According to sources contacted by Get French Football News, Bordeaux owner Gérard Lopez refused to entertain discussions to buy the club as recently as May – insisting to interested parties that they had to buy both Bordeaux and Portuguese football club Boavista FC or neither at all.
Boavista are a Porto based-team in the top flight of Portugal’s footballing hierarchy that are also owned by Lopez – who also find themselves in financial difficulty. Lopez insisted that he wanted to either sell both clubs or neither at all when refusing to entertain discussions as recently as this Spring for Bordeaux.
In dramatic events last Friday, the Girondin’s administrative relegation to France’s third tier was confirmed after a failed appeal attempted to the French Football Federation – who decided to uphold the original decision made by French football’s financial watchdog, the DNCG, three weeks earlier.
In a desperate attempt to avoid the brink, Lopez struck a new deal with the club’s creditors and former American owners Fortress and King Street to transfer half the debts to his own company and offer guarantees over player sales during the current transfer window. The details of the deal were not enough to convince the DNCG and FFF to overturn the original decision.
The possibility of liquidation looms over Bordeaux, who released a statement rejecting the decision of both authorities, claiming that its project to shore up its €40m deficit was viable and addressed all of the issues set out by the DNCG in it’s first ruling.
The club is currently appealing the FFF’s decision by going to the French Olympic committee who haven’t historically looked kindly upon teams; such as SC Bastia’s forced relegation in 2017. Liquidation would mean a further relegation to the National 3, which is the 5th tier of French Football – losing professional status with the termination of all contracts previously held by the club.
Update – 17:25 CET: Gérard Lopez’s entourage has contacted Get French Football News to strongly deny this story.
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