After being suspended from ruling during his first visit at the beginning of November, the Voc was sanctioned with a payroll regulation eight days ago. But, a few hours after the general meeting held by the club, the financial policeman of French football reversed his decision Thursday morning and pronounced the administrative demotion at the end of the 2024-2025 season.
Not a surprise
An unsurprising turnaround for the club’s management, which must face finances in the red: a negative operating result of €140,000 at the end of last season, a decreasing budget (€750,000) as well as than a forecast deficit of €80,000 for the 2024-2025 season. “When we passed the first time, the DNCG told us that we would not escape it. We finally came out with supervision. I found that a little inconsistent compared to what had been said,” explains Jean-François Créach’Cadec, treasurer of Vannes OC.
After consulting the final report of the auditor, the DNCG explains that the club had, last season, provisioned a debt of €218,000 for training compensation on the transfer of ex-Vannetais Georginio Rutter (from Hoffenheim in Leeds). For now, the club has received two envelopes of €72,000 and €38,000 while the €218,000 was already spent during the previous mandate.
However, the FFF body assures that these compensations will amount to only €183,000, a difference of €35,000. Another problem: the 2024-2025 forecast budget reveals positive equity of €26,000 as of June 30, 2025. Taking into account this difference of €35,000 and arriving at -€9,000, the DNCG thus estimates that “the club does not will not recover its equity at the end of the season, that the situation leaves no room for maneuver and that contributions will absolutely have to be made materialized for an amount which should make it possible to justify positive equity to start again next season. She therefore decided on the administrative demotion of the first team as a precautionary measure. This decision, which cannot be appealed, will be reviewed from May 1, 2025.
Rutter still in flavor?
At the same time, the club could receive new training compensation after Rutter’s new transfer from Leeds to Brighton last summer (0.75% of €47 million). But nothing is certain according to management regarding the date and the amounts. “We are eligible for this solidarity mechanism. But we don’t know if we will receive this amount. We refused to allow it to appear in the accounts. You must not make the same mistake twice.”
Faced with these difficulties, president Christophe Revel is counting on a general mobilization of all the forces to save the club before the end of the season. “If everyone gets moving and if everyone moves in the same direction, we can have hope of getting through the year. It is not because the N3 is well classified (4th) that the club is doing well. The situation is very, very critical. The danger is there,” explains Revel, who is banking on the search for partners and organized events (lottos, raffles, clearance sales) to replenish the coffers.
