Lausanne is the horrid example of how a club should not be run from afar – even if there is money. After a long chain of errors, the people of Vaud say goodbye to the Super League, as they did in 2018.
Back to second division: Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Basel sealed FC Lausanne-Sport’s relegation from the Super League.
It may be surprising how clearly FC Zurich has become the Swiss champion. But even more astonishing is the deep fall at the other end of the table: FC Lausanne-Sport, fed and managed by the British petrochemical group Ineos, endures a terrible season and is relegated to the Challenge League. After the 0-0 draw against FC Basel, the report is official. 3680 people witness the sinking. The bise blows through the stadium. Much will, even more inability. Impotence.
The makers of Ineos got lost. Even if their imminent return to the elite of Swiss football is likely given the increase in the league, the 2021/22 season will go down in history as a lesson for the club.
The billion-dollar company functions as one would expect when money seems to fall from the sky. It changes key positions in Lausanne. Even club president Bob Ratcliffe, brother of billionaire Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe, is affected. In the future, Leen Heemskerk will lead the club.
The Dutchman is Ineos CFO and lives in Nyon, but hardly speaks French. He is familiar with finance, but not with Swiss football. On Sunday he watched the game against FC Basel alone next to the marketing manager in the stadium.
Ineos lacks the flair for the Super League
The appointment of the Dutchman is the next surprise from the big company, especially since he wants to take care of day-to-day business part-time. Ineos is struggling in Lausanne. The thesis is circulating that such behavior can only be explained for two reasons: First, there is too much money, which is why every mistake can be paid out, so to speak. Secondly, there is a lack of feeling for local club football. There is talk of “arrogance” as well as “decoupling of the planet Ineos”.
The company should be a blessing: it not only contributes millions to the club, but also to the new stadium that opened eighteen months ago. The owners probably thought of the little FC in little Switzerland as a toy that could easily be guided with one finger. If necessary, from a command center in southern France. But it’s not that simple.
Football has been played at the Stade de la Tuilière since the end of 2020. Because of the pandemic, the opening with the public did not take place until September 2021.
Recently there was a meeting in the stadium. Regarded as a gentleman, Bob Ratcliffe turned to former club president Alain Joseph for advice. Ratcliffe is a “loving and respectful person,” says Joseph, “but he was also sad.” The conversation lasted an hour. Joseph explained to the Brit that FC Lausanne-Sport is a small grocery store and not a supermarket and that Switzerland cannot be compared to Great Britain.
basic information. Above all, Joseph said: “FC needs a locally anchored patron.” Ratcliffe speaks English. Joseph can keep up, but after an hour his ears are shaking. It would be the same with Leen Heemskerk. After all, he lives nearby. Ratcliffe was hardly ever in Lausanne.
Julien Fournier is the mastermind
In the communiqué on the realignment the club communicates that Ineos intends to separate the club managements of OGC Nice and FC Lausanne-Sport. Suddenly, what has always been persistently offered around is formulated. At FC Lausanne-Sport, non-local representatives make important personnel decisions. Rather, this is what Julien Fournier does. The Frenchman is the powerful sports director in Nice. Sports director Souleymane Cisse in Lausanne? Determined by Fournier. The end of the trainer Giorgio Contini 2021 era? Driven by Fournier. The coach Alain Casanova signed in February? Fournier brand.
Everything Fournier. But even he hardly ever stayed in Lausanne, because there is enough work to be done in Nice. It seems like a rich aunt could control everything remotely. A trainer here, a transfer there – and the shop is up and running. What a mistake. Under Chinese leadership, the Grasshopper Club also raises questions – without identity and presence, in the wealthy somehow mode. But what has gone wrong in Lausanne so far surpasses everything.
The club made forty transfers in eighteen months and kept stirring up the dressing room. Players’ agents speak of “helicopter transfers”. Players came, most of them on loan or without a communicated contract period. It was thought that with two or three players who had tried Ligue 1, it would be possible to stay in the league in Switzerland. A fatal fallacy born of arrogance.
It was too much for U-21 coach Borenovic
That in the summer of 2021 the not yet 40-year-old U-21 coach Ilija Borenovic was promoted to head coach, is understandable. He knew the club and the young players. But he was mainly concerned with the integration of new players and remained too impressionable.
Borenovic was indebted to the head of sport, Cissé, but the young coach lacked the experience and intuition to navigate the Ineos universe. For example in those moments when Monsieur Fournier called. TV interviews with Borenovic at the beginning of the season were characterized by uncertainty. It was too much for him too soon.
Nice sports director Julien Fournier made the most important personnel decisions in Lausanne from afar.
The need was already great in February. Fournier replaced Borenovic with veteran Ligue 1 coach Alain Casanova. Fournier was under the misconception that with a little Ligue 1 on the sidelines, it should be possible to stay up in Switzerland. The head of sports Cissé only acts as a governor. He is considered a football connoisseur, but he too is too far away from Swiss conditions and will have to leave Lausanne.
Cissé became the target of some fans who, in their anger, exceeded the bearable limit. In the game against Basel, too, they asked him to leave in large letters in a primitive way. It’s easier to attack Cissé than Ineos. The Super League, while relatively small, is not as easy to master as Ineos, the Ratcliffe brothers, Fournier, Cissé, Nice and Ligue 1 staff think. Global competence, local incompetence.
After all, Lausanne promotes young Swiss footballers
There are junior coaches hired by Ineos in Lausanne who don’t seem to speak a word of French and can hardly communicate with the boys. The problem areas are also reported to be increasing among youngsters (Team Vaud). The consolation is that the club is in the league Evaluation of the promotion of young Swiss footballers leads – thanks to numerous appearances by Zeki Amdouni (21), Anel Husic (21), Karim Sow (19) and Alvyn Sanches (19).
The next Lausanne coach must know Switzerland and the Challenge League. Anything else would be questionable. Ludovic Magnin, Mauro Lustrinelli or Marc Schneider are ported.
The fact that Ineos is taking a break has to do with its image. The company, whose representatives developed the highly controversial gas extraction method Approve and encourage fracking, wants to improve its reputation in the sports world. It pays relatively little tax in Vaud, but lets money flow through other channels and does something for the people. With football for example.
The club recently had a transfer minus, it has little audience and zero European Cup earnings. That means someone has to be responsible for everything. In the last invoice, income of 10 million Swiss francs is noted from sponsorship and advertising. It’s about disguised donations from the club owner.
The preliminary result: relegation. The episode stands for misjudgments of the coarser kind.
great league. 33rd round: Lugano – Young Boys 3: 1 (0: 0). St. Gallen – Zurich 1: 2 (1: 2). Grasshoppers – manners 0:1 (0:0). Lausanne Sport – Basel 0-0. Lucerne – Servette 4: 0 (1: 0). – Ranking: 1. Zurich 33/75 (champion). 2. Basel 33/57. 3.Young Boys 33/53. 4.Lugano 33/50. 5. St Gallen 33/47. 6. Servette 33/41. 7. Customs 33/37. 8. Grasshoppers 33/36. 9. Lucerne 33/33. 10. Lausanne-Sport 33/21 (relegated).