desperately looking for money, otherwise it’s recovery

There is of course the slap received on the pitch against Aubagne on Friday evening (2-7), the traces of which are disastrous and the after-effects are unlikely to fade away. We don’t just recover from such humiliation…

But after all, things always move very quickly in football, it is only a question of a lost match which can always be made up for. Sportingly, the Berrichonne reached the truce in a deplorable state which resembled an impasse, this was also the case a year ago and she got through it. At Christmas 2023, Berri was 5 points behind the first non-relegation team, exactly like the gap which separates Châteauroux (red lantern with 9 points) from Paris 13 (15^e with 14 points). This in no way guarantees a second happy ending, it’s just proof that it’s still possible.

Finances in the red

What could, however, prove inexorable is the financial situation in which Berri finds itself at the end of the year. The NR has already echoed this but as a reminder, the club must repay a debt of more than €2 million (Urssaf, PGE, suppliers), without forgetting that the industrial tribunal also goes through this. In one of the four ongoing cases, former physiotherapist Christophe Raite (at the club in 2018-2019) was awarded €250,000 in compensation (for unpaid overtime at the time) and would request that this sum be paid to him be paid immediately. Three other cases are pending to our knowledge, a former intendant, Manu Imorou, and Bruno Allègre (who is asking €700,000).

Sums to which must be added the daily operations (salaries, expenses, etc.), which we understand are increasingly complicated to assume. Also as a reminder, the DNCG did not validate the figures presented by the club during its last hearing and pronounced a precautionary relegation accompanied by a ban on recruitment.

A few hours before the meeting against Aubagne, during a meeting closed to the press, the president, Benjamin Gufflet, presented his “Berri Project” to partners and elected officials: “The pre-match meeting went very wellconfides Marc Fleuret, president of the departmental council, who attended. Ils (Benjamin Gufflet and his team from Stratton) described the (financial) situation they found when they arrived, recalled the drastic reduction in payroll and budget that they made and outlined what they intended to put in place. They spoke about the DNCG, recalling that the problem is that it had not provisioned the sums requested from the industrial tribunal. Benjamin Gufflet said that he was well aware that he was not present enough and that he was going to do everything to find a person who would represent him there. (and who will probably not be Aliaume Gonthier). As was said to the members the previous Monday, they want to set up a local structure allowing people to return to capital from €3,000. They want to relocate the partnership. »

The match that followed obviously had to calm the enthusiasm. In any case, this meeting constitutes an illustration of the essential fundraising efforts undertaken by management. A search which is not hidden since the president has already mentioned in the NR the plans for player sales (Konaté, Diallo had been cited), the expected percentage on possible transfers of players trained at the club (Mateta, Wissa, etc.) , the purchase of the training center in Scalis to make it a source of income, the sale of land in Arthon… So many long-term files which will not know their outcome straight away.

An inexorable legal recovery?

Other sources invite us to think that the emergency is nevertheless absolute. If nothing changes very quickly, if a financial miracle does not fall from the sky, a judicial recovery of Berrichonne is a completely possible, if not probable, hypothesis in the coming weeks, or even the coming days.

Financially, this procedure would make it possible to relieve the pressure weighing on the club and to continue its activities. In return, as was the case for the Girondins de Bordeaux last summer, this recovery would mean an inevitable relegation (at a minimum) to National 2. Which would constitute a tsunami for Berri!

Contacted to give his opinion on this burning issue, Gil Avérous, mayor of Châteauroux and Minister of Sports who has resigned pending the appointment of a new government, replied: “I have no specific information but I would like to meet the leaders in the coming days…”