Jean Tigana named as new Bordeaux coach

AFP - Former France midfield star Jean Tigana was named on Tuesday as coach of Bordeaux replacing Laurent Blanc.
   
Tigana had been among the favourites for one of the top managerial jobs in French football as soon as it was made clear that Blanc would take over as national team coach after the World Cup.
   
An influential member of the French team that won the European title in 1984 and reached the semi-finals at both the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, Tigana also has enjoyed success as a coach with Lyon, Monaco and Fulham in England.
   
Under Blanc, Bordeaux won the French league title in 2009, but they finished poorly this year and failed to capture a major title or even qualify for European football.
   
The Girondins chairman Jean-Louis Triaud will officially present the 54-year-old Tigana as the new club coach at a news conference later Tuesday.
   
Tigana was born in the Mali capital Bamako, but played throughout his career in France starting with Toulon from 1975 to 1978. He then went on to play with bigger clubs Lyon from 1978 to 1981 and especially Bordeaux, where he made his big breakthrough, from 1981 t0 1989.
   
An industrious and clever player of slight build, Tigana was the perfect foil for Michel Platini, Alain Giresse and Jean Fernandez in what many regard as being one of the finest-ever international midfield combinations.
   
He won 52 caps during his career between 1980 and 1988 and played in five French league-winning teams.
   
Tigana started his coaching career back at Lyon in 1993 and went on to take charge of Monaco (1995-1999), Fulham (2000-2003) and Besiktas in Turkey (2005-2007).
   
He had been out of a job since then, but recently had been mentioned as a possible replacing for Raymond Domenech as national team coach.
   
But that job is now set to go to Blanc, a member of the French team that won the World Cup in 1998 and the European title two years later vacating the hotseat at Bordeaux