Impossible to miss it when you enter the Luchin estate, the administrative and training center of the Lille Olympique Sporting Club (LOSC), an old Flemish farm saved from ruin around twenty years ago: in the center of the interior courtyard , on its red brick base, a bronze mastiff 2.44 meters high (just like a football goal) stands guard, the work of the artist Jean Lemonnier (see photo). The imposing canine has been part of the team’s history since its birth, but it only appeared on the logo in 1981. “It’s an emblemPresident Olivier Létang confides to the JDD. He is proud, strong and fierce, like our new motto. »
Three character traits distilled at all levels of the club upon his arrival in office in December 2020 when he succeeded Gérard Lopez, the businessman who rushed the Girondins de Bordeaux to National 2 (4th division). “LOSC will celebrate its 80th anniversary in November but it should have died at 77he squeaks. People have absolutely no idea what it’s like to arrive at a club riddled with 400 million euros in debt. As soon as you opened a drawer, there was a file. It was a field of ruins, we still have numerous criminal disputes. In this context, it was nevertheless necessary to restore serenity and order. »
Installed by powerful and proactive shareholders (the Luxembourg investment fund Merlyn Partners), the former manager of Reims, PSG and president of Rennes launched a commando operation with Christophe Galtier which resulted six months later, in May 2021, in LOSC’s latest title of French champion, also the last to have escaped PSG’s QSI version. The northern institution, dominant force in post-war French football (two championships and five Cups between 1946 and 1955) then sleeping beauty for decades, can resume a trajectory as discreet as ultimately astonishing, that of a team which has only missed the Top 10 of L1 three times in the 21st century (2003, 2017 and 2018) and multiplies European qualifications.
“At the end of the 1990s, the club fell to L2remembers François Stock, founder of the supporters association Les Dogues du Net and creator of the podcast Le Bistro Allez Le LOSC. We went back to 2001 thanks to coach Vahid Halilhodzic, who introduced us to the Champions League. Before that, we had never played once in the European Cup! It seems crazy, but the town hall which managed the club seemed content to keep it going. Fortunately, it was privatized and was finally able to take off again. »
More than 30,000 subscribers this season
Francis Graille and Luc Dayan (2000-2004) will lay the foundations and the emblematic Michel Seydoux (2004-2017) will propel the LOSC into a new dimension with three high points: the installation in 2007 in Luchin, around fifteen kilometers from the city center, the Cup-championship double in 2011 around a phenomenon called Eden Hazard, future world star at Chelsea, and the inauguration of the Pierre-Mauroy stadium the following year, a modernist arena with 50,000 seats ( the only one in L1 to have a retractable roof) a thousand miles from the atmosphere « fricadelles-frites » of the northern stadium of Villeneuve-d’Ascq, previous lair of the Mastiffs. Except for the Lopez period, the current LOSC has, more or less, always experienced high-stakes seasons but it suffered from an abysmal image deficit with its great rival, the Racing Club de Lens, more endearing and “popular” than the arrogant cousin of the metropolis of a million inhabitants, whose periodic excesses from the most virulent supporters in periods of crisis did not help anything.
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“We don’t sing The Corons but that doesn’t score goalsStock room in reference to Pierre Bachelet’s mining tube, essential during half-time at the Bollaert stadium. On big evenings, the Lille public now has nothing to envy of its competitors. The atmosphere has clearly gone up a notch thanks to the good results, the new stadium that we have finally made our own and the numerous supporters associations”.
The club has just cleared a debt of 400 million euros
A sign that times are changing, one of them recently hatched in Pas-de-Calais, the traditional stronghold of the Lensois. Unthinkable a few years ago. This makes Olivier Létang and his communications teams, very committed to this Hauts-de-France marketing derby, smile. in Lille, it is rumored that the LOSC jerseys would begin to supplant those of the Artésiens. Difficult to verify, but sales of red and white tunics are on the rise, as are attendances in the stands (36,200 spectators on average last season, fifth national total just behind… Lens) and subscribers (more than 30,000 this summer, something never seen in ten years).
“Regardless of the game and the show, as president I want a team with personalityasserts Olivier Létang. We have a community of around ten million people (social networks included, Editor’s note) who follows us and wants to be proud of his colors. » Here we say: “Good does not make noise, noise does not do good. When I arrived, I said ok, but without becoming arrogant, we will still say that we want to win. We are here for that, on all levels of the club. It’s fundamental. »
“The biggest poster in the history of LOSC at home”
Reputedly tough, demanding and pragmatic, the one who assumed having carried the Olympic flame while refusing his players to join Thierry Henry’s selection (“The club comes first, we had to qualify for the Champions League, and we did it”he says in substance) cracks the armor when he remembers certain posters. “I was very touched by the atmosphere against OM, Lens and Aston Villa. We feel a positive dynamic with a community that comes together because it senses the strong values of the club. With football, we also touch on humans. When we see our supporters happy, singing, hugging, crying and laughing, that’s part of our responsibilities. Our roots run deep. »
The native of Manceau, who reveals to us that in recent days he has completed the settlement of the colossal debt left by his predecessors, enjoys a certain popularity among supporters who are particularly grateful to him for having placed the training center at the heart of the project. A producer in the past of big names like Hazard, Digne, Cabaye or Debuchy, he had been left fallow during the Gérard Lopez-Luis Campos era (today sports director of PSG). “They favored an incessant business of unknown players with foreign countriesdeplores François Stock. Young people no longer came, there was no longer any perspective. The last straw is Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who returned to Belgium and who we ended up buying. »
In July, one of the house’s jewels, defender Leny Yoro (18 years old) was sold to Manchester United for almost 70 million euros, bonus included. A huge blow which reinforces LOSC in its policy of financial autonomy, relatively free from the famous TV rights in free fall which weigh down the accounts of many competitors. With the probable future goalkeeper of the Blues Lucas Chevalier (22 years old), the promising midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi (16 years old) or the undulating Kosovar winger Edon Zhegrova (25 years old), the medium-term future already seems assured.
In July, one of the house jewels, defender Leny Yoro (18 years old) was sold to Manchester United for almost 70 million euros, bonus included
Before that, on Wednesday (9 p.m. on Canal+), it is Real Madrid who will visit the north of France for the first time. “The biggest poster in the history of LOSC at home”decides its president. “Real and its fifteen victories in the Champions League are a reference, an example in many areas. I have a lot of respect and admiration for him but we will have to be hungry, like the Mastiffs that we are. We will not be spectators. » There will be enough in the stands anyway, with attractive prices for the most loyal. “We will go to the stadium with stars in our eyes, it’s super moving”concludes François Stock, among the lucky 50,000. Behind his ferocity, the Mastiff is very sentimental.
