Born in Maubeuge, France, Francis Gillot started his football career playing for the youth team of his local club Villiers-Siré-Nicole before joining the Valenciennes FC academy.
After spending several years with the club he left in 2003 to go abroad to join United Arab Emirates football team Al Ain FC and be their assistant coach under fellow countryman Bruno Metsu.
At Lens, Gillot was promoted to the team's manager after Joël Müller resigned on 24 January 2005, and for the remainder of the season he guided the club to a seventh-place finish.
[5] In his first full season Gillot would impress the fans with his outspokenness, confidence towards youth and offensive play that saw the team move up to fourth and qualification for the 2006–07 UEFA Cup.
On 2 January 2008, Gillot joined struggling top-tier side Sochaux as their new manager after replacing Frédéric Hantz and in his debut season led the club to safety from the relegation zone.
[9] On 5 June 2011, he officially resigned from his post; however he immediately took over Bordeaux the following day, leading many from the French media to suspect that Gillot intentionally engineered the move to gain a larger operating budget from his new club and a higher salary.