In 2006, Marcello Lippi and Raymond Domenech took their respective teams to the World Cup finals in Germany under very different circumstances.

Lippi had just salvaged the remains of Italian football from the dumps of the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal by going all the way to the final, conceding just a single goal and showing the world just what the Italians were made of with some oustanding tactical performances.

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The French however were only just starting to realise what a big mistake it was to appoint Domenech. France had struggled through what looked to be an easy qualifying campaign amid reports that Domenech had refused to select Robert Pires, at his dazzling peak at the time, because he was a Scorpio.

Their poor form in qualifying led Domenech to make one last desperate throw of the dice by pleading with several players from France’s Golden Generation such as Lillian Thuram, Claude Makelele and of course, Zinedine Zidane, to come out of retirement.

If you think about it, it was probably the smartest move he made during his time in charge, because it averted all the attention from his incompetence. Who cares about Raymond Domenech when you have Zinedine Zidane back from international retirement, playing in his last professional tournament?

The last time Marcello Lippi and Raymond Domenech crossed swords, this happened.

As expected, Italy continued their fine form and shut-out the French in the final, winning it on penalties while Zidane was sent-off for getting too familiar with Marco Materrazzi’s chest.

Domenech must have been thanking those lucky stars he believes in so much when Zidane was sent-off. Even less scrutiny on him.

Class act

Four years on from that tournament, and we have Marcello Lippi, hailed by Time magazine as one of the 50 greatest managers of all time, and Raymond Domenech, despised, ridiculed and branded a coward for not having the decency to quit after an absolutely disastrous Euro 2008 which ended with him proposing to his girlfriend on live television, during a press conference where everyone was expecting him resign.

She said no, obviously, though they would eventually get hitched.

Now Lippi is a World Cup, Champions League, Intercontinental Cup, five-time Serie A and four-time Italian Supercup winner. So to say that Domenech could do with a few lessons in football management from Lippi would be like saying Justin Bieber could’ve done with some tips from Michael Jackson.

The highly-decorated Marcello Lippi took full responsibility after Italy's first round exit from the World Cup.

Lippi has had his critics as well, but his team nevertheless played good football in their final two games, unfortunately without finding a way to goal. Italy looked accomplished on the ball, especially in midfield where Lippi’s clutch of mid-20s players like Daniele de Rossi, Riccardo Montolivo, Claudio Marchisio and Simone Pepe gave good accounts of themselves.

But more importantly, Lippi showed none of the self-destructing ego that has characterised Domenech’s reign despite being one of the most decorated managers in the game.

“I take all responsibility, because if a team arrives at such an important appointment as this with terror in their legs, heads and hearts, unable to express themselves, then it means the coach has not prepared the squad properly on any level,” said Lippi after the game against Slovakia which dumped Italy out of the cup.

“There are tactical and physical issues, too, but I think above all it is to do with the psychological aspect. I felt this team could achieve something and evidently I did not prepare them properly. I expected everything but the first half performance.

“I am very disappointed to end my second experience on the Italy bench like this. I certainly didn’t expect it. I didn’t think I’d win the World Cup a second time, but [did not expect] to crash out in the group phase.

“I wish my successor the best and thank all of you for these four years, which were in part fantastic and in part very, very disappointing.”

Way to go

It was in stark contrast with the way Domenech chose to make his exit.

Domenech chose once again to divert attention towards his players by agreeing to read the open letter they had written to explain their decision to walk out on training right before their do-or-die match against South Africa.

Surely a stronger manager would have clamped down on his squad and refused to entertain any such request, especially not when he’s already decided to speak out against the player’s “imbecilic” actions just a couple of days later.

It paints a picturee of a manager without any conviction. First he reads out their letter to the public, then he renounces everything they say, and finally, he drops captain Patrice Evra for supposedly initiating the player revolt.

If he really thought the players' actions were a "stupidity without name", then maybe he shouldn't have read out their letter, eh?

Domenech clearly wasn’t interested in protecting his players at all.

And while I don’t agree with players, paid professionals representing their countries, who go on strike the way the French team did, their case was more understandable.

Their hopes of progressing were already slim, and there was no way they were going to get a result against South Africa under Domenech. The public had all but given up hope. What better time and place to express their deep dissatisfaction at Domenech’s reign? Moreover, some of these players have bit their tongues for six years under him. The world needed to know that this team did not want anything to do with Domenech.

Even after that, on his last match in charge, Domenech managed to provide another reason why the team were right to walk out on him.

After France were beaten by South Africa, Domenech shockingly refused to shake his opponent Carlos Alberto Parreira’s hand – the most basic of all human courtesies, let alone footballing ones.

I think this handshake snub is almost as famous as John Terry's now. That one made much more sense, though.

Parreira had made his way to Domenech and kindly offered his hand, but Domenech steadfastly refused to take it, and the pair looked to be exchanging a few strong words.

Parreira revealed that Domenech’s assistants later told him the snub was over some negative comments Parreira had made before the tournament about the French team. But seriously, wasn’t EVERYONE making negative comments about them?

The final reckoning

Even after all that embarrassment, and arriving home to a furious French public, it seems Domenech still does not realise how truly incompetent and silly he has been.

For starters, he told the media that his team showed “real heart, real fight… It is what I was looking for”. That shows his disillusionment on two counts – first of all, his team were horribly tame; secondly, for thinking the players were actually bothered to give him the “heart” or “fight” he was looking for.

At a parliamentary hearing with politicians to discuss the whole fiasco, Domenech was said to have blamed the French media for the team’s demise, an act which one of the politicians present called “not very dignified”.

French football federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes, who was also asked to testify at the parliamentary hearing, emerged with much greater credit, having offered to resign.

And that’s probably the most frustrating part of Domenech’s tenure as France coach. He did not have to resign, and he did not get the sack either. His contract merely ran out after South Africa.