Ireland not only victims of ‘Hand of Henry’

By Gerry Cox, St Petersburg

Cast your mind back to November 2009, painful as it may be. Ireland have just lost their World Cup play-off to France, largely as a result of a William Gallas goal set up by the hand of Thierry Henry, the so-called ‘Hand of Gaul’.

While Ireland felt cheated and referee Martin Hansson was vilified to the extent that leading officials felt VAR had to be introduced, it has now emerged that another victim of the scandal in Paris has been the relationship between Henry and French football.

The former Arsenal and Barcelona striker, once the golden boy of Les Bleus after helping them win the World Cup in 1998 and Euro 2000, is no longer worshipped back in his home country.

Henry felt he did not get the backing of the French football federation after the incident, his stock tumbled further after the team’s troubled exit from the finals in South Africa, and it appears that most French fans are ambivalent about his role as coach of a Belgium side who stand between France and the final.

There appears to be no great love for him from the French football public, but no animosity either. Vincent Duluc, of L’Equipe, said: “Fans don’t know what to think. They don’t consider him French any more, and say ‘why should he not take this job?’ I wrote a piece for L’Equipe asking the question:” ‘Did France leave Henry, or he leave France?

“It goes back to that game in 2009, where he felt French football failed to support him. Then, after the World Cup exit, he had a meeting with President Sarkozy. No-one really knows what was said, but he is no longer referred to as a former France footballer. After that, he went to play in New York for four years and then to work for Sky in England.”

The laissez-faire attitude from the French to Henry may be explained by the fact the 40-year-old has lived abroad since moving to Juventus at the age of 21.

So whether his native France or his current employers Belgium reach the World Cup final, Henry cannot lose — but perhaps he cannot win either.