It was too quiet! It was necessary to come and shake up this beginning of ambient serenity around the Girondins de Bordeaux after their first victory of the season in Rodez (3-0). So, this Tuesday, the UNFP decided to publish a vitriolic press release against the club and Gérard Lopez, its owner and president. A text in which the National Union of Professional Footballers attacks the FFF pell-mell for having kept the Navy and White in Ligue 2, the club for having created a “loft” and the Hispano-Luxembourgish man for his management and communication methods.
Above all, the union criticizes the Girondins de Bordeaux and more particularly Gérard Lopez “for delivering to popular condemnation [les joueurs misent à l’écart dans ce “loft”] on the back of a pay cut. Why ? Because the UNFP considers that the Bordeaux management has been suggesting for several days that if the club cannot recruit, it is because of these “undesirable” players who would refuse to lower their income by 20% in order to free up mass salary after the descent of the Navy and White in Ligue 2. This would add fuel to the fire vis-à-vis players already vilified for months because of the sporting demotion of the Navy and White. Beyond the fact that it is a bit of a coffee for the UNFP to go and ask dismissed players to lower their salary in addition to help the club.
A first letter from the UNFP to the LFP on July 18
In reality, this pay cut story is just the last straw. Indeed, according to our information, the UNFP wrote a letter to the Professional Football League on July 18 to alert it to the establishment of a “loft” in Haillan. In it, the union denounces several things: the date of recovery differentiated between the professional group and its eight dismissed players (Oudin, Baysse, Medioub, Kwateng, Rouyard, Mexer, Zerkane and Niang), working conditions (hours, grounds, etc) in which the latter evolve by training with the reserve or the medical follow-up of the members of the so-called secondary group.
Finally, as often in this kind of situation, the UNFP asks for the reinstatement of its players to the professional group as soon as possible. On reading this letter, the LFP then sent a “request for observation” to the Girondins de Bordeaux on July 25 so that the club respond to its accusations within eight days.
No complaints received from these players
Still according to our information, this is what the Bordeaux management did via a missile on August 2. Well before this story of a pay cut. In this three-page document, the Girondins de Bordeaux affirm several things. First of all, no player has sent any complaint or simply alerted the club to a possible problem with his working conditions. The Marines and Whites also specify that Delphine Chatelin, federal player, member of the CSE and representative of the players, has not been seized in recent weeks. More surprisingly, the club claims that these players were not even aware of said UNFP letter after having exchanged with some of them.
– Jeanne Maisiat
In this letter, the Girondins de Bordeaux also respond point by point to the union’s allegations. They explain that the recovery in two stages was a question of organization, that training at 3 p.m. during a heat wave is a choice of the staff of the secondary group to adapt to the weather. It would have been less hot at that time in the middle of the afternoon than in the early evening. For the record, the club will go so far as to send the temperature readings in the appendix. On the ground, the management rejects their “catastrophic state” as the UNFP asserts. On the medical follow-up, she explains that these eight players have a doctor and a physiotherapist available and that the main examinations were carried out during the recovery.
The club recalls in passing that in accordance with the provisions of article 507 of the Professional Football Charter, it is free to manage its workforce as it sees fit between July 1 and September 1. Finally, he adds today that the salary reduction is written in the LFP Charter, and that the creation of this “loft” and the choice of its members are sporting decisions.
Baysse defends himself
This is what you might call the deal within the deal. After the publication of this press release on Tuesday, the defender of the Girondins Paul Baysse, member of the “loft”, wished to react via social networks. The one who is elected to the steering committee of the UNFP made it clear that he is in no way behind this press release and that he was tired of being insulted and defamed for things for which he is not responsible. He recalls that he joined the union for a very specific reason and asks “not to add more” whereas “His situation is already not easy to live with.”