In the summer of 2017, SC Bastia was demoted to National 3 (5th division) with a liability of nearly 31 million euros.
The UEFA Cup finalist in 1978 and winner of the Coupe de France is missing.
But the club is rebuilding under the impetus of its new owners, Claude Ferrandi and Pierre Noël Luiggi and has 3 climbs in 4 years including 3 consecutive.
We gave the floor to five actors who participated in this renaissance.
"We gave ourselves 5 years to reach the doors of professionalism"
Claude Ferrandi is the president of SC Bastia.
DR
At the head of the Ferrandi group (fuels, service stations, etc.) alongside his brothers, he took over the club in August 2017 with Pierre Noël Luiggi, CEO of Oscaro. “With my family, we invested 1.5 million euros. It is the heart that has spoken. Because if you think too much, you don't go. Given the situation when we took over the club, we had to have morale and passion. I am a discreet person. Becoming president of Sporting was a personal exposure. You have to manage the environment, take the risk of being criticized if it doesn't work. I had short nights, a lot of headaches… But we tried to manage the pressure and the complicated moments with confidence and serenity. It's like in a hospital: we manage emergencies calmly. I am a president who stays in his place. "
“One of the most complicated decisions was to separate ourselves from Stéphane Rossi (coach, in October 2019), recalls Claude Ferrandi. He was there from the start, we had friendships. But the project should not suffer from the emotional. We felt that something had to be done. We had given ourselves 5 years to reach the doors of professionalism, so we are ahead. But I do not boast of anything. This is only the first step to be taken. "
Among the major objectives, "to make the club stable and sustainable, which it has never been, to give it real assets and to find new resources," explains the president.
We have set up a participatory and collaborative model, the Cooperative Society of Collective Interest
(Editor's note: capital distributed at 38% for the Ferrandi and Luigi families, 22% for economic players, 20% for supporters, 10% to employees , 10% to local authorities)
.
The people followed us.
It is a satisfaction.
We had to restore confidence and with our model, we proved that we could get by without debt and with a positive balance.
Next season, we will have a modest budget, between 7 and 8 million euros.
"
"In a club like Bastia, everything is increased tenfold"
Mathieu Chabert is Bastia's coach.
Icon Sport
In October 2019, he left Béziers, then in National, for Bastia. The 42-year-old coach signs his third rise in four seasons, one with Béziers (L2 in 2018) and therefore two consecutive with Bastia (National and L2). “I chose to go down level because it was Bastia,” indicates Mathieu Chabert. I wouldn't have done it for another club. I signed for a big French club, not in National 2. I am still a young coach, I wanted to discover another facet of my job. Here, the expectations are huge, we talk to you about Sporting several times a day and from 7 to 77 years old. The environment is sometimes exhausting, you have to know how to take a step back
(Editor's note: this season he has chosen to withdraw from social networks)
. But it is to live this passion that we do this job. "
“In a club like Bastia, everything is increased tenfold, assures Mathieu Chabert. In Béziers, I was at home. But I am very proud to prove to myself that I could succeed elsewhere. When we were 8 points behind Sedan (December 2019) in N2, I still believed in it even if some people thought I was crazy. This season, the climb was not scheduled, but we were consistent. "
And the coach congratulated his team: “I have a group of good guys.
We must congratulate the previous coach
(Stéphane Rossi
) who recruited the majority.
I am also lucky to have an L1 staff with ten people, an assistant like Frédéric Née and Hervé Sekli
(goalkeeper coach)
who went from the League Cup final against PSG to N3… He was invaluable by his knowledge of the environment.
With my president with whom I have coffee every morning in his company, we form a flawless pair.
My biggest regret is not having been able to experience this climb in a full Furiani.
"
"I would never have imagined riding for three years in a row"
Christophe Vincent is a midfielder in Bastia.
SC Bastia
He experienced L1 with Bastia and L2 already with AC Ajaccio. The 28-year-old midfielder returned to his training club then in N3, in October 2018. “Coming back to Bastia was a choice of life, assures Christophe Vincent. I had contacts in National and L2. But I was going to be a dad, I didn't feel like going on an adventure again. Since I was little, I have seen the Furiani stadium from my parents' house. Getting my club back up was a great challenge, even if I took risks. Obviously, I could have earned more money by staying pro elsewhere. But I would not have lived this incredible human adventure. We are a nucleus of Corsicans who have known each other for a long time. We found each other and there was a real communion between us. This is the key to our success. "
“Even in N3, it was structured, we felt that the club was being rebuilt,” explains the midfielder. And there was this incredible fervor around us, unheard of in this division. The first season in N3, it was hell, there were only traps facing amateur players, who wanted, and I understand them, to bring us down. I remember my first match, we went up to Corte in a minibus… When you arrive from 1st division, it's complicated. I remember asking my wife:
did I make the right choice?
"
On the side of the great moments, “there was the Coupe de France match against Caen
(Editor's note: Bastia had lost against Caen then in L1 on penalties in February 2019)
which makes us retouch the pro world.
When we won at the Red Star (5-3) on Matchday 1, we thought we could do something good.
"
"In N3, it was win or die"
Jérôme Negroni is the club's deputy general manager.
DR
Joined the club as a webmaster in February 2007 when he was only 17 years old, he has known everything there. He rose through the ranks until being appointed deputy general manager in May 2020. “Between August 5 and 17, 2017, the club was in a state of coma, remembers Jérôme Negroni. It was necessary both to give palliative care to the dying person and to find the energy to start again. We decided to give back to the club what it had given us by remaining as volunteers. Personal life was put in the background and we put our heads in the handlebars, working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. There were so many legal issues to unravel, it was unimaginable. "
“The first match was in the Cup at Propriano (September 2017), says the club's general manager. In Ligue 1 we ended up in Bordeaux, PSG at the Parc, OM… I said to myself,
here's where we fell
… When I left, I met a couple of 70-80 years old, Sporting scarves around their necks. I shed a tear because I felt like I was in a family like at a funeral for a deceased person. In N3, it was win or die. In January 2018, when we knew we would not go back in the 1st year, it was hard. We felt that outside, there were a lot of questions about our abilities. But we continued to work to meet the enormous expectations surrounding Sporting. "
“It was unimaginable to find the professional world in 4 years, he says.
It is almost unique in the history books.
Now, we must continue to build, strengthen our administrative and commercial structures.
The luck we have is that many clubs will have to reduce their lifestyle.
We are already groomed.
"
"With the Socios, we served as an infusion"
Anthony Luciani, supporter and ex-president of Socios.
DR
Emblematic supporter of SC Bastia, Anthony Luciani, known as “Chestnut” was one of the initiators of the Socios movement, of which he was president between 2017 and 2019. “We kept the flame alive, we served as an infusion. It was necessary to create this electroshock because, before the buyers arrived, three weeks passed. Unanimously and spontaneously, we said to ourselves that something had to be done to keep the people hopeful, to keep them going. "
“We used the notoriety of Minenfootu
(Editor's note: a program hosted by supporters)
to launch the movement, remembers Anthony Luciani. The first evening, at 9 p.m., in front of our studio, it was crowded, the same during the gathering on Place Saint-Nicolas. We had a total of more than 5,500 subscribers for a sum of 293,000 euros. All with a credit card, no cash or checks, we wanted above all to be clean because people were scalded by the catastrophic management of the former leaders. Since I was little, I have heard everyone talk about Socios, but in France, nobody had done it. It is a pride to have arrived there. The Socios have two representatives on the club's board of directors. "
“In N3 and N2, it was hard, remembers the supporter.
We felt that people were suffering because, the matches, it was not the level of L1 ... We, at Furiani, we managed to ignore.
But it was when we watched our meetings outside on Facebook that we realized where we had fallen.
There were still good times like these tours in Corsica during the regional Coupe de France tours.
Each time, the love and magic of Sporting shone through.
At Sartène, they left us the main stand, for example.
We also organized a train trip to play at the AC Ajaccio reserve
(Editor's note: in March 2018
).
The joy of riding is enormous, but there is this lack of not having experienced it at the stadium.
Here, more than elsewhere, our club is anchored in people's daily lives.
"