“A monument in danger!”: The brutal crash of Girondins Bordeaux


“A monument in danger!”
The brutal crash of Girondins Bordeaux

Girondins Bordeaux is one of the most important traditional clubs in France. Now the club, which once had many German stars under contract, is facing ruin. The last hope could now be a rescue package for local entrepreneurs.

The future of the traditional French football club Girondins Bordeaux in the 140th year of the club’s foundation is in the stars. The daily sports newspaper “L’Equipe” had the headline: “A monument in danger!” The background to the dramatic development around the Girondins is the announcement by the American investment fund King Street, the club’s majority shareholder since November 2018, that it will cease its involvement at the end of the season.

Bordeaux Mayor Pierre Hurmic has made the matter a top priority and wants to try to attract new investors to avert bankruptcy: “The Girondins is part of our heritage, part of the soul of the city of Bordeaux. The City Hall has a vision of it how the club should be positioned in the future. ” The latest plan: A group of local entrepreneurs wants to set up a rescue package with the involvement of fans, who can become shareholders of the club via a digital financial platform.

Crashing losses this season

For this season alone, the club expects a loss of 80 million euros, also because shirt sponsor Bistro Regent has thrown in the towel because the league’s expected TV revenues have been halved from 1.2 billion euros to 600 million due to the insolvency of contract partner Mediapro because – as everywhere – there was no audience income. But since an investment fund is primarily interested in returns and only secondarily in sports, it just turns off the money.

That will indeed be bitter for the six-time French champion, who is currently in 16th place, five points away from a relegation place, vegetated away. It remains to be seen whether bankruptcy and forced relegation will have to be filed. The supporters of the Girondins wistfully think back to the glorious history of the club. The association, founded in 1881, whose name is based on a post-revolutionary political movement of the 18th century and on the name of the river that formed behind the city, the confluence of the Garonne and Dordogne, experienced its golden era in the 1980s.

Significantly influenced by Germans

And it was an era that was largely shaped by Germans. The club won its first title in 1950. The second followed in 1984, and Gernot Rohr, who was born in Mannheim, was already on board. The tough but always fair right-back came to the Gironde in 1977 from Bayern Munich, where he still played with today’s CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Since “l’Allemand” Rohr played so consistently and reliably, the Girondins tried two other Teutons in 1982.

European champion Caspar Memering (1982 to 1984) was brought in from Hamburger SV, Dieter Müller (1982 to 1985) from VfB Stuttgart. The center forward scored 43 goals in 93 league games in his three years in France and contributed significantly to championship wins in 1984 and 1985. Unforgettable, and not just because of the acoustics, when a Basque male choir serenaded Basque President Claude Bez after rousing victories in the almost 100-meter-long players’ tunnel.

After the successes with Rohr and Müller, President Bez repeatedly pulled the German card. Uwe Reinders (85 – 11/86) followed Müller. When Rohr, again a master craftsman in 1987, ended his career two years later, Manfred Kaltz and Klaus Allofs came along. However, Kaltz, who was brought in as Rohr’s successor, only lasted three months in southwest France – he probably lacked the headball monster Horst Hrubesch as a central point in the attack, as was the case with Hamburger SV.

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