#Girondins #Bordeaux #Ligue #relegation #tremors #levels
one Will Gérard López stay?
The relegation that is coming is a failure for Gérard López. By recovering practically all of the club’s shares last July, the businessman…
one Will Gérard López stay?
The relegation that is coming is a failure for Gérard López. By recovering practically all of the club’s shares last July, the businessman showed the desire to return the club to the top 10 of L1, before fighting for Europe in 2025. Given the sporting reality, the former boss del Lille had affirmed it however. at the beginning of March: in the event of Ligue 2, he would stay and show his face.
As we revealed last month, it’s framed. The US investment funds King Street (owner since 2018, now creditors) and Fortress (main creditor since 2018) hold a preferred stake in the capital of the FCGB. It allows them, among other things, to carry out a forced sale of the club in the event of relegation. The second fund, which lent 50 million euros and already gave 10 million last season, would appreciate finding a decent and not too expensive way out of its catastrophic adventure in the Girondins. He has returned to polling in recent months. Without finding much listening given the state of the club.
Unless there is an unexpected setback, the same team will have to take care of the rest. “I will express myself coldly, after the season. I will continue to put, as I have always done, all my energy into saving the club,” Gérard López wrote on Saturday night. If he succeeds, the evolution could go through the appointment of a vice president. The teachings of the season usually do it, the Ultras and the fans ask for it. Fortress and King Street can also, due to the descent, impose on someone.
two Financially, what solutions?
How to set up a budget for L2, with income (TV rights, sponsorship, ticketing) down, when, after the 67 million losses in 2020-2021, this time is missing, according to Gérard López in the last council. administration, about 30 million euros to complete this season? Managing director Thomas Jacquemier, already an architect of the forceps march since King Street took over in December 2019, worked on the plan.
Employees should be the first to toast. An internal source mentions 60 to 70 positions threatened out of 120 to 130 administrative positions. Much of the degreasing will have to come off the pro team’s payroll. For players under contract, who do not have a termination clause, the Agreement provides for the authorization of an automatic reduction of 20% of salary. Negotiations can be opened for a 50% reduction, with, in case of refusal, the possibility of the player leaving for free.
However, a team will need to be fielded, and operating costs will not magically disappear. Hope, for the club with loads of some 115 million euros in 2021-2022, comes from some exceptional cash inflows: a “parachute” provided by the League (around 7 million euros), a CVC payment (the company that bought the shares of the LFP merchant, 16.5 million euros) and the planned sales of Tchouaméni and Koundé for which the Girondist will receive 20% of the capital gain. The sales of certain players (Hwang, Onana, Elis or even Mara…) should make it possible to fill the rest of the 45 million euros needed according to “20 minutes”.
In recent months, Gérard López has been negotiating with financial partners and discussing a new debt restructuring. Optimism and the need to get back up immediately have always filtered through his clan. And for good reason: the top three revenues (CVC, parachute, Koundé/Tchouaméni) will cease to exist for the second year in L2 in 2024-2025. Season at the end of which the repayment of the loans to Fortress, King Street and the payment to Metropolis of the three years of rental of the stadium deferred during the Gérard López takeover must arrive. To date, about 65 million euros in total.
3 What impact on youth and women?
While in April the squad is prepared for the following season, those responsible for the training center have acted as if the budget and the number of players did not change. If some young professionals from the subsidiary were integrated into the first team, they will have to be replaced. Regarding employees, the question refers to the impact of budget cuts on the staff and the number of young people under contract.
The concern is very strong within the women’s team, 6th in D1 after two days. Many players at the end of the contract are on hold. While the budget has already been cut considerably this season, it should take another hit.