Girondins de Bordeaux
- Thread starter Hyena
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
View: https://x.com/girondins/status/1813138005168693450
Translation: It wasn't debt free. It wasn't risk free. It wasn't free.
That makes sense - French football is financially fucked, so there was going to be no return in that investment.
The only thing that would have worked would be as a “football farm” type feeder club that would be unlikely to make money.
The only thing that would have worked would be as a “football farm” type feeder club that would be unlikely to make money.
There’s loads of shit in French football. I’ve heard they may not even have a broadcaster for this coming season.
Half the top division’s clubs are in financial strife even if the singer a broadcaster because they all were promised much more revenue or something along those lines.
Might be a chance to nab some players if teams are forced to sell.
Yes. It's the financial situation of French football overall that's quoted in the statement on X above, rather than the financial state of the club.
I think FSG quite rightly see media income as what drives value from football clubs. They were hopeful that English clubs would be able to do their own deals, as in Spain, which would have massively favoured us. As it is, that pay day isn’t going to happen but the collective deal in the PL is still massively lucrative. There’s no prospect of either a lucrative solo deal, nor a generous collective deal in France, so they are walking away, and I can’t say I blame them. Sounds like Bordeaux is a basket case. They might have seen value in sorting all that out and running the place professionally, but right now it looks like too much hassle for too little (financial) reward.
I was thinking about that the other night - what League would then provide a high enough level of media income to generate a level of profitability acceptable to FSG - even world wide.
They also probably don’t want a team that’s going to get into the CL and cause ownership issues
All City Groups teams other than Man City run at a loss. South American leagues rely on selling, France & Scotland are fucked, Scandinavia, Portugal, Holland & Belgium solid by limited and Spanish clubs do their own deals - so unless it’s a big club that wouldn’t work. In Asia, maybe only Japan has a strong enough domestic league, but it’s not a good fit if the goal is to aid the parent team. The A-League is awful and all the teams are skint.
The leaves Italy, which has plenty of problems, Germany (which would potentially be a great fit for a mid sized team) or maybe at a push, Austria.
I guess they could look at a MLS team - but why - maybe to cash in on interest leading up to the World Cup - but the US not exactly a hot spot for developing talent.
$120/case?
the whole farmers league is screwed. Without a top flight tv deal there will be a lot of clubs trying to balance the books. Think only the second division have a tv rights deal in place and it's significantly less than the previous deal they had in place
Wonder if they now buy them for €1
3rd tier of French Football with €100m of debt. Its negative equity at the moment
Bordeaux on the brink of dropping out of professional football ahead of DNCG hearing - Get French Football News
Update 13:02 CET: Bordeaux have withdrawn their appeal and accepted relegation to the Championnat National - the club has indicated it will look to present a
www.getfootballnewsfrance.com
Well this escalated quickly.....
View: https://x.com/DeadlineDayLive/status/1816499641124347906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1816499641124347906%7Ctwgr%5Ef6eab2e312a0bbc75d64fc5c5530115a0dc73d17%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheanfieldnoise.com%2Ft%2Fligue-un-discussion%2F337
View: https://x.com/DeadlineDayLive/status/1816499641124347906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1816499641124347906%7Ctwgr%5Ef6eab2e312a0bbc75d64fc5c5530115a0dc73d17%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheanfieldnoise.com%2Ft%2Fligue-un-discussion%2F337
A few other thoughts here.
Firstly, I hope there will be a way forward for the staff at Bordeaux, either continued employment in the amateur leagues or moving on to something better. It's a horrible thing to see a business go under and take its staff with it. I also hope they've been paid this month - but sadly I wouldn't be surprised if looming the wage bill is what's driven the final decision here. I expect most of their players will find employment elsewhere so it's the support staff that I would worry about.
Secondly, whilst it is unquestionable that a by-product of FFP rules is to consolidate the power base of the big clubs and make it harder for other clubs to break the monopoly, what's happened to Bordeaux underlines that there is a need for some form of regulation on spending. The French FA should be taking a long hard look at themselves to understand how they allowed this to happen.
Thirdly, clubs need to be realistic about their potential achievements. Bordeaux had, presumably, put in a cost structure which relied on them remaining in the top tier and benefiting from a decent media deal. When both of those things were taken away, there was always a risk, even an inevitability, that they would spiral out of control. If we look at the clubs in FFP trouble in the Premier League, unrealistic expectations always form a part of it - Everton were expecting to make their way into Europe and spending to achieve that, Forest went crazy buying players to strengthen their squad for an assault on (comfortably staying in) the PL, Leicester had a couple of good seasons and kept spending like they were a top 6 club before getting relegated, Villa went a bit transfer crazy, possibly assuming they'd be able to sell a Jack Grealish every couple of years to sustain it. Don't get me started on Chelsea. They may have circumvented the FFP rules with accounting trickery but they are still leaking cash.
None of these clubs had a plan B for what they would do if it all went wrong. Clubs need to understand that failure is a possibility, relegation is a real threat, and they have to have contingencies to manage that.
