Girondins de Bordeaux supporters have a heavy heart this Monday after the descent into Ligue 2, formalized this weekend in Brest. For the former players questioned, the club is not in its place in the second division. The Navy and White had not experienced a descent since 1992 when the club was relegated administratively. This Monday morning, the former commentators of the Girondins de Bordeaux on France Bleu Gironde took turns at the microphone to evoke their memories but also a certain nostalgia for a bygone era for this monument of French football.
To this are added “the bitterness and the feeling that it was written in advance and that we had been on a form of therapeutic relentlessness for a few seasons“, for Tony Selliez. Now editor-in-chief of France Bleu Gard Lozère in Nîmes, he commented on the Girondins de Bordeaux from 2002 to 2008 and saw the club lift two League Cups. He also commented on OM matches for 10 years and according to him, the first crack appeared during the change of stage : “The magic of the Girondins stopped when the club left Parc Lescure. I returned to the new stadium following Olympique de Marseille and it was no longer the same club or the same atmosphere.“
The apotheosis was in 1999 with the title and the return to the stadium with the party at three in the morning, people everywhere – Béatrice Dugué
Beatrice Duguecommentator from 1995 to 1999, agrees with this analysis and points to a stage “too big and without atmosphere even if the Ultras remain present“. She admits having had the chance to comment on the prosperous period of the club: “I only had good things with the Girondins de Bordeaux!“Between the UEFA Cup final – and inevitably the incredible double confrontation against AC Milan in the semi-finals – and the title of French champion in 1999, the one who is now a reporter for France Inter remembers a memorable evening at the Chaban-Delmas Stadium.”The apotheosis is in 1999 with the title and the return to the stadium with the party at three in the morning, people everywhere.“
General indifference in Gironde and France
But for the past few seasons, the Girondins de Bordeaux have gradually been sinking in the standings but also in the esteem of football lovers. Yvan Planteycommentator in the last two seasons (2021 and 2022), notices a certain indifference at the local level but also in France : “All the conditions for a deep disenchantment with the Girondins have been made possible. We have this stadium without history and which does not evoke anything, a rugby club – the Union Bordeaux-Bègles – which works and is based on Gironde values. At national level, we have become the doormat of Ligue 1 in the eyes of everyone, but I have seen people take pleasure in seeing the Girondins sink.“
I remember a fight with Triaud at a press conference where it was very tense […] We saw each other again five minutes later and he burst out laughing – Tony Selliez
Where UBB has created a family spirit, Richard Placecommentator between 1999 and 2002, assures that he was “no longer there [mon époque] at the Girondins de Bordeaux. There is no place for this family spirit in Ligue 1“. His successor Tony Selliez believes that Jean-Louis Triaud (president from 1996 to 2017) embodied this: “He had that spirit, knew how to balance and take a step back when necessary. I remember a fight with Triaud at a press conference where it was very tense. He had been picked up by several journalists after a series of bad results. We saw each other again five minutes later and he burst out laughing, saying it was cinema.“
Tony Selliez relativizes and recalls thatit is not enough to place a Bordeaux president to solve all the ills of the club. In any case, the supporters are urging Gerard Lopez, the owner and president of the Girondins de Bordeaux, to delegate some of his powers to someone who is more often at Haillan than him. The businessman could well look into this option but he must first pass the stage of financial validation by the DNCG in a month.