• Jaume Roures was auditioned by the deputy Cédric Roussel as part of the fact-finding mission on the fiasco of L1's TV rights.

  • The boss of the Mediapro group rejected the fault of the LFP and Canal +, without ever questioning himself.

The big bad wolf is back in the fold, and his mouth is wide open.

Invited to speak before the information mission on TV rights mandated by the National Assembly, Jaume Roures, as reassured by the financial recovery of the Mediapro group and its leading media role as support and guarantor of President Laporta in Barcelona, ​​did not precisely play it low profile.

In room 6242 of the Palais Bourbon, the Catalan leader regaled us with a few tasty passes of arms with the deputy Cédric Roussel, the courageous rapporteur of a file that the LFP would like to finally bury, and very deep.

"Do you still think I'm a thug?"

"

"I am here to give my explanations, not to be questioned in this way, the concept of democracy, we must have it broader", expressed Roures in the first interruption of Roussel, when the latter asked him basically to cut short his introductory remarks which bordered on the thesis defense.

This was a good start.

It calmed down a bit later, but on the merits either, Roures did not make many concessions to the debate.

Basically, in line with his past arguments, he put everything on the backs of the various actors: Canal, La LFP and the French State, according to him unsuccessful in passing the law on piracy which could have brought back lost subscribers. to Téléfoot.

Ah, and the French clubs, too, stingy like no other.

“All we asked of them after the covid and its consequences was a discount of 7 million per L1 club. It means that the players instead of buying a Ferrari, they bought a Maserati. In Spain, several players have lowered their salaries to save their clubs, right? We made several negotiation proposals that were refused, we were constantly criticized, in part because we were foreigners I think. It's not that we threw in the towel, it's that we couldn't negotiate. We succeeded with Spain, with UEFA, but only the French League did not want to discuss. "

Roures evokes here the pre-reconciliation period in the fall of 2020, when he still thought, according to his words, to be able to make the round back by reducing the bill a little.

Questioned at length about the famous history of the bank guarantee which would not have required the LFP, the former Trotskyist, quick to give "Comrade" to Roussel in a somewhat derogatory manner, turned into a somewhat pedantic university professor .

But he still conceded that his Chinese shareholder had provided him with this guarantee to pass it on to the Italian League, which had finally rejected Mediapro's offer in the same waters.

Mediapro just wanted to "negotiate" with the League

“What you are saying is not correct, the bank guarantee does not exist in football. I don't know how to say in French, "bullshit" is probably a bit strong. The tradition in this sector is to give a sum in advance, something we have done here, paying a month before the date. I myself brought the guarantees of the parent company to the Italian league, with a letter of confidence from the KPMG cabinet, but the boss of the League refused, ”detailed Roures, while adding with relish that the said boss was a former employee of Mediapro's competitor Sky and was forcibly resigned not long after.

So much for what we did not know, because for the rest, the guy repeated that he did not see where he had fished.

The price, 25 euros per month for the L1 and the C1?

“Not a problem, the business plan was consistent, the share of pay TV in France was historically important… We are not madmen who make insane economic offers.

"

The difficulty of concluding alliances with operators, including rival Canal +, just to share the bill, then?

“We may have been wrong at one point, but look at Canal's attitude after the Mediapro problem disappeared.

It wasn't blackmail, but it was close.

And at the time of the agreement with Amazon, they had a spoiled child reaction, while we are talking about the Canal empire.

"

Pablo Longoria, president of @ OM_Officiel, is "in favor" of the establishment of "economic control" but not in the form of the "Salary Cap".

>> https://t.co/CtdDE54At4 #Football #DirectAN pic.twitter.com/sRTYriJBCE

- LCP (@LCP) September 15, 2021

Channel not spared

A little desperate, Roussel tried to the end to extract a little confession, or something, but Roures did not let go.

“I'm not going to say that we did everything right, but the result is not our responsibility.

I had no obligation to be here that morning, I could have stayed in Barcelona.

We do it because we are responsible people ”.

He even put a small one in Roussel before the final ceasefire: "Does that mean you don't consider me a thug, as you have said a few times?"

".

The former employees of Mediapro France, who are still awaiting the settlement of the PSE, do have an opinion on the issue.

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