Human, humble, passionate: Jean-Louis Gasset, the man in the shadows who has become indispensable

Certain trajectories perfectly match an idea of ​​football. That of Jean-Louis Gasset was one. He passed away on Friday morning at the age of 72, leaving behind much more than a list of achievements or a succession of benches: a human, almost emotional imprint in a French football that resembled him: demanding, popular, modest.

A former midfielder trained and shaped in Montpellier, Gasset never really left his city or what it represented for him. The MHSC, co-founded by his father Bernard with Louis Nicollin, was his home base, his starting point, and also his refuge. First a player from 1975 to 1985, then an educator, he belonged to this generation for whom football was a school of patience and transmission. Nothing flashy, nothing artificial. Just the field, the locker room, and this ability to feel men.