Why the venerable Louhans-Cuiseaux club, 17 years in the second division, is threatened with disappearance

The Louhans-Cuiseaux Football club, which plays in Nationale 3, has launched a call for help via a participatory prize pool. 127,000 euros are necessary for the survival of the club. The National Management Control Department is studying the club’s finances this Wednesday, December 11.

UPDATE: the DNCG decided this Wednesday, December 11, to regulate the payroll of Louhans-Cuiseaux FC. The worst-case scenario is therefore avoided for the club, which has until the end of the season to balance its finances and redress the sporting bar.

“Financially, the club is in danger and we need your help as quickly as possible so as not to let our beloved club die!” announces a press release on the online prize pool website.

The Louhans-Cuiseaux club experienced a period of glory when it played at the professional level, between 1981 and the 2000s, in Ligue 2 (formerly 2nd division) with a few mishaps (moving to National or 3rd Division).

Currently plagued by financial problems and difficult sporting results, the club is last in its group in Nationale 3. Michel Sylvain, former journalist and lifelong supporter of the club, does not hide his bitterness: “It’s ‘greatness and decadence’. Previously, Louhans-Cuiseaux represented an extremely dense sporting entity throughout the region, even across the entire national scene. The club lived 17 years in league 2. What was left for account at Louhans-Cuiseaux, it’s training and that’s what’s really hurting right now.”

The one who experienced the club’s moments of glory and who shared them in the regional written press and on the radio is not at peace with the idea of ​​going before the DNCG, the football ‘policeman’ commission: “I am worried about the future of the club, first of all on the financial level, where there is a forecast deficit of 127,000 euros which must be filled. A prize pool has been put online, but unfortunately people are not responding not and the companies of Bresse Louhannaise do not respond either. It is a fundamental handicap.

Yet Louhans-Cuiseaux has an eloquent past: a quarter-final of the league cup, French National 1 champion in 1998-1999. The same year, the students of the Henri Vincenot center, that is to say the residents of the training center, were school world champions in Cagliari, in Italy.

With the club in turmoil, the municipality of Louhans reaffirms its support and confidence. Frédéric Bouchet, the mayor of Louhans, explains that the club is “directed in a way collegial, with business leaders, people who know the difficulties, very responsible. We met them several times, they are people who can defend a case, who can provide solutions. They have already taken some steps to save money on payroll.”

Where the municipality continues its efforts with the club is in the maintenance and improvement of infrastructure. Louhans maintains the Bram stadium, “a charge of 280,000 euros annually, for a small community like us, is a lot of money. With all the communities, there are 88 municipalities which have come together behind the club, to offer the together sports clubs from the world of football and rugby a synthetic pitch which is currently being finished. We are still committing €1.2 million, so we cannot say that we are not putting in anything. “

The mayor of Louhans, however, marks a boundary between operation and subsidies: “On the other hand, free money that we put into the running of the club is much more difficult. There is fundamental work that managers must do on their club to find the right savings, without having to go get the easy money which is community subsidies.”

The presidency of the club in transparency

Pascal Gauthier, vice-president of the club, explains that all the information has been transmitted to the DNCG.

“All the documents have been submitted to the DNCG, the balance sheets, the forecast is correct. The figures are what they are, 127,000 euros are missing. It is a sum, but for a club like ours, it is there was a general mobilization with the savings we made, I think we could fill them We have a prize pool, we are at 1920 euros with 43 participants (as of December 10). Editor’s note). Let’s not count on that, we get criticized a lot except that the people who made it, they had the means to have done something. We will do our best to make up for it.”

So why is the club short of money? Pascal Gauthier’s explanations are simple: “since Covid, we have never been able to get back on top: drop in spectators, drop in sponsorship – enormously – fewer spectators, less ticket and refreshment revenue, it’s inevitable.”

In detail, the club added charges: “We went to play in Lons, but it cost us 50,000 euros, which we were never able to find. We had a second evening with Dominique Prudent, organizer of Nuits Bressanes, where the pitch was flooded and we didn’t Didn’t have a bar income, around 30,000 euros And then this year, we fell into the group from the Paris region. We go 6 times. in Paris, look at the costs: leaving, renting a minibus, eating… all this incurs costs.”

We don’t have anyone coming from outside, we no longer attract anyone.

Pascal Gauthier

president of Louhans-Cuiseaux FC

Pascal Gauthier talks about playing against Parisian clubs: “You play against Mâcon, there are 1,500 spectators, against Lyon, that’s 1,800 spectators, but how many are they going to come from Poissy, Neuilly? We don’t have anyone coming from outside, we don’t attract anyone anymore .”

The vice-president makes it clear that the club is nevertheless seeking solutions in all directions: “Last year, we made a saving of 100,000 euros on the payroll. This year we made a saving of 200,000 euros on the payroll. The transfer window is coming, maybe players will leave… We save money, I promise! We have meetings every month, we review all the positions, and we eliminate them. But the big problem is sponsorship. In the current economic context, we have a lot of small ones! sponsors and thank you to them… Having a club in N3, I want to stay there and play the leading roles, but at the moment, we are stuck, unless we find a big sponsor, fingers crossed!