How Franck Sauzee retained 'Le God' status at Hibs despite sad parting of ways after failing as manager

Forget Valentine’s Day, this week serves as the anniversary of one of the most lamented divorces in Hibs’ recent history.

Franck Sauzee refused to slip out the back door and appeared at a press conference the day after he was sacked to talk of his disappointment. Photo by SNS Group

Tuesday marks Franck Sauzee’s last game in charge as manager, and the initiation of the countdown to the final, sorry parting of the ways.

Come Saturday, on the day Hibs hope to return to action against Hamilton, it will be 19 years since then chairman Malcolm McPherson visited the Frenchman at his New Town home and informed him that the board no longer had faith in him.

The following day will be the bleak anniversary of the pubic announcement and the severing of formal ties. Despite those circumstances and the passing of time, Sauzee is still remembered as Le God at Hibs.

Just under 10,000 fans were in Easter Road as Hibs recorded a 1-1 draw with Dunfermline on February 16, 2002. Having gone behind, it took an 80th minute equaliser from Derek Townsley to minimise the damage. But it wasn’t enough to placate a board, anxious not to pay the price for sentiment.

A few years earlier they had dallied over their decision to sack Jim Duffy and it saw them relegated. They were not willing to test their luck a second time.

Sitting second bottom, albeit with a nine-point advantage, the fact that St Johnstone, the only club below them at that time, had won for the first time in nine games and were next up to face Hibs further accelerated the process of replacing the former French international captain and Champions League winner.

So it was, after just 15 games - which included only one win, six draws and eight defeats - and, ultimately, 69 days as Hibs manager, Sauzee appeared before the media to address the hurt he felt.

That was magnified by the decision he had taken to hang up his boots when he was asked to step into former boss Alex McLeish’s shoes.

“I am really sad because I love this club. I am sad personally as well because as soon as I was introduced as the new manager, I made the hard choice to stop my career and, at this moment, I realise what that means, but that is life. I made my decision.”

Ironically, that decision left him in a weakened position as Hibs manager as the club’s downturn in results can be traced back to him being sidelined several months earlier with an achilles injury.

Without such a class act in the side, the club had been on the slide long before Sauzee took charge, winning just one in eight. And, without a Sauzee on the pitch, the fledgling manager was unable to arrest the decline.

It meant that not only were Hibs fans dealing with the on-field disappointment and the dashed hopes that their hero would prove as successful as a manager as he had been on the field, they also had to face the realisation that he no longer had any part to play at the club. For people who idolised him, that was not easy to process.

Few managers in history could serve up the kind of win percentage Sauzee did and walk away with dignity intact, still adored by fans, and subsequently find themselves voted the club’s all-time cult hero. But, Sauzee was special.

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