Bernard Tapie (1943 - 3rd October 2021)
Paris born business man, politician, singer, actor and convicted fraudster among many other things.
Tapie was a high profile self made multi millionaire who specialized in buying failing companies.
he bought Adidas in the late 80's and was already owner of France's top football team Olympique Marseilles and his La Vie Claire (his health shop chain) cycling team won the Tour de France in 1985 and 86 with Bernard Hinault and Greg Le Mond.
his influence in European football 30 years ago was comparable to another former crooner Silvio Berlusconi (AC Milan owner who had yet to move into politics). but unlike Silvio, Bernie couldn't avoid jail.
For a while in the early 90's Tapie was even a minister under Mitterrand.
Tapie was always flirting with legal problems and only a few days after Marseilles beat AC Milan to win the Champions League in 1993, it all began to fall apart.
Jacques Glassman a player with Valenciennes admitted he had been approached to throw a match against Marseilles. he had refused but didn't report it immediately. other players involved inc. Jorge Burruchaga who scored the winning goal in the 1986 World Cup Final for Argentina.
Tapie was implicated and eventually ended up in prison.
years later he won a 400 million Euro pay out from the French government related to Adidas being seized in 1993 and sold by Credit Lyonnais a state owned bank. this caused another big scandal when finance minister Christine Legarde reviewed the case and took no action to stop Tapie receiving the money.
Tapie eventually had to return the pay out in 2017 .
Tapie had been ill with stomach cancer.
yep, you could never make up Bernie Tapie
Paris born business man, politician, singer, actor and convicted fraudster among many other things.
Tapie was a high profile self made multi millionaire who specialized in buying failing companies.
he bought Adidas in the late 80's and was already owner of France's top football team Olympique Marseilles and his La Vie Claire (his health shop chain) cycling team won the Tour de France in 1985 and 86 with Bernard Hinault and Greg Le Mond.
his influence in European football 30 years ago was comparable to another former crooner Silvio Berlusconi (AC Milan owner who had yet to move into politics). but unlike Silvio, Bernie couldn't avoid jail.
For a while in the early 90's Tapie was even a minister under Mitterrand.
Tapie was always flirting with legal problems and only a few days after Marseilles beat AC Milan to win the Champions League in 1993, it all began to fall apart.
Jacques Glassman a player with Valenciennes admitted he had been approached to throw a match against Marseilles. he had refused but didn't report it immediately. other players involved inc. Jorge Burruchaga who scored the winning goal in the 1986 World Cup Final for Argentina.
Tapie was implicated and eventually ended up in prison.
years later he won a 400 million Euro pay out from the French government related to Adidas being seized in 1993 and sold by Credit Lyonnais a state owned bank. this caused another big scandal when finance minister Christine Legarde reviewed the case and took no action to stop Tapie receiving the money.
Tapie eventually had to return the pay out in 2017 .
Tapie had been ill with stomach cancer.
Bernard Tapie: French tycoon, politician, actor and rogue - France 24
Bernard Tapie: French tycoon, politician, actor and rogue
www.france24.com
yep, you could never make up Bernie Tapie