Christophe Bouchet, the former president of OM, told an anecdote about a “fictitious” transfer made by Bernard Tapie.
Bernard Tapie, who passed away last Sunday, is one of the characters who have most marked the history of OM. And among the reasons why he left his mark on the Vélodrome side are the colossal resources he brought to the club following his appointment as president in 1986. The businessman has notably increased the number of sensational transfers, arousing the happiness of Olympian supporters but also of the media.
“I didn’t want to enter Tapie’s circle”
A certain Christophe Bouchet was one of the journalists who covered the club during the period in question. The one who later became president of Marseille himself told about RMC Sport that time where the “Boss” made fun of him a little, but where he did the same to him afterwards.
“One day, I gave him an extraordinary blow. I was at AFP. I am calling because we are announcing a formidable blow from OM, I believe it was the arrival of Manuel Amoros. I call his assistant, introduce myself and ask her if Tapie can say something about it. I hear him yelling “Oh, he’s pissing me off, Bouchet.” You just have to tell him that we are signing a Kuwaiti and an Eskimo ”. No problem. I sit down at the table for my dispatch and write “Bernard Tapie announces…”. I take care to warn my editorial staff, on the pretext of a spelling error so that they can reread it. It was a bit deceitful. But the journalist sends it and all the editorial staff have received it. Tapie understood then that we would not play together. I had fun because I had to take a step back because I did not want to enter the circle and he did not want me to enter it. “
Even though he didn’t have a very good relationship with Tapie, Bouchet admitted to being fascinated by the character. “I’ve never been against it, I just described things,” he said. And he did it very well since he released no less than three books about Nanard.
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