The tea towel burns between Gérard Lopez and Le Losc. President of the northern club from 2017 to December 2020, the declared candidate for the resumption of the Girondins de Bordeaux announces to put the new leaders of the northern club on notice. In December 2020, unable to repay the debt contracted with the Elliott investment fund, Lopez had to leave the club bought by the Merlyn Partners fund. An outing on the sly that he never digested.
In a letter that was obtained 20 minutes and addressed to Olivier Létang, successor of Lopez to the presidency of Losc, and to Christophe Chenut, administrator of the club, the businessman wants to be threatening. Because he is furious at the accusations released in recent weeks in the press about his management of the northern club.
Lopez thinks new Losc leaders want to hurt him
“The multiplication of acts of denigration and violations of my rights committed recently at the initiative of Losc and its management forces me to send you this letter of formal notice. Members of the Board of Directors of Losc have indeed spread to the media as well as to players in the recovery of the Girondins de Bordeaux by accusing me of criminal behavior and personal enrichment on the transfer of players from Losc, to the during the period of my presidency of the club “, begins Gérard Lopez before launching in a development following” these nauseating accusations “.
The former boss of the new champions of France returns in particular to the blocking of agent commissions decided by the new management. “You would have, according to the press, mandated a law firm to” audit “the transfers. However, I note that I have never been asked in this regard. I note with interest that you refused to pay the commissions contractually due to the agents intervened in this framework by never arguing irregularities but by taking refuge behind regulatory constraints ”.
In the process, Gérard Lopez believes that the new management of Losc wants to harm him in his desire to take over the Girondins de Bordeaux. And detail why. “First of all, in general, in order to be able to hide the fact that LOSC today has a balance sheet without bank debts, exceptional sports results, and the capacity to generate enormous capital gains on its players. Then, specifically, in order to compromise my plan for a possible takeover of the Girondins de Bordeaux club. I thus observe that the publication on June 6, 2021 of an article in The team [titré] In Lille, commissions granted by former leaders today frozen only followed by a few hours the public disclosure of my interest in taking over the Girondins. You obviously take a dim view of my possible engagement with another major Ligue 1 club, while a competing takeover offer comes from people close to the current management of Losc, ”accuses the man Hispano-Luxembourgish business.
Lopez threatens to sue the leaders of the northern club
Then, at the conclusion of his letter, Lopez is clearly threatening. “You will therefore please refrain from, and invite members of your management team to do the same, spreading false rumors about me and making these ridiculous and unfounded accusations.” ” He pursues :
I understand that it is for you, and those who have de facto control of Losc, to put up a smokescreen to distract from the situation that will be the club in the months to come. “
Gérard Lopez continues: “I remind you indeed to have left the club last December with a workforce valued at more than 330 million euros which conquered the national title. I therefore put you on notice to stop all denigration and spread false accusations against me. I also transmitted the file to my lawyers, Maitres Antonin Lévy and Richard Malka, so that they study the follow-up to be given to this case and consider any action likely to assert my rights and obtain compensation for the damage. “
Contacted by 20 minutes, the management of Losc has not yet wished to react to this inflammatory letter from Lopez. This letter proves the strained relations between the old and the new management of the northern club. On his arrival last January, Olivier Létang had announced that the club had narrowly avoided “the suspension of payments”. An exit that Lopez had never digested. Now everyone knows why.