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Editorial Dieppe
Published on
Nov 12, 2024 at 11:39 a.m.
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Saturday November 9, 2024, at the Jean-Dasnias stadium, there were ultimately more tensions behind the scenes than on the pitch.
Against the backdrop of the future presidency of FC Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), the battle is triggered between local elected officials and Patrick Coquelet, president of the club since June 2013 and until June 2025, who intends to remain in control of decisions and the clocks.
At half-time of the match between FCD and Calais, a lively exchange took place between Sébastien Jumel, president of the Dieppe-Maritime Agglomeration and Patrick Coquelet.
The succession of Patrick Coquelet does not look easy. FC Dieppe must find the equivalent of 650,000 euros on average each year.
This budget would have to be raised to around one million euros in the event of the return of the flag team to National 2.
Patrick Coquelet has been warning for almost a year now that he would cease his duties at the end of his third quadrennium.
He has therefore been looking for a successor for several months. No one applied exceptArnaud Chandelier, partner of FC Dieppe and member of the steering committee.
Delegation to Arnaud Chandelier
In order to best prepare for the future, Patrick Coquelet decided, on October 7, to appoint Arnaud Chandelier executive delegate of the president.
Decision confirmed by email to members of the steering committee. It indicates that “Arnaud Chandelier, executive delegate of the president, will be able to assist by Florentin Arthus. This delegation confers on Arnaud Chandelier all powers effectively until June 30, 2025, subject to reporting to the President.
However, Patrick Coquelet never presents Arnaud Chandelier as his successor.
About a third of the members of the steering committee are against to this decision, considering that “Patrick Coquelet cedes his powers too quickly to a person he does not know well enough. He should have retained all the powers until the end of the season, even if it meant involving Arnaud Chandelier more.”
Also, when the election to the steering committee of Florentin Arthus, business manager, former environmentalist candidate in the 2022 legislative elections, came up at a meeting on October 18, it was not easy.
Florentin Arthus was elected with only five votes in favor and there were eight abstentions.
A letter that has the effect of a bomb
So, Nicolas Langlois and Sébastien Jumel wrote a letter – on the letterhead of the City of Dieppe and the Dieppe-Maritime Agglomeration – which they sent to the president of FC Dieppe with a copy to all members of the steering committee.
“The club is at a new turning point in its history”
The letter from Nicolas Langlois and Sébastien Jumel addressed to Patrick Coquelet (copy to the members of his steering committee) dated November 8, 2024:
“Mr President, We know your attachment to FC Dieppe. You know ours. This club has been a popular and sporting institution in Dieppe and its region for more than a century. It is a common good that belongs to everyone. Both to its players and managers of yesterday and today, as well as to the volunteers and supporters. The club is at a new turning point in its history since you have announced that you are leaving the presidency of the club at the end of the sporting year. This is not the first time that FC Dieppe will experience such a change. As we have discussed with you on several occasions and in particular during the last home match against Sannois Saint-Gratien, this change must take place while preserving at all costs the association, its internal democracy and the essential link with the territory. , the financing communities, at the forefront of which are the city of Dieppe and the Dieppe-Maritime Agglomeration. On October 19, you agreed to arrange a meeting as quickly as possible. It is clear that this is not the case. The most unbearable thing is that the situation is getting worse. Reading the local press attests to this since everyone learns who will be President and who is already endowed with “full powers”. Furthermore, the decisions taken by the steering committee are less and less shared. During the last committee one or more major votes gave rise to abstentions much higher than the favorable votes. The questions asked at the club which we must answer collectively go beyond anyone's issues. They relate to the sharing of decisions taken today in the name of the club, of its future, which must imperatively be supported by as many people as possible. Please accept, Mr. President, the expression of our distinguished greetings.”
This letter, which has the effect of a bomb, is experienced by Patrick Coquelet as interference. In any case, it obviously divides the steering committee a little more.
Coquelet and Jumel explain…
As a symbol, Saturday a little before 6 p.m., Patrick Coquelet goes to kick off the Dieppe-Calais match with Arnaud Chandelier.
At the same time, Sébastien Jumel observes the scene from the top of the presidential stand.
He is surrounded by Patrick Boulierformer president of the Agglo, and Stéphane Novick, potential candidate for the chair of president of FC Dieppe, supported by the former MP and the mayor of Dieppe.
Patrick Coquelet did not fail to tell us that he was “scandalized by the letter received by the mayor and the president of the agglomeration. It's good that they are now in a hurry to take an interest in the fate of FC Dieppe. They were much less present when I needed support, especially financially. I remind you that the City has continued to lower its annual subsidy which today stands at €77,000 and that the Agglo does not pay a cent to the club. I don't owe them anything ».
Angry, the boss of FC Dieppe who is also president of the Dieppe delegation to the Rouen-Métropole Chamber of Commerce and Industry – therefore brought to work with Sébastien Jumel on employment issues in the Dieppe conurbation -, recalls that “as president of FC Dieppe, I delegate my powers to whomever I see fit”.
“We are experiencing political interference in the proper functioning of our association. They want to get their hands on FC Dieppe and I won't let them. »
Patrick Coquelet notes that “since there is only one declared candidate for my succession (Arnaud Chandelier), I put him in the best possible position. This does not mean that he will be president of FC Dieppe since there will be a proper vote when the time comes. I have always played the card of transparency: it was I who opened the steering committee to two representatives of the City and a representative of the Agglo”.
After a lively exchange with Patrick Coquelet during half-time and in front of a stunned audience, Sébastien Jumel told us he was “concerned about the future of FC Dieppe”.
“This club must retain its DNA through youth training and an ambitious flagship team. I am not in phase with the way things are currently done, nor with the choices made at the level of people. I am not the only one since members of the steering committee also indicate this. I hope we will meet soon to exchange in a peaceful manner.”
It will be necessary to move forward, as well as a good mediator who could be the former president of the Agglo Patrick Boulier, who knows the two men well, as well as Nicolas Langlois, who was absent on Saturday evening.
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