The Girondins de Bordeaux will play (at best) in Ligue 2 next season.
Their last relegation was in 1991.
This demotion is the result of a decade of descent into hell between financial problems and sporting downgrading.
This season, the Bordelais have never left their heads above water, even after the replacement on the bench of Vladimir Petkovic by David Guion.
The club was on the verge of implosion several times during the year.
It's now official: the Girondins de Bordeaux will play (at best) in Ligue 2 next season, despite their victory in Brest (4-2) on Saturday.
The club's last demotion dated back to 1991. It had been administrative due to very serious financial difficulties which are somewhat reminiscent of the current situation of the Navy and White.
To find the last sporting descent, you have to go back to 1960. For the record, the Girondins are therefore destined to go down to the second division every 31 years.
That of 2022 is only the result of a decade of descent into hell.
Between financial problems, failures of redemptions and sporting downgrading over the past few years.
And like others before them, by dint of playing with fire, the Girondins ended up getting burned.
Today, the only objective is that there will not be ashes in a few weeks and that the club can return to Ligue 2 and start to rebuild.
From a sporting point of view, this team has never managed to get its head out of the water, whether with Vladimir Petkovic or David Guion at its head.
Clermont, the day the Girondins were not ready
First game of the season and first defeat.
Nothing dramatic at the time even if logically losing at home against a promoted, it always has a bad effect.
But with hindsight, we can now say that this setback illustrates that everything went wrong from the start.
And for once, the new management is not there for much.
The club approached this meeting after a very eventful summer, only three weeks after its takeover, and with a coach arriving a week before the start of the season at the head of a workforce without any recruits.
The Girondins were simply not ready.
Result of the races, three defeats and two draws in the first six days and a team already good last in Ligue 1.
Marseille, the day the club began to implode
This Friday evening in January, the club will implode for the first time this season.
Even before the meeting, the context is extremely complicated.
Despite an epidemic of Covid-19 cases in their workforce, the Girondins did not obtain the postponement of the meeting.
They must also play "the match of the year" for them behind closed doors.
The punishment was terrible: after an error by their goalkeeper, Benoit Costil, the Marine et Blancs lost their 41-year invincibility at home to OM.
A real tragedy for the supporters.
Behind the scenes, another “drama” is being played out.
After this historic defeat, the club announces that it wants to part with its captain and defender, Laurent Koscielny.
The management argues that it is officially for economic reasons but in reality, it also criticizes the former international for his sports performance and his lifestyle.
The player takes the floor himself to say that he does not understand what is happening to him.
Vladimir Petkovic, the coach at the time, is absolutely not consulted and of course the locker room takes this decision very badly.
This is the first clear break between the leaders and some of the players.
Some of them are also excluded (Baysse and Zerkane).
Reims (0-5), the day the players dropped Petkovic
Despite a disastrous season so far, Vladimir Petkovic is still at the helm before this trip to Champagne.
The former coach of the Nati has even just saved his job, a week earlier against Strasbourg (4-3).
But in Reims, his players will completely let go of him for the first time.
The Girondins receive a new spanking against the Rémois (0-5), three weeks after that received in Rennes (0-6).
It will be one defeat too many for the Bordeaux leaders, they sack their coach the following week.
A dismissal that could cost the club dearly in the medium term.
To replace him, David Guion arrives in Gironde.
The club is launching the maintenance operation and hopes to quickly raise the bar thanks to a new transfer window that is rather interesting on paper (Guilavogui, Marcelo, Ignatenko and Ahmedhozic).
Montpellier, the day the club hit rock bottom
This Sunday, March 20, David Guion has still not won a match (two draws and two defeats) a month after his arrival.
There was no psychological effect and the Girondins are dragging their sentence in last place in Ligue 1. But that afternoon, the club will completely go down the drain.
At half-time, an altercation broke out at the edge of the field between Benoit Costil and one of the leaders of the Ultramarines, the largest group of Bordeaux supporters.
On the ground, the Girondins are unable to come back to the score against the Héraultais reduced to nine for fifty minutes.
Bordeaux-Montpellier: We tell you about the nightmarish afternoon of the Girondins https://t.co/e2wsJPyiDL via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/m5MCaBTPoe
— 20minutesbordeaux (@20minutesbord) March 21, 2022
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In the stands, the situation is very tense.
The Ultramarines end up accusing their own goalkeeper of racism before going to wait for the players at the exit of the stadium.
A muscular explanation then takes place.
Benoit Costil will first announce that he wants to leave the club because of these allegations before finally reconsidering his decision.
Faced with the absence of a strong reaction from management, the club's CSE and the players will go so far as to issue their own press release to support the Bordeaux goalkeeper and deny the accusations.
It's chaos.
Saint-Etienne and Nantes, the day the Girondins "self-destructed"
The scenario of these two matches played four days apart symbolizes the Girondins de Bordeaux season.
Mbaye Niang's teammates miss two huge opportