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Sonny Anderson

Sonny Anderson agreed to our request for an interview. Casinoweb had the pleasure of meeting an extremely nice and very down to earth man. From 1999 to 2003, Sonny Anderson played for Olympique Lyonnais which he helped make one of the greatest clubs in France and well known in Europe. Speaking to Casinoweb “Sonnygol” (Sonny Anderson’s nickname, editor’s note) tells us of his beginnings in the world of football, his new function within Olympique Lyonnais and his love for the club and the people of Lyon. He also gives us his opinion on online gaming, notably “Betclic”, the new OL sponsor, and on the world of casinos. We knew that Sonny Anderson was a great man on the pitch but after our interview we understand why this down to earth man is idolised by the French, in particular the people of Lyon. Not only an out of the ordinary personality on the pitch but also in everyday life.


Casinoweb: You have had an exceptional career in France and abroad. Who made you want to play football?

Sonny Anderson: I come from a football family, my father was a footballer and a trainer, my older brother was also a footballer and had a career in Japan. I’ve known football since I was small, since my childhood, I grew up in the middle of football with people who played football and when I had to amuse myself outside of the house I played football. That made me want to go even further and I joined the team my father used to train and from then on I only thought of football.


Casinoweb: Which great football teams made you dream as a young boy? As a child were there one or more players who made you want to be a footballer?

Sonny Anderson: At the time I didn’t know European football well, as a child I went more for Brazilian clubs notably the Flamingo Club because Zico was my idol. He was the one who really made me dream, he was an excellent player and I dreamt of the Maracana stadium, to play in this stadium was a dream.


Casinoweb: You have hung up your boots and you are now part of the Olympique Lyonnais staff. Explain to us your new function as the forwards’ trainer.

Sonny Anderson: This job within the Olympique Lyonnais is new and is going to develop. A forward’s work is very important and it’s a work of finishing touches and positioning. The aim is to repeat the actions every day so that they become automatic. We also work on positions and we do specific training and techniques for forwards. We also work on gestures and when a player hits with the outside of the foot, this gesture should come naturally and it’s also true for hitting with the left foot, chest control or marking one’s opponent. When they have to make these gestures on the pitch it must come naturally.


Casinoweb: Is it something unique to Olympique Lyonnais to have trainers for goal scoring or forwards or are other clubs doing it?

Sonny Anderson: In France, as far as I know, no other club is doing it. I think it’s only the Olympique Lyonnais which does this particular thing. What’s good is that at the end of a career and transferring to other players the experience of 19 years has a specific post.


Casinoweb: The OL club has had an exceptional time these past eight years: first for seven years and third last year. How does the team feel about winning the title once again?

Sonny Anderson: Last year did the team good to rebuild something. We had seven marvellous years of glory…no club had previously done that. It’s very difficult to win one title so seven titles…Last year was a year of transition, of change to develop the club. This year is beginning well, everything is going well in the club the adaptation of new players in the club is satisfactory. The way of working within the club has also been modified and the club has developed in a certain way. We went through the preliminaries, as was the case ten years ago, in order to be able to play again in the Champions League, it’s something new, as if we were starting again from zero. It’s very good for the mentality because the group must work to get the title because before this the players, even the new ones who joined the club, thought that they had won seven titles, even though they hadn’t won anything. To-day, everyone is starting from zero with the aim of again winning the first championship title while hoping we’ll get it this year.


Casinoweb: According to you which of to-day’s players will be future Zidanes or Maradonas?

Sonny Anderson: I don’t think there will ever be another Maradona, Zidane or Pele. These are exceptional players from a different time and to-day players don’t have many idols. In my time we had idols but to-day if you ask football players the question they will have difficulty answering. To-day and in the coming years, I don’t see anyone reaching the level of Maradona or Zidane or someone who will make people dream in France as well as internationally like these two great players. There are players who make people dream like Cristiano Ronaldo but afterwards it has to last. Zidane and Maradona made people dream for many years and it is by the fact of enduring that one judges a great player.


Casinoweb: You are well liked by everyone in Lyon as well as in the rest of France. How do you explain that you are the favourite of the people of Lyon and I would even say of the French? Where does this popularity come from?

Sonny Anderson: I am natural. When I have to walk around town, to do my shopping, I do it even if, when I’m with my family, I go to places where there are less people. I have a great respect for the French and for France. France is part of me and to-day I’ve decided to stay in France rather than go back to Brazil. France is my second country, I won’t say more than Brazil but it’s different. I have my friends here, I greatly appreciate the French mentality and even though I left and came back, the people didn’t forget me and the French also respect me. In the area of football, I have been able to fulfil some dreams of the people of Lyon and other places, up to now, I am sometimes congratulated for what I’ve brought to the club and I’m happy to have played a part in their dream.


Casinoweb:  With this natural popularity, would you use it in advertising?

Sonny Anderson: Yes of course. What I don’t like is to be too exposed show business doesn’t really interest me. What interests me is what I used to do on the pitch I have contacts for making films…why not? In fact I tend to keep a certain distance because as soon as one becomes too available, one becomes less interesting for people. If I am too visible and people see me too much, the public get tired and afterwards they don’t see you in the same way, as the footballer who made them dream. These people will see you in relation to badly filmed advertising, a badly directed film and one must remain true to oneself, in an area one knows. One must not bore others and people must continue to value you.


Casinoweb: Olympique Lyonnais is sponsored by an online gaming site: Betclic. This partnership has been much written about in the press. What do you think of the policy in France to forbid online gaming sites in France while in Spain or Italy for example, it’s entirely legal?

Sonny Anderson: I think that from the moment that one isn’t at the same stage as the European clubs, one can’t win the Champions League, one couldn’t be a great football country like to-day one has Spain, Italy or England. Of course there are principles in France but clubs must have finance and this contract with Betclic gives the club the means to compete with the English, Spanish or Italian clubs. These foreign clubs have a lot of rights while in France they don’t have the same rights and that stops the French clubs from developing and particularly for the players. It’s like a brake on the clubs from the moment that one cannot buy new players or bring money into the club’s coffers. Besides, when one speaks of Europe, the French clubs should have the same rights as the other European Union clubs. The foreign clubs’ budgets are much higher than Olympique Lyonnais’. Even if OL has a good budget for the French championship, it’s nothing compared to Real Madrid’s budget for example. I think it’s a bad policy for France to stop online gaming which can develop French football. French clubs should be able to sign the best sponsorship contracts to bring in the maximum amount of money into the clubs’ coffers to develop football. This money would allow the best players to be kept, to recruit new players. The OL President (Jean- Michel Aulas, editor’s note)  is fighting not for personal gain but uniquely to develop French football. To develop Olympique Lyonnais is to develop French football. When one sees the great clubs like Olympique Marseille, Paris Saint-Germain or Bordeaux, the four great clubs of the championship, the French championship has become once again what it was before and that’s extraordinary for France. I have always said that the best clubs must fight to remain on top while respecting the other clubs. When one sees in the Spanish championship, Real Madrid and Barcelona fight each year for the title, Milan AC, Inter or Juventus (Italy, editor’s note) , or Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal ( in Great Britain, editor’s note) that develops the championship. When one sees to-day that there is Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille and Paris who want to win the title at all costs and who fight from the beginning of the season, people are interested again in the French championship.


Casinoweb: Marcel Desailly promotes Betclic, would that tempt you to represent a sportsbetting site?

Sonny Anderson: Yes, why not, it wouldn’t trouble me. It’s a healthy image and Marcel Desailly has a good image for doing that, it’s to be taken into account.


Casinoweb: According to you, does the press give Olympique Lyonnais its due?

Sonny Anderson: What must be known is that the world of football likes Lyon the clubs in particular appreciate Lyon. In fact, OL has taken the place of clubs which were at the top for years, whether it’s Marseille, Bordeaux, Paris or at times Monaco, Lyon has taken their place in a short while. OL did in ten years what other clubs did over many long years. We developed football while certain people remained in the past notably the press. When a great football club doesn’t want to give out information it doesn’t give it. Why should OL give out all the information wanted by the press? One has to keep some things. What disappoints me the most is when a Lyon team player is selected for the French team and he is judged because he is a Lyon player. In fact the press penalises the French team and I find it hard to understand why the press hounds it so much. Besides there are certain radio stations that I don’t listen to anymore because they aren’t passionate about football. These are people who want to damage French football. I’ve always accepted criticism because when one has this profession one must accept criticism. Let’s take the recent case of the French (and Lyon, editor’s note) team’s goalkeeper  Hugo Lloris. Certain parts of the press would have preferred that Mandanda, who I respect and who is a great goalkeeper, had been selected but it’s the trainer’s choice and it must also be respected. Domenech decided to play Lloris (France- Serbia match which ended in a draw and the goalkeeper Lloris was given a red card for an imaginary penalty, editor’s note) and the penalty didn’t exist. The only thing to judge is that the penalty wasn’t one and the French should say that the referee made a mistake while the press criticised the goalkeeper, Lloris. They should defend our team and not “destroy” the team’s goalkeeper who is also the Lyon team’s goalkeeper. That type of criticism is bad. The press should analyse what goes on in a match and coming back on critisism, one can’t compare present teams with those who went before. One can’t compare the AC Milan of Van Basten and Gullit’s time with the present one. Just as one can’t compare the 2005 OL team with what it is now, stronger or weaker it’s different. People compare the present OL with the team from the time of Gerard Houllier or other trainers. The time when I came to Lyon isn’t similar to that of to-day. The problem with France to-day is that people try to compare Olympique Lyonnais with Marseille, Saint-Etienne or Paris. I always said that Lyon didn’t have a past, Lyon built itself. Saint – Etienne has an enormous past, Marseille, Paris also… we built up a team ten years ago, we have existed for 8-9 years, the other teams have existed for much longer they won titles, played matches in the European cup well before us.


Casinoweb: For a few years poker has been a real phenomenon in the world particularly in France. Are you a fan of Texas hold’em poker?

Sonny Anderson: I like poker but I avoid playing it because it takes a lot of my time. I play with friends at parties or I watch it on television because I have friends who play, it interests me but that’s all because I know that if I got involved in it, it would take too much time so I avoid it.


Casinoweb: Do you go to actual casinos to play the slots or table games?

Sonny Anderson: I did it for three years when I was playing in Monaco and now I go from time to time but not in Lyon. When I gamble it’s only on slot machines. Sometimes I go to a casino , I play a little and I leave. But in Monaco I went there every day.


Casinoweb: The traditional Casinoweb question to end this interview, do you have a scoop to reveal to our many readers?

Sonny Anderson: ( He thinks) No, not really, I don’t have a scoop…no there’s nothing…I’d like to have one but there’s nothing to reveal as a scoop.


Casinoweb: Sonny Anderson, thanks for granting us this exclusive interview.

Sonny Anderson: Thanks to you.

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