On November 29, the Bordeaux industrial tribunal dismissed former Girondins coach Vladimir Petkovic and his assistant Antonio Manicone. The two men contested their dismissal for serious misconduct which occurred in February 2022 and requested, in total and between them, 15 million euros for the remaining salaries to be received and moral damage.
The body even ordered them to pay more than significant sums to the club for procedural costs: 25,000 euros for Petkovic (now coach of Algeria), 10,000 euros for Manicone (currently assistant in the Iranian selection). They could appeal the decision and this appeal was filed in recent days. The case is not expected to be processed until 2026.
“Never analysis work”
“Sud Ouest” obtained the judgment which explains the council’s decision. This “judges that Mr. Petkovic never carried out any analysis work and even less adaptation/modification of both collective and individual training”, while the team was stuck in the last places in the ranking and suffered a considerable number of goals.
“For the council, Mr. Petkovic therefore voluntarily refrained from fulfilling his primary and essential obligations as head coach. It is obvious that he had the skills and experiences which should have led him to implement the actions and strategies, which he did not do. »
“Contestable judgments that are contrary to the law”
“The judgments are so questionable and contrary to the law that an appeal is necessary,” says Arnaud Constans, lawyer for the technicians. “These decisions are frankly very surprising and retain Bordeaux's argument without even mentioning the elements that we have put forward. We had player testimonials, videos and training reports proving that Petkovic and Manicone worked well, but they were ignored by the board. Problems of contradiction arise. We are hopeful of obtaining a reversal on appeal. »
James Stevens and training
The judging office relies in particular on certificates provided by the sports director Admar Lopes, by the performance manager André Monteiro, and by the president's advisor James Stevens who, this is not lacking in salt, “attended all training and was able to observe the passivity of Mr. Petkovic and his poor ability to react to negative results and worsening problems. »
The industrial tribunal established that the former Switzerland coach “always refused to follow the recommendations of his sporting director and the requests made by the club president”. “He never responded to the request to develop a sports program and a strategic action plan to improve the team's performance. »
La gestion de Koscielny
The last argument concerns a short extract from a press conference. On January 12, 2022, Gérard Lopez announced in “Sud Ouest” that Laurent Koscielny was removed from the first team “for reasons of strategic orientation”. Two days later, in front of the media, Vladimir Petkovic declared that the central defender remained his “first captain”.
According to the council, the Bosnian technician “refused to carry out the president's directives” and therefore “violated (his) obligation of reserve”. “This attitude can only be a serious fault committed by the head coach,” continues the body, which therefore judges that “the serious and repeated failures of Mr. Petkovic to his contractual obligations and to the very essence of the function occupied have harmed the interests of the club, therefore making it impossible to maintain. And that his dismissal is “well justified by serious misconduct”.
Similar arguments are listed regarding Antonio Manicone: “No analytical work and even less adaptation [ou] modification of training”, “poor ability to react to negative results”, “refusal to follow the recommendations of its sports director and the requests of the club president”.