Earlier this year I remarked that our accounts had stood up really well to a year of under-achievement, in part because we had built a bonus-driven wage structure that would adjust to that, and also due to strong commercial revenues and our ability to sell out every game. Last season will have been a further challenge with no Champions League revenue. But I know the club plans based on realistic expectations, which it often exceeds, rather than taking risks on phenomenal success which, most seasons, is out of reach. So, for example, when we do our financial plan, we might assume progress from the group stages in Europe, but not much beyond that. We might expect a top 6 finish in the league, but not top 4. We plan for a realistic down-side outcome, rather than assuming we'll do the Quad (that's just for on here).
Clubs like Bordeaux need to learn that lesson, as do the PL teams I've mentioned above. In some cases, that means a patronising "know your place and don't get ideas above your station". Success is a long-term goal, build up bit by bit.
By contrast, teams like Burnley or West Brom tend to deal with the promotion / relegation yo-yo cycle, because they accept that it is a realistic outcome and plan accordingly.
Firstly, I hope there will be a way forward for the staff at Bordeaux, either continued employment in the amateur leagues or moving on to something better. It's a horrible thing to see a business go under and take its staff with it. I also hope they've been paid this month - but sadly I wouldn't be surprised if looming the wage bill is what's driven the final decision here. I expect most of their players will find employment elsewhere so it's the support staff that I would worry about.
Secondly, whilst it is unquestionable that a by-product of FFP rules is to consolidate the power base of the big clubs and make it harder for other clubs to break the monopoly, what's happened to Bordeaux underlines that there is a need for some form of regulation on spending. The French FA should be taking a long hard look at themselves to understand how they allowed this to happen.
Thirdly, clubs need to be realistic about their potential achievements. Bordeaux had, presumably, put in a cost structure which relied on them remaining in the top tier and benefiting from a decent media deal. When both of those things were taken away, there was always a risk, even an inevitability, that they would spiral out of control. If we look at the clubs in FFP trouble in the Premier League, unrealistic expectations always form a part of it - Everton were expecting to make their way into Europe and spending to achieve that, Forest went crazy buying players to strengthen their squad for an assault on (comfortably staying in) the PL, Leicester had a couple of good seasons and kept spending like they were a top 6 club before getting relegated, Villa went a bit transfer crazy, possibly assuming they'd be able to sell a Jack Grealish every couple of years to sustain it. Don't get me started on Chelsea. They may have circumvented the FFP rules with accounting trickery but they are still leaking cash.
None of these clubs had a plan B for what they would do if it all went wrong. Clubs need to understand that failure is a possibility, relegation is a real threat, and they have to have contingencies to manage that.
Earlier this year I remarked that our accounts had stood up really well to a year of under-achievement, in part because we had built a bonus-driven wage structure that would adjust to that, and also due to strong commercial revenues and our ability to sell out every game. Last season will have been a further challenge with no Champions League revenue. But I know the club plans based on realistic expectations, which it often exceeds, rather than taking risks on phenomenal success which, most seasons, is out of reach. So, for example, when we do our financial plan, we might assume progress from the group stages in Europe, but not much beyond that. We might expect a top 6 finish in the league, but not top 4. We plan for a realistic down-side outcome, rather than assuming we'll do the Quad (that's just for on here).
Clubs like Bordeaux need to learn that lesson, as do the PL teams I've mentioned above. In some cases, that means a patronising "know your place and don't get ideas above your station". Success is a long-term goal, build up bit by bit.
By contrast, teams like Burnley or West Brom tend to deal with the promotion / relegation yo-yo cycle, because they accept that it is a realistic outcome and plan accordingly.
To be fair I think they would only have done this deal on their terms, and they walked away. Perfect club in all honesty.
I don't think they were ever going to get this done on their terms - even with the threat of relegation and reverting to amateur status hanging over Bordeaux, FSG still couldn't negotiate what they wanted.
@bluebell used the term "negative equity" and I think he's probably right. The only way this deal would get done was by getting rid of (at least) some of the debt, which was also part of the deal when FSG bought LFC (and I think it will also need to be part of the deal for Everton). The FSG guys who did the LFC deal were bankers and hedge fund managers. They understood that stuff, and they would have had top lawyers and accountants giving them advice on it too. I'm not sure Edwards appreciated how difficult it would be - bear in mind that transfers get done in a matter of days, even hours and if there's a problem you just throw a few £m at an agent and it gets sorted. M&A doesn't move at that sort of pace and, generally, it doesn't work like that.
He shouldn't have recommended this deal, it was too complicated. And if we wanted a feeder club, then I personally think we should have been looking for a higher standard than lower league in France.
It'd be interesting to know what we want from another club. I'd have thought we'd want to be able to bring promising young players in from territories that are difficult with UK work permit rules - South America makes sense for players from that continent, other European countries make more sense for bring players in from Africa or Eastern Europe. I'd expect long-term that we would have both, and maybe one in Asia too. We probably went for Europe first based on opportunities rather than priorities, but it's even possible we've got other deals on the go that haven't gone public yet (very little chance of keeping a European deal quiet).
We already have one in Uruquay. 🙂
