Photo Pierrick Chassine
For Alternative Football, the former commercial and development director of the Girondins de Bordeaux, Jacques D'Arrigoremembered his approach with the supporters upon his arrival at FCGB. He recognizes it himself today: he had not taken the measure of it. Eager to increase subscription prices, he found himself facing a wall, the
Ultramarines having always promised that they would ensure that subscriptions did not increase, so that the stadium was accessible to as many people as possible, particularly the working classes.
“There is not a very good alignment of the planets at the sporting level, and there is a bit of a breakdown in communication between the supporters and the presidency. I receive them after three months, the Ultramarines, to present the new jersey and the new subscription campaign. We wanted to raise prices, and it didn't exactly go as planned… It was a physical confrontation. It's face to face, we stand up… It's not face to face, we shouldn't exaggerate, but these are things that you don't experience in a company like Nike… Nike, you sell shoes to consumers, or to users if they are football players. There, you are faced with people who are passionate, and whose lives are punctuated by the life of a club. I didn’t take the measure right away.”
Then, he remembered another moment, the famous European Cup match against La Gantoise – which still remains today in terms of atmosphere and positive atmosphere the most memorable meeting at the René stadium Gallice – also confirming the words of Florian Brunet who had told behind the scenes on several occasions.
“There was a second conflict episode. In fact, we are having a qualifying campaign for the Europa League. We're having a crazy comeback in 2018 which ends in Metz. Lyon must draw against Nice… Bordeaux crushes Metz, and finally Lyon scores goals: Bordeaux qualifies at the last minute in the preliminary phase of the Europa League. For the preliminary matches phase, we win the first two. It’s certain that there are no supporters in the stands, they are all at Cap-Ferret or Arcachon, or Lacanau… As soon as the weather is nice, we favor the Arcachon Bay (in Bordeaux) . But there are still the Ultramarines who are there every time. We offer the first two matches. The third, which is decisive, against La Gantoise, there is 0-0 in the first leg, and the return match is huge, it is super important. Qualifying for the Europa League means almost 10 million euros more in TV rights, for a club whose budget was €60-65 million. It's colossal. I say at that moment that the place will be 15 balls for the whole stadium. I'm getting angry. The Ultramarines tell me that I don't understand anything, that it's much too expensive. I tell them that I offered the first two, and that it was like €5 per match. I try to rationalize as best I can, and in fact I realize that six days before the match, it was a Thursday evening, there were 1000 seats sold, and 900 Belgians. We're really in trouble. There, my president, Stéphane Martin, calls me and asks me how we do it. I tell him 'listen, if you give me carte blanche, I'll fill the stadium for you'. We call the whole team, and that's when you see that you can do things in a club… Ticketing, merchandising, sponsorship, social networks… We took everyone. We brought in the partners, the Ultramarines, and we said to ourselves that we would put the stadium at €5. 40,000*5€ that's 200,000€, and the TV rights are 10M€, so it has no common measure… We're giving away a lot of free places to partners, Bistro Régent has splashed out on restaurants, etc. We were sold out. Aurélien Tchouaméni spoke about it often, and said that it was the first time he was in the corridor of Matmut Atlantique, and where the stands were vibrating…”.
Transcription Girondins4Ever
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