Metz boss Frederic Antonetti could get up to four months’ suspension after his sending off in the goalless draw at LOSC Lille last Friday. The loudmouth manager of French football was shown the red card late in the game after he pushed away two members of the home team’s staff who entered his technical area. Antonetti claims that he was only defending his team from the pressure created by Les Lillois’ sporting coordinator Sylvain Armand, but reports from RMC Sport say that he could spend the rest of the season away from his team’s dugout.
After the attending journalists accused him of violence, Antonetti burst out and demanded an explanation as to what were Lille people doing inside the dotted lines of his technical area.”Do you think that the president of Lille and the Sporting Coordinator should be two metres away from me in my area to put pressure on the fourth official? I’m 60 years old, I don’t want anyone to be disrespecting me. I know how it goes, I’m a good sport but in the end, I am right. If they hadn’t come up would there have been the incident? When I’m assaulted I respond to it. I took a red card but I won’t let myself get pushed around on the pitch.”The Metz coach sought to justify his actions and lamented that the French footballing world did not like men with a temperament like him.”You want all football coaches to act like nice, stylish and well-behaved upper-class gentlemen. I’m not one of those nor will I ever be. You don’t like me and that’s alright.”Sunday, 17.00: (2.90) Metz (3.05) Nantes (2.60)Even UNECATEF, the French managers union, released a statement defending Fred. “YES he is hot-headed, YES he is under pressure, YES the sense of injustice with him is often thin-skinned, YES he can’t stand provocation, YES sometimes he forgets that he is representing his bench, YES his reactions are sometimes excessive but Fred Antonetti has been working for decades and even back in the day we weren’t caged in our technical area. We have put a lion in cage and then we’ve gone and wound him up. Can we silently accept pressure from the opposition on the referee in a tense match that could decide the fate of a season?”🗣💬 “Vous n’aimez que les BCBG. Je ne suis pas bon chic, bon genre, je ne le serai jamais. Vous n’aimez pas les gars qui ont un peu de tempérament. Je ne suis pas aimé, c’est pas grave”💥 Echange extrêmement tendu entre Antonetti et des journalistes. pic.twitter.com/VuJt55VlxL— RMC Sport (@RMCsport) February 18, 2022 The French Professional League will deliver the verdict in the next few days. And even though we like to see a coach show a bit of fire by standing up to himself, it’s likely that Antonetti would be made a scapegoat. After all, we must stop such violence. Right?