“We are so deep in the hole that we can only hope that there will be a saving blow,” sums up Mayor Pierre Hurmic.

The mayor of the Gironde city expressed to franceinfo: sport his hope for the future of the Girondins de Bordeaux, on the brink of the abyss both financially and sportingly, and called for the departure of the current owner Gérard Lopez.

The mayor of Bordeaux, Les Ecologistes, Pierre Hurmic, does not want to call it a day for the Girondins. The elected official returned to franceinfo: sport to discuss the setbacks of the football club with the scapular, administratively relegated to the fourth division this summer, and on the verge of financial asphyxiation. Pierre Hurmic notably mentions the still active hypothesis of local buyers, who could also acquire the Matmut Atlantique, a stadium for which the FCGB can no longer pay the rent.

Franceinfo: sport: In the last few hours, Amiens sporting director John Williams announced that he would come and help build the team on a voluntary basis, and some players have offered their services to the club… Does that give you hope for the club?

Pierre Hurmic: The Girondins have fallen so low that it has sparked a wave of solidarity from people who do not want to see this legendary and historic club that is the Girondins disappear. I am not surprised that there is so much enthusiasm, volunteering, and commitment from people attached to the club. We are so deep in the hole that we can only hope that there will be a saving blow to help us rise again. I strongly believe in it.

You indicated in a press release a few days ago “to be alongside the club and those who will rebuild it” And “wanting to work to see new management teams and a new Girondin state of mind emerge.” What exactly will this consist of?

The town hall is not on the front line, the club is a private company. The town hall’s duty is to preserve this municipal heritage. First by granting facilities to the club, particularly in terms of rent payments and rental of the Haillan training centre. When we learned of the club’s difficulties, the city and the metropolis were keen to support the Girondins materially. I also wanted to bring together local investors in Bordeaux who had shown interest in saving the club. I do not despair that there will be local solutions that can see the light of day. Many of us think that a football club is not just an object of financial speculation, it is not a casino economy. Better involvement of the local fabric and investors would ensure a more secure sustainability and a less fragile model than that of recent years.

Are you still in contact with these local investors since the announcement of the club’s demotion?

With some of them yes, who are still interested. Some have even recently expressed their wish to also want to buy the stadium, and I think it would be an excellent solution if the future owner of the Girondins was also the future owner of the stadium even if it is not very common in France. As much as when the clubs were friendly associations 1901, it was normal for the municipalities to make municipal premises available, in this case municipal stadiums; as much given the evolution of the world of football, I find it normal that the clubs which are commercial companies with enormous budgets also own their stadium.

Can FCGB continue with its current owners and management at the helm?

We need a new governance, that seems obvious. We need to reinvent a model and find new people to breathe new life into the Girondins.

I am not convinced that the current leaders want to be involved in the long term in the reconquest of the Girondins, their reconstruction. And who risk falling even lower because the commercial court could very well pronounce the judicial liquidation in a few weeks.

Pierre Hurmic, Mayor of Bordeaux

to franceinfo: sport

Does the town hall have any means of directly intervening with the club?

The aid that a municipality can provide to professional clubs is very controlled, and that is quite normal. The bias that we have is through training. That is what we do since we help Haillan doubly: financially and by making available a municipal real estate asset that is rented at a price that is approximately a tenth of what it should be, according to the assessment that we made. I was quite furious to learn through the press that the training center had been abandoned, while the city is directly concerned by the future of this center.

If the club could not play at the Matmut Atlantique stadium, would the municipality have alternatives to propose?

We have stadiums that could be suitable, such as the Stade Sainte-Germaine, which belongs to the city and can accommodate between 3,000 and 5,000 spectators, with some adjustments. It can be made available to the club. A stadium like the Matmut Atlantique is the equivalent of the Juventus stadium in Turin. Seeing a fourth or even fifth division team play in a 42,000-seat stadium, I am not convinced that it is sustainable when there are other solutions.

Will this situation have repercussions on the Bordeaux taxpayer?

Naturally… On the metropolitan taxpayer first of all, since if the rent is no longer paid, it is the responsibility of the metropolis, therefore ultimately the responsibility of the taxpayer. For the town hall, if we do not have a tenant in the center of Haillan who pays a rent in line with what it should be, it is a loss of income also the responsibility of the taxpayer. It is time for the world of football to become autonomous, that is why I am in favor of the owner of a club also being the owner of their stadium. Public money has no place in this speculative model. Let’s take advantage of the fall to bounce back, create a model that is more anchored regionally, more in line with supporters as well as socios and local economic actors.