It is very often in these kinds of details that we notice how sensitive a file is. In “off”, everyone is chatty. We will even call you back to give you some details. On the other hand, when you press “on”, there is no one left. It must be said that for a year, the situation has been a little tense between Gérard Lopez, the new owner and president of the Girondins de Bordeaux and Olivier Létang, his successor at the head of Losc. Well, we are not yet at the “puppets”, “false ass” and “little president” of the Aulas-Labrune duel of the last decade. But still.
For the moment, the personal attack is not on the agenda. And it surely never will be. A bit of respect. Moreover, the two men, contacted by 20 minutes these last days, do not wish to add fuel to the fire. We are not even far from: “Move around, there’s nothing to see”! And it is true that their animosity, expressed by the media in recent months, is very recent and perhaps only fleeting. Gérard Lopez and Olivier Létang had never scrapped in the past. But the Losc has been there. On December 16, 2020, the first returned his apron for failing to repay some of his debts on time. Two days later, the second landed alongside the club’s new majority shareholder, the investment fund Merlyn Partners.
“We must let justice do its work”
Little wink of fate, the two men could also have crossed paths on the banks of the Garonne. The French leader had met the mayor of Bordeaux at the time, Nicolas Florian, in the spring of 2020 for a possible takeover of the Girondins before a certain Gérard Lopez took an interest in it and took action a year later. . It is at this moment that the tone rises for the first time between them. And strong. Very annoyed by the leaks in the press on his past management of Losc, the Spanish-Luxembourg businessman then threatened Olivier Létang [et Christophe Chenut, un administrateur des Dogues] a formal notice. He even says he is ready to take them to court. He is convinced that we want to harm him in the midst of the process of redeeming the Navy and White.
Girondins de Bordeaux: Gérard Lopez puts the new leaders of Losc on notice and threatens to sue https://t.co/WamSAb8KIb via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/s6iX6pFjp3
– 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) June 29, 2021
We learn at the time that justice is investigating very closely the transfers of Osimhen or Lihadji. “Our position is very clear: we asked for a ‘due diligence’ work from an expert law firm [Moyersoen] in the activity of sport, and football more particularly. We want to ensure that the legal framework has been respected, ”said Olivier Létang in The Team. Today, a close friend of the Lille club simply specifies that “investigations exist on other files from the Lopez era” without saying more. More recently, we can also talk about the affair of the agreement between Losc and the Belgian club of Mouscron, property of the new boss of the Girondins. In short, there is no lack of friction points.
At this stage, there is no question of adding more to Olivier Létang’s entourage. In essence, the slogan is clear: “We must let justice do its job”. On the other hand, we do not budge on the situation in which Gérard Lopez left the club. Yes, he was in serious financial difficulty. Yes, he was going to be in default. And the current president of the Mastiffs had not at all appreciated that his predecessor put this situation into perspective. “After a while I say stop, especially if I am suspected of lying, you have to tell the truth and stop telling stories,” he explained at the microphone of RMC Sport. When a club generates a structural operational deficit, and presents a debt at 12/31/2020, excluding financial debt, of nearly 160 million euros [87 de dettes auprès des clubs à qui vous avez acheté des joueurs, 39 de dettes fournisseurs dont 29 de dettes d’agents et 33 de dettes fiscales et sociales dont 18 de dettes vis-à-vis de l’URSSAF selon l’actuel président lillois] with an available cash of 9 million euros, this club was in an economic sinking situation. It’s factual so we have to stop lying and manipulate. “A debt which will be reduced at the end of this calendar year to 106 million euros according to information from 20 minutes.
“It darkens things a lot! “
Of course, this table drawn up last September by Olivier Létang is not at all to the taste of Gérard Lopez’s teams: “What annoys us is that it darkens things a lot! In response, the new boss of the Girondins and his relatives have always had the same speech. ” He [Gérard Lopez] left the club without a line of credit with a bank and with staff worth 300 million euros ”. While underlining the excellent sporting results of LOSC in recent seasons and recalling that things are going a little less well this season (11th in L1 with six wins, seven draws and five losses): “I think there is an end to cycle and maybe the players recognize themselves a little less in the new project ”, slipped Gérard Lopez Tuesday in The voice of the North.
Moreover, it is of course on this sporting management that his entourage attacks Olivier Létang. For example, he would have immediately alienated Christophe Galtier, in particular by getting much more involved in the athlete than a Gérard Lopez. A version that takes for the coup to firmly deny the main target. For a year, beyond “Galette” which joined OGC Nice last summer, five managers (sales, security, operation, communication and training center) have left the club. In the North, if we assume the departure of the last two … for Bordeaux in recent months, we explain that for the first three, it has nothing to do with Létang.
Did the pond lack class?
But, there is something that annoys Gérard Lopez and his teams even more. It is because Olivier Létang reaped the laurels of the work of his predecessors, without even a word for them. The businessman will never recognize him, it is not his style. The evening of the title of champion of France, it was just “sad” not to celebrate it with the players, the staff, the employees and the public and swore to have “no bitterness”. We have the right not to believe it. As a reminder, 23 of the 27 players in the current squad were recruited by Luis Campos, its sports director at the time. In the end, Gérard Lopez prefers to retain the regular tributes of Christophe Galtier for his work in the capital of Flanders or the many messages of thanks from his former players. Even recently, José Fonte, for example, wrote to his former boss after qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
This lack of “class”, Olivier Létang has often responded by affirming that Lille would never have been champion without his arrival because the club was able to keep its best players last January. And for once, Gérard Lopez joins him on this point: “If I had sold more players, I would perhaps still be president, but LOSC would certainly not be champion of France so I do not regret. »Proof that the two men can at least agree on something.