“Vaudeville continues…” Disgruntled, a club president leaves the Kléber pavilion in Paris (16th century) where Vincent Labrune has just been elected president of the LFP (Professional Football League).
This election was a continuation of what French football has experienced in recent months: rants, disunity and reversal of alliances.
"Your little arrangements between friends are not worthy of the institution that is the League," lamented Nathalie Boy de la Tour, the outgoing president.
Big favorite, Michel Denisot, who had received the support of Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, was therefore beaten by the former president of OM (2011-2016).
"The clasico has already started", laughs a president of L1.
If he did not officially reveal himself until a few minutes before the vote, Labrune (49) "had prepared his business with several clubs for a few days", decrypts a person close to the file.
Initially, Labrune, who joined the executive committee of Moma Group (events and catering) in 2018, was reluctant for family reasons (2 young children).
But his allies like Fery (Lorient) Nicollin (Montpellier), Rivière (Nice), Caillot (Reims), Kita (Nantes), Eyraud (OM) ended up convincing him.
And paradoxically, Denisot's many supporters have created pitfalls.
That of Noël Le Graët pointed out the risk of an additional control of the Federation on the League.
In the eyes of many presidents, Le Graët still passes for the one who stopped the championships on April 28.
The support of Aulas, who demanded 117 million euros from the LFP and infuriated many of his counterparts, did not help him either.
"We end up with a badly elected president"
When Mediapro moved into the French football landscape, Denisot was also identified as a man from Canal + and with Al-Khelaïfi, who had joined his camp after the withdrawal of François Morinière, that of BeIN.
The age (75 years) of Denisot (75 years) was also a brake.
For some, Labrune embodied more the future and the football of the 2020s. The one who will have to reform the governance of the LFP, tighten the executive to simplify the decision-making process.
By freeing itself from the FFF ...
The fact remains that this election took place against a background of divisions.
If Labrune won with 15 votes against 10 to Denisot on the vote of the Board of Directors, he did not have a majority at the General Assembly (47% yes, 53% no).
“It poses problems of legitimacy, regrets a president.
Perhaps he should have had the elegance to say, we are voting again ... There, we find ourselves with a badly elected president, dividing who has several L1 clubs against him, including the two biggest clubs, the almost majority of the L2 and the Federation… ”
Labrune declared "knowing the complexity of (his) task" and "wanting to pacify distended relations in order to find unity, modernize and reform".
He has already announced the departure of Didier Quillot, the general manager.
It should rely on two employees of the LFP, Mathieu Ficot (director of media rights) and Arnaud Rouger (director of sports activities).