Football: “the referee was bought”, Guy Roux’s anecdote about a European Cup match… with watches and rubies

In a major interview with Le Figaro, Guy Roux gives his current view on football, and tells some anecdotes. Notably one, around a UEFA Cup quarter-final against CSKA Moscow. The legendary AJA coach (1961-2005), aged 85, clearly believes he was the victim of match-fixing in 2005. He says.

“We were robbed in the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup by the Russians CSKA Moscow (4-0 defeat in Russia, 2-0 victory at Auxerre in 2005). The referee was bought. In the return match, I'm going to tell you an anecdote that could land us in prison (smile). After the first leg, I was suspicious and asked a guy from our house to go and search the referees' bags during the match. He comes back to see me, pale, and says: “There are some superb watches with rubies. » I had ten minutes to make the right decision. Six months before this match, I had decided to stop with Auxerre, no one knew it. If I decide to call the cops and the authorities, they are denounced, I will have the four German referees fired and I will be the guy at the origin of this scandal, but not the person who played 894 League matches 1 and bring the AJA to Europe. I didn't take the right solution. I said nothing. And I was even more of an idiot by not stealing the watches (laughs).”