Four years ago, to the day, LOSC no longer belonged to Gérard Lopez, but to the Merlyn Partners fund: a symbolic date in the history of the Lille team.
After four years, during which LOSC went from an unexpected hold on to a fierce fight for the title, the era led by Gérard Lopez ended abruptly. In just two weeks, a new shareholder arrived: Callisto Sporting, a subsidiary of the investment fund Merlyn Partners. Likewise, a new management team, led by Olivier Létang, took place.
“I am leaving the club leaving behind a legacy of talent for the future”it was with these words that Gérard Lopez made his departure official, accompanied by Luis Campos, his sports advisor today at Paris Saint-Germain.
If this upheaval had been experienced as an earthquake, the page was not completely turned while the team which had been built during this era managed to achieve a feat that only AS Monaco had achieved before it. Christophe Galtier & Co lifted the French Champion trophy under the noses of Paris Saint-Germain: “I remember that one day, we left Lille with one president and we arrived in Dijon with another. It was really like thatJorge Maciel, a member of the Lille technical staff during this glorious epic, recently told us. This title was really unexpected, even more so when you saw it from the inside. At the start of the season, after a match in Rennes (August 8, 2020, 1st day), Luis (Campos) told us that he was leaving, that he was leaving us. From then until the end of December, there was no one in management. We almost worked alone”he continued in a long interview.
“When we win this title, we are all like brothers. This season really had an impact on me. There were just incredible matches. I will remember all this for the rest of my life.”mentioned Jorge Maciel again. It is not Benjamin André who will be able to contradict him, he who recently participated in a short format produced and published by the Lille team for his 80th birthday. The Lille captain recalled old memories to tell the story of a team with a strong character. No matter the era, the Mastiffs never admit defeat and this 2020-2021 season, worthy of a film, will have been implausible in every sense of the word. Maybe one day, who knows, someone will buy the rights to make it into a series.
The former owner of LOSC, now at the head of the Girondins de Bordeaux, was not spared on this symbolic day: “It’s nothing personal but given my convictions and my vision of sport, it’s incomprehensible that he was allowed to take over another club, a club like the Girondins de Bordeauxsaid Olivier Létang, on the night of December 17 to 18. I was called but unfortunately for the Girondins de Bordeaux, I told them: ‘I can describe to you today what will happen in two years’. As president and CEO, I filed two complaints and yes, we are a civil party”he said on the small screen this Tuesday, repeating remarks made five months ago at a press conference.
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