After the pitch, behind the scenes. Gérard Lopez, the new owner and president of the Girondins de Bordeaux, is now tackling so-called “secondary” issues with the end of the summer transfer window. Among them, the organization chart of the club or the management of the stadium, the Matmut Atlantique. As revealed by
The team, Alain Roche will leave the club. The current sports director and the new management of the Navy and White reached a financial agreement at the end of last week. The former defender is expected to return the keys to his office this week if all goes well.
“I’m going to leave the club,” he confided to 20 minutes a few weeks ago, i’m not someone who will hang on to his post at all costs like others for ten years. I came for a specific job, I don’t do it anymore so I’m leaving. And this is quite normal, there is a new owner and he is coming with his men ”. Since the resumption of the club in mid-July by Gérard Lopez, Alain Roche was excluded from sporting decisions about the first team. He simply continued to follow the evolution of the women’s team and the training center in collaboration with Patrick Battiston.
He left the Girondins on a taste of unfinished business, only a year after his return to the club. If he brought some calm to the Château du Haillan with Jean-Louis Gasset, he did not have time to put in place his restructuring plan for the club with the sale of it this summer. His only real blow will be the arrival of Hatem Ben Arfa last season. A good idea at the start, but not a real success in the end. He will not have succeeded in reviving a dying team, too little supported by his shareholder at the time (King Street) in a very complicated economic context. Based in Gironde, he does not yet know what his future will be like. Perhaps a return to the media, a world he has frequented for a long time in recent years.
Nothing acted for the position of sports coordinator
Patrick Battiston, he should keep his post of director of the training center. At the club for more than thirty years, the former international defender seems to have the confidence of the new management to continue his mission. For the moment, his only point of reference remains Admar Lopes, the new technical director of the Navy and White and Gérard Lopez’s trustworthy man. The arrival of a possible sports coordinator is still in the pipeline but on stand-by today.
Contrary to some rumors, the arrival of Romain Stevenon is not at all finalized to date according to information from 20 minutes. Passed by Nice and Lens, the one who was “responsible for development and Loan Manager” in Reims since June 2020 has indeed been requested by the Girondins de Bordeaux. There have been discussions but for now, his recruitment is on hold.
Girondins de Bordeaux: Why would Gérard Lopez succeed where the Americans failed? https://t.co/v4JJCPrcBO via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/5CyawgaoWB
– 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) July 24, 2021
The club is in full reflection on this position with several selected profiles and above all, there is even a reflection on the creation or not of this position of sports coordinator. While waiting to learn more about this file, another possible arrival seems to have stalled, it is that of Stéphane Martin. The former president of the club, a time mentioned to return as general manager of Gérard Lopez, has not heard from the latter for several weeks. The new boss of the scapular club said he was recently very satisfied with the current teams and in particular the administrative service.