Didier Poulmaire and Pierre Hurmic wish to develop the socios model in the Girondins. – STEPHANE DANNA – GUILLAUME SOUVANT / AFP
- The Girondins de Bordeaux are looking for a buyer after the withdrawal of the American investment fund King Street.
- Mayor Pierre Hurmic, advised by lawyer Didier Poulmaire, wants a change in governance within the club and to integrate supporters into the future buyer’s project.
- The Ultramarines, the largest group of Bordeaux supporters, say they are for the moment totally opposed to this model of the socios.
This is one of the subjects that Pierre Hurmic and his teams were to address this Tuesday afternoon during a working meeting on the future of the Girondins de Bordeaux. But this was ultimately postponed due to a timing issue. This is only part of the postponement because the environmentalist mayor of Bordeaux intends to put on the table the subject of socios on the occasion of the club’s buyout, if there is of course a buyback in the coming weeks, after King’s disengagement. Street, the American investment fund, owner of Navy and White.
This idea is not new but it has come back to the fore with a note of Didier Poulmaire at the town hall of Bordeaux, a month ago, according to information from 20 minutes. The former lawyer of Laure Manaudou or Yoann Gourcuff, very active in the recovery of clubs, found weighty support with Pierre Hurmic. The one who notably advised Franck McCourt during his acquisition of OM in 2016 explains his point of view:
I am one of the people who thinks that you can no longer manage a club without concretely integrating the supporters. They must be associated with the future of the club and with certain choices. It is a way of guaranteeing them that the development of the club will be done well with them. “
The entourage of the mayor of Bordeaux replied that “it is a very good idea but beware, at the moment T, it is not they who will save the club”.
Hurmic pleads for a new governance
Moreover, the objective is not at all that members of the club take over the club but that they integrate it in order to have a popular shareholding within it. “I think we have to invent a new kind of governance at the head of the club. The buyer must take into account, for example via an association, the opinion of the supporters. It seems necessary to me ”, insisted this Tuesday morning Pierre Hurmic on France Blue Gironde. His colleague, Gérard Chausset, deputy mayor of Mérignac and metropolitan councilor, went even further by evoking the idea of an action at 100 euros with South West. Didier Poulmaire, who is close to Alexis Gallice, would like to remind him that this participation will not necessarily pay off and that a model specific to France must be developed. He adds that “this scheme must integrate former players who wish it because they too are a strong added value for the future of the club”.
The lawyer also asserts that he “has found a solution to resolve the issue of confidentiality of information because the public cannot be aware of everything, particularly on the issue of transfers”. But for the moment, these are only the beginnings of the case. The next few weeks will tell if this will of the town hall becomes a reality. The road could be long and winding knowing that the municipality does not really have the means of pressure on the future buyer and cannot legally oblige him to have a popular shareholder base.
“It’s a model we don’t want”
What do the supporters think? So far, the idea has not really received much attention. It must be said that the urgency is quite different between the latest sporting results (Bordeaux is 16th in Ligue 1 with five points ahead of the red zone four days from the end of the championship) and the financial situation of the club. The Ultramarines, the largest group of Girondins supporters, seem in any case totally opposed to this project. The response of their spokesperson, Florian Brunet to Pierre Hurmic: “Stop inflicting your ideological positions on us on subjects that you do not master, that we stop with the delirium of socios.” “
And that we stop with the delirium of socios .. We are neither Barcelona nor the Real, the importance of the supporters is in fact and indisputable .. No need to introduce them to the board and do not dream the money collected is a sweet dream. That people already subscribe !!!@PierreHurmic
– Brunet Florian # LonguépéeDémission (@ FlorianBrunet78) April 23, 2021
“It is a model which we do not want and which, in a club of our size, is illusory and populist,” he continues, addressing the mayor of Bordeaux, “we are neither Barcelona nor Real, the importance of the supporters is in fact indisputable. No need to introduce them to the board [conseil d’administration] and don’t dream, the money raised is a sweet dream. “
A specification for the buyer?
Like Pierre Hurmic and with a view to influencing the choice of the next owner of the Girondins de Bordeaux, the elected officials of the metropolis went there with their idea. Majority as opposition want to establish a kind of specifications for the buyer. The elected officials want “a stronger territorial anchoring around local companies and former players of the club”, specifies France Bleu.
Like the town hall, the metropolis claims to have “a moral role” to play and even “a margin for negotiation” according to its president Alain Anziani because it is it who is part owner of Matmut Atlantique via the PPP (public-private partnership) .