Bordeaux without bottom

Destroys serial clubs that Malin has hired and calls his players "imposters", an ultras organization that is in alliance with the owners and accuses the captains of racism, a sponsor who mocks the team every week and the worst defense in Europe.

The collapsing Bordeaux is close to decline after 30 years

Tomer Yitzhak

01/04/2022

Friday, April 01, 2022, 11:00 p.m.

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Over the past summer, the euphoria in Bordeaux has been at its peak.

The club, which was on the verge of liquidation and was held in trust after the collapse of the US investment company that owned it, was transferred to the control of Gerard López, who immediately took a few steps for the benefit of the fans. Free for games.On July 23, at his first press conference, he promised: "12th place is no longer acceptable.

We will return Bordeaux to its natural place, to the place it deserves to be. "

Right now, this is the second league.

The same Lopez is destroying well-known clubs.

Through the "Jogo Bonito" team, he owns the relegated Belgian Moscaron and its players are threatening to strike after a continued wage withholding in the second division, and the senior shareholder in Boevista is shuffling to the bottom of the Portuguese league.

Before that he had failed with Lotus in Formula 1 and left huge debts at night, which he was required to leave in the middle of the championship season due to his inability to repay loans.

Now Bordeaux's turn, which is going through a nightmare season with some bizarre affair, shows the poor defense in the top five leagues in Europe and is close to relegation after 30 consecutive years in League One.

Another collection failure.

Gerard Lopes (Photo: GettyImages, Xavier Laine)

Lopes knew exactly how to buy himself a quiet.

Even before he took over the club (did not pay for it, but only undertook to take on past debts) he hooked up with a fan named Florian Bruna, Bordeaux's Ultras leader.

This fan organization ("Ultras Marin") that constantly attacked the previous management, made sure to promote the message that Lopez is the only one who could save Bordeaux and the only one who tried, despite the fact that there were more offers on the agenda.

The support was absolute.

The owner appointed Vladimir Petkovic as coach and collapsed along with him, gave inexperienced Admar Lopes the reins as a professional manager and saw a continuing failure with the acquisition (13 players) and in January decided to eliminate accounts with senior earners.

Remember the outcast teams in Israeli football?

Then Bordeaux also opened one, to which López sent captain Laurent Koscielny, Paul Base, Mehdi Zarkan, Otavio and Samuel Kahlo - the most expensive players on the roster.

The goal: to get them to leave the transfer window, just as he tried to do on the night of Vincent Anime and Rio Mabuba (now, ironically, assistant coach on Bordeaux's reserve team).

Otavio and Kahlo did part ways with the club, while Koscielny eventually agreed to cut his salary, was removed from the squad, moved to the position of "club ambassador" and this week officially retired.

In all the events there was media criticism and strong opposition from most of the fans.

Only the Ultras organization continued to stand to the right of the boss and so did an anonymous and popular Twitter account called "Diabeta 33".

It turned out that behind him was a fan named Frank, whose support Lopes also enlisted before arriving in Bordeaux.

The same "Diabetes 33" prides itself on his connections within the club and has preceded journalists with announcements about the January signings and the appointment of David Gion.

Since the publication of the relationship and the anger towards him following the protection of the owner, he has locked up his account.

"Gerard managed to hypnotize us all," explained Ultras leader Florian Bruna.

"At night they regret that he left, everyone there loved him. He knows how to make himself loved, he needs it. He is one of the rich who need not only the money but the love. At night they made him suffer, so he connects with us more. He consults with us on every subject. "Bringing Petkovic in August was a mistake, but even a great man like Gerard is allowed to make a mistake."

Forced to retire.

Laurent Koscielny (Photo: Reuters)

In Bordeaux's last league game, the same Bruna was once again in focus.

The table lock trailed 2-0 at half-time against nine Montpellier players and the crowd focused on goalkeeper Benoit Costil, who the day before had been asked by owner Lopez to "set an example for the young players" looking headlong and reprimanding Anel Ahmadovic, with whom he first collaborated (Bosnian stopper joined in winter window And the doorman was absent for about two months).

Costil did not like the contempt and curses from the ultras, and with hand gestures towards the fan leader signaled to him that he was being paid by the management.

Upon going down to the break, the two confronted and only the security guards prevented a melee.

In response, the Ultras burst into cries of "racist costyl" in the final 10 minutes of the game.

What has racism got to do with it?

Here is the explanation of the ultras.

"Costil has allowed himself to be blamed, blatantly and in front of everyone, for being in the pocket of the new management," the fans' organization announced after the game.

"This is the hardest hit of any player in the south stand since its inception. In the 80th minute, while the team could not even risk the goal in front of nine players, we revealed important information we had for a long time. About six months ago, a club employee told us about racist behavior in the room Dressing and naming Costil and Koscielny. Overwhelmed by the accusations, we started investigating the matter and the information was confirmed by other employees. An internal investigation was also opened in the club. We waited with the publication of the information so as not to harm the team, but on Sunday "It is a pity that this is the first time that this locker room has been merged. In the face of the code of silence, it seems that the words of some temporary workers have no weight."

The injured Costil ("I'm not really a racist") told his friends the next day that he was leaving, but eventually came to practice as usual.

He is not a partner in the training match against Alavés last Friday, but is set to open against Lille on Saturday and has received backing from the players.

"It goes against everything these two people I have known for many years represent," striker Embai Niang wrote on social media.

"I support my friends."

No evidence of racism was published in the media, except for two anonymous testimonies of club employees, one of whom left, regarding pointless jokes.

The club issued a statement just 53 hours after the allegations read: "Jokes about religion and skin color are pretty routine in a football team's locker room, and Bordeaux's is no exception."

Bruno and his organization noted that the fact that none of the players joined the club's official announcement is proof of their justification: "If we are doomed to die (relegation - TI) then at least we will die with our principles and keep the club clean."

But the overwhelming majority understood that this was an unfounded story and the explanation was that the person behind it was none other than owner Lopes.

"Who else has an interest in diverting the fire and thus discrediting senior players without any proof?", One of the journalists covering Bordeaux wondered.

"He just does not want to pay them. This is not the first time he has done it."

The allegations are unfounded.

Benoit Costil (Photo: GettyImages, John Berry)

Bordeaux is currently in debt estimated at 50 million euros and the fired coach Petkovic is demanding 10 million euros on the contracts of his assistant and his own (until the summer of 2024).

He can look apprehensively at the case of Marcelo Bailesa, who was similarly fired from Lille and recently had to pay court costs after losing a lawsuit against Lopez and Jogo Bonito.

Costil is also considering filing a lawsuit and it is clear to everyone that Bordeaux is going in a bad direction.

"The family club I knew has changed, it can no longer be identified," former captain Gregory Sertich told Channel Plus.

"Academy players are not allowed to see the senior team players. Club employees have received an email from management prohibiting them from contacting players. The club is being eliminated."

If that wasn’t enough, management canceled the sponsorship deal with betting company Winamax two and a half years before it ended, after the sponsor mocked Bordeaux on Twitter time and time again.

For example, on a picture that required a sad story to be told in three words, Winamax wrote: "Gironde de Bordeaux".

Winamax was unmoved by the release of the contract about two months ago and tweeted in response: "We were looking for a good defense for an hour, but like Bordeaux - we could not find one."

By the way, while Winamax's Twitter account was content with memes and witty bites, Lopez himself blatantly attacked his players on social media, calling them "imposters" and claiming that their brothers were coming up to play in their place.

Attempts have been made in the city to organize a group of buyers who will rescue the group from Lopez's harmful hands, assuming that a drop will leave him no reason to stay.

And right now it's hard to bet that this season will not end in the second division.

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Since the club's sixth championship in 2009, with Laurent Blanc on the lines and Johann Gorkoff in his prime, and reaching the Champions League quarter-finals a season later, Bordeaux has not been part of the French top.

The record since then was fifth place in the 2011/12 season, in the previous three years she finished at the bottom of the table and the season never ceases to be humiliated.

It is submerged in last place, five points from the Tests and six from a safe shore, and presents the worst defense in the top five leagues in Europe (70 absorbs - like Gruiter Firth in the Bundesliga).

Bordeaux's average absorption is the highest in France since Earl-Avignon in the mid-1970s and it has not yet maintained a clean sheet this season.

The record belongs to Toulon, which absorbed 31 consecutive rounds in the 1959/60 season.

Bordeaux already counts 29 games and is ahead of a not-so-simple game board.

Even new coach David Gion, who performed miracles and wonders during his years at Reims, has so far not brought any news and the pit has become even deeper after the events of disgrace against Montpellier.

This luxury club, which only Marseille and Saint-Etienne have conquered more than in the entire history of the senior league and this week two of its academy graduates (Jules Conde and Orléans Choumani) started in the French national team, close to returning to the sub-league after 30 years.

So, in the previous relegation, Bordeaux finished in 10th place and was relegated along with Brest Venice due to huge debts and managerial failures.

This time it could happen on the grass.

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