He “takes his time”. This is how the lawyer for Noël Le Graët reacts this morning on the morning show of RTL to the conclusions of the audit report published on Wednesday on the French Football Federation. The “behavioral drifts” of its president had been singled out as “incompatible with the exercise of his functions and the requirement of exemplarity which is attached to him”.
“At this stage, for the moment, he will make his decision quietly and certainly not under pressure from the minister, since there is a big political influence”, announces master Florence Bourg this Thursday. The latter remains president of the FFF “until further notice”, she says.
“The status quo is impossible,” commented Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra when the report was published. According to our information, Noël Le Graët is open to a departure but he wants to choose his exit.
“An Execution Report”
“He has a feeling of total injustice and rightly so because this report and this investigation have taken place in a scandalous way”, reacts the lawyer for Noël Le Graët. The document from the General Inspectorate for Education, Sport and Research (IGESR) pointed to “inappropriate behavior (…) towards women” in particular through “ambiguous SMS for some and of a clearly sexual for others.
“I’m sorry to tell you that there are no text messages of a clearly sexual nature in the report”, rebounds the lawyer. According to her, “it’s not an inspection report, it’s an execution report. To kill Noël Le Graët”.
The summary of the document stressed that the Menhir “no longer has the legitimacy necessary to administer and represent French football”. Noël Le Graët has been withdrawn since January 11, a decision taken a few days after yet another slippage, this time targeting Zinédine Zidane and while he is targeted by testimonies from women accusing him of inappropriate behavior.
Since mid-January, the Breton has been the subject of an investigation for moral and sexual harassment, opened following a report made by the inspectors. The latter indicated that they would transmit additional elements of information to justice.