Before buying Olympique de Marseille from Margarita Louis-Dreyfus in October 2016, Frank McCourt seriously considered taking over the Girondins de Bordeaux. The American finally abandoned the Aquitaine case, without knowing that the chosen investors would lead the Navy and White into serious problems.
To find the origin of Bordeaux's descent into hell, we must go back well before Gérard Lopez took power. The current owner and president has certainly not fixed anything in recent years, quite the contrary. But the situation was already chaotic because of his predecessors. The management of the Americans of GACP had put the Aquitaine club in danger. Which explains why the supporters are also angry with Nicolas de Tavernost, guilty of having chosen the wrong buyers.
The boss of M6 nevertheless negotiated with other actors. And notably in 2016 when a certain Frank McCourt was interested in the Girondins before opting for Olympique de Marseille. “ In the summer of 2016, Leicester's Thai owner cametold Nicolas de Tavernost in the book “Girondins de Bordeaux: investigation into a descent into hell” from Éditions Sud-Ouest. (…) Ultimately, it did not happen because at the time, we did not find a loophole in the UEFA regulations for multi-ownership. However, there was already Red Bull… »
De Tavernost had met McCourt
« There was also a Saudi, but it was very rock'n'rollcontinued the leader. I was in Corsica, we came to Bordeaux in the middle of summer, in August. We saw a guy who owned Lidl… The case was not serious. On the other hand, Frank McCourt almost bought Bordeaux! I met him through the lawyer Didier Poulmaire. We saw each other in Bagatelle, because he had just bought European show jumping for his new wife. Finally, he chose Marseille after Euro 2016. » Undoubtedly a turning point in the history of Bordeaux, demoted to National 2 this summer because of its financial problems.
