A few weeks before a crucial decision of the Commercial Court on their continuation plan, the Girondins de Bordeaux find themselves faced with a financial chasm that makes you dizzy: a total passive of almost 94 million euros. Behind this figure, it is a whole management that questions, that of the president-owner Gérard Lopez, whose recovery promise leaves for the moment to an accumulation of receivables.
As the Team explains, before any renegotiation, the debts of the club amount to exactly € 93,900,641.04, spread over 436 receivables. Lopez plans to give up a part – an abandonment of massive debt of more than € 40 million – but even, the slate will remain greater than € 50 million. This colossal debt is divided into three large blocks.
From Urssaf to … bakeries!
First, institutional creditors. The State and its organizations are at the top of the list, starting with the taxman (more than € 5 million), the URSSAF Aquitaine (€ 3.3 million), or Bordeaux Métropole, to whom the club owes nearly € 12 million. These public claims, priority in procedures, place the Girondins in a critical position towards the authorities.
-Then, the debts linked to players’ transfers. Bordeaux still owes several million to other clubs, failing to have honored certain payments: € 3 million in Amiens for Badji, € 1.5 million in Gijon for Pedro Diaz, or more modest amounts in Guingamp, Lille, Aek Athens and others. Clubs like Caen or Bastia are also creditors unrelated to transfers, a sign of scattered management.
Finally, the last PAN reveals a multitude of debts from suppliers and craftsmen. Mercury hotels, winegrowers, bakeries, radios, law firms, carriers … to Pernod or Stats Perform. A patchwork of often local or specialized creditors, which will be served last, if they are. Under the direction of Gérard Lopez, the club seems to have transformed into a generalized debt company, where each actor, from the large investor to the small producer, awaits his due. Scary.
To summarize
Under Gérard Lopez, the Girondins de Bordeaux accumulate nearly € 94 million in debts to the state, clubs, suppliers and even winegrowers. Despite a partial abandonment of receivables, the club remains plunged into financial chaos, a reflection of exploded and disturbing management at all levels.
