PARIS (AFP) - Guy Roux has been accused of double standards by the French Coaches' Union (Unecatef) Tuesday for complaining that he is being prevented from coaching because he is too old despite having blocked others from doing so when he was president of their body.

Roux was told last week that at 68 years he is too old to coach French first division side Lens. He is currently appealing the Professional Football League (LFP) decision.

But Unecatef official Pierre Repellini pointed out that when Roux was president of their body in 1996 he prevented Michel Le Milinaire from continuing as Rennes coach because he was over 65 years.

"President of the union for more than 20 years, knowing the law: he (Roux) prevented Le Milinaire carrying on as Rennes coach," Repellini told AFP.

"We're not preventing Guy Roux from working, we don't want to issue him with a coaching licence. That he should be sporting manager ..." added Repellini.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy stepped into the ageism row expressing his support for the former Auxerre coach after the French League's legal department last week voted 3-2 against ratifying Roux's three-year contract with Lens.