An artistic blur, maintained since mid-May and the official announcement of Locht’s resignation, which has brought to light two currents, reflected by the contradictory reactions to the famous banner. For some, Locht is an accomplice in the policy led by the American owner; for others, he is a servant of the club, a victim, but above all the only local interlocutor with the outside world.
This is good timing, as this is how Don Dransfield, then CEO of 777 Partners, had presented the idea to Locht, so that he could continue his mission in Liège, after his resignation in May. It is again this logic of the internal interlocutor, who also joins the CA, which was retained to validate the extension of his mandate in mid-September, the time for the club to be sold.
He knew the contents of the banner but refutes the idea of a liar or a hidden agenda.
A sales process that will progress slowly and that will most likely go beyond October 31, the “official” term of the notice period of a CEO who could have refused to stay, which would have left a void that would be difficult to fill in complicated financial times. It is a bit of this in-between that raises questions and makes some people think that the dice were loaded from the start, to the point of thinking that the former team manager had a hidden agenda.
A theory that the person concerned firmly denies, and that he was able to repeat again this Tuesday evening during a meeting with the Famille des Rouches, which he will say again to the Ultras, the most virulent animation group against him, at the origin of the banner. A banner that he had become aware of before the meeting and for which he had not opposed, aware that it is the lot of every leader to be singled out.
Venanzi (and the Real Estate) and the Americans have an agreement
When he was legal director, he had seen the messages addressed to Roland Duchâtelet, Bruno Venanzi or Alexandre Grosjean, previous presidents and CEO. He had also told the Ultras, in a joking tone, when he started as CEO, that they could prepare a banner with his name. It was released on Friday and, if he was prepared for it, it was above all the term liar that caught his attention, and that he did not appreciate.
He didn’t have all the cards in hand, but the Americans spent, all in all, the equivalent of €70 million.
At the time of his CEO review, while it must be said that Pierre Locht did not always hold all the cards, caught in the trap of an American shareholder whose methods were not always clear, it must also be said that, including the purchase of the club and daily financing, the Americans spent the equivalent of €70 million (including the next capital increase), according to estimates.
A substantial investment that did not bear fruit, due to the existing financial hole but also a lifestyle equivalent to a top 6 club while, on the sporting level, Standard did not take part in the Champions Playoffs under the American flag and became a medium-sized club.
Pierre Locht accepts criticism of his actions and some management choices may have raised questions, on a sporting level or not. But the essential question of whether the Liégeois was an accomplice in the current fall is difficult to establish. At least, with his presence on the board of directors, he will be as close as possible to the figures for the sale. Enough to save his balance sheet? That is not certain. And if the new shareholder offers him to stay? Officially, the idea is to say stop. But the truth of one day…
