"True to type, France’s 1978 World Cup campaign was a shambles. The tone was set before the actual tournament by a tragicomic episode which must rank among the most bizarre in the history of the competition. On the morning of May 23, driving with his wife to Bordeaux, 24 hours before his team was scheduled to leave France on a Concorde flight, Michel Hidalgo was the victim of a kidnapping attempt."

In Episode Forty Eight we return to ‘La Renaissance' by Philippe Auclair, first published in Issue Fourteen in September 2014.

We spoke to Philippe ahead of our Q&A in Dublin's Sugar Club back in March to get a more rounded view of the article (apologies for the noisy hotel bar) as he fills us in on an extraordinary period in Les Bleus' history - from the appointment of an unheralded manager via a botched, politically motivated kidnapping on the eve of the tournament through the farce of playing Hungary in a borrowed under-19s kit. 

And yet it was the jumping-off point for a renaissance in French football, as the great generation of Platini, Six, Rocheteau, Tresor et al came together to discover the French style, and gain the vital tournament experience that would stand them in good stead to win the home Euros only a few years later.

If you have any feedback comments or suggestions email podcast@theblizzard.co.uk or find us on Twitter @blzzrd.

Issue Fourteen, like all issues of The Blizzard, is available on a pay-what-you-like basis fromwww.theblizzard.co.uk. Digital downloads cost as little as 1p each (RRP £3), while a print versions are available from £6 + postage. You can also find us on the Kindle and Google Play stores.

La Renaissance (with Philippe Auclair)

The Blizzard is a quarterly football publication put together by a cooperative of journalists and authors. These podcasts feature some of the best articles from our back catalogue, and recordings of live Q&A events we hold with our writers around the UK. 

Our main aim is to provide a platform for top-class writers from across the globe to enjoy the space and the freedom to write what they like about the football stories that matter to them.

For more details – www.theblizzard.co.uk