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« Pain is emptiness », explains Jean-Paul Sartre. The Girondins de Bordeaux will once again experience silent pain after a new display behind closed doors this Sunday in the Coupe de France. Disappointed, like many supporters, Dominique Vincendeau, president of the Herbiers club, spoke in an interview for WebGirondins.
WebGirondins: First of all, what was your reaction when the closed session for this match was announced?
Dominique Vincendeau: I am very sad. This is really a big disappointment for me. A disappointment compared to Football itself. This is especially where I am sad. I am disappointed with the decisions that are made. I remain completely stunned, the reasons are not clearly defined for me. Frankly, I am disappointed for French football.
“I feel betrayed and that’s hard for me”
Was this closed session avoidable, in your opinion?
If the prefecture is not capable of managing, of controlling two groups of supporters, where are we going? Whether there is something else behind it, I don't know. But doing behind closed doors in the Coupe de France is shameful. We only see this in football. If we cannot manage difficulties, especially in a prefecture as large as that of Gironde
Has the option of reversing the meeting been studied?
Yes, the Federation worked to have the match reversed. I'm only at the end of the decisions, I only learned that at the end. I had contact with the Girondins with whom it went well. They first mentioned a financial problem to me (Sud Ouest indicates that “the Bordeaux leaders have calculated a “financial loss” in the event of a match at Matmut Atlantique) and I understand that the depreciation of a stadium like that, it must be important. […]
I know that the FFF had called the gendarmerie service in Les Herbiers and the Vendée prefecture. Everyone was OK. Recently, we hosted Ajaccio, there was not the slightest problem. It was a big party, we welcomed nearly 3,500 people.
And from a financial point of view, is your club also losing money with this decision?
The financial cost is something else again for me. It is not essential. The financial side is our problem. This is not what will ruin us. Football is my life, it's my passion and there, I feel betrayed and that hurts me, for the supporters, for football in general. I'm passionate, that's why I joined the club. We have more than 150 volunteers at the club, people who follow us, we have a partner club and everyone feels betrayed. I think the Girondins de Bordeaux have nothing to do with it, it's just a prefectural question. But maybe I'm wrong, we're the last to know.
“I started playing Herbiers at the age of 9 and I never left”
To return to the Herbiers club, what is your history with this club?
I started playing there when I was 9 and never left. I was a goalkeeper for the first team in the 4th division. Then I returned to the office and became a goalkeeping coach. I know the club by heart.
The leaders and volunteers are almost all friends. We move forward together. We have a partner club with more than 150 partners. We are very active, and that's what I like, it's sharing, it's respect. I follow in the footsteps of the three former presidents. I wasn't necessarily looking to be president, but there was a form of logic that was put in place. I want to give back to the club what the club gave to me.
Football is a media sport, we are lucky. We have more than 1,300 people per match on average at the stadium. And football is made to bring people together. We bring in other clubs to kick off to highlight these sports which do not have the chance to be highlighted.
What is your relationship with the Coupe de France?
We experienced unforgettable moments. It's the festivity, it's seeing more than 40,000 people from Vendée come to Paris (Les herbiers played in a Coupe de France final against PSG in 2018, Editor's note). These are privileged moments, even if behind it was complicated. But we didn't file for bankruptcy, we always insured and now we are back in financial balance, everything is fine.
How difficult is it to have to manage a club in National 2?
We are lucky to be in a very sporting city and a very industrial city. And a large part of the companies in and around Herbret support us financially. We are lucky to have industrial and artisanal partners. They are actors of our request, because football is very greedy.
We have an SAS and an Association. And the two get along very well. We are two presidents (with Pierre-Louis Tilly, president of the association) who get along very well. We are completely transparent about the club's opinion, we work together.
We work hand in hand and all decisions are made jointly. We continue to build the club, it is a continuation of what has been done in the past. By being several people around the table, we make a little less stupid things.
From a sporting point of view, how do you judge your start to the season in the Coupe de France and in the championship?
I hope we will go to the round of 32 again this season. But be careful, we are against a very good Bordeaux team. In the championship, the start was more complicated, but we changed a lot in terms of the squad. But I think that now we are more solid, we are a team, I think, respected in our championship. Even if we lost our center forward (Jérémy Billy).
How is it going in the transfer window for a club in National 2?
In terms of recruitment, we have André Gaborit who is our daddy and Laurent David (coach) who make the choices. For the transfer window, we first look at the finances and then we advise. We do what we can. We don't want to unbalance the club.
Nathan Hanini
Listen to the opinion of Herbiers coach, Laurent David, on this closed session.
>> Coupe de France: Les Herbiers “regret that football is penalized” by the closed session against the Girondins
