a better job working with the club managers to secure the services of the star players. I think that national team managers who have solid relationships and good communication with the club managers allows for an ability to plan on how to use players for both club an country. Unlike club managers who only need to get along with their owners and sometimes their players, and even at that do not need to be "warm and fuzzy" since they have the stick of paychecks that motivates and attracts talent, national team managers motivate players with only the carrot of playing for ones nation.

However this is something that domenech has yet to accomplish. He has stubbornly stuck by his notion that the team comes first, which I agree with, but done so in a confrontational manner, which I do not agree with - see Makelele situation and the refusal to substitute out Henry. Going out of his way to critise a former national team colleage will not help the perception of Domenech's style. Hopefully none of France's star players end up on Rangers...I am sure Smith would go out of his way to make sure they are "available" for national duty. And I am sure that the other club managers are fully aware of the latest jib by Domenech.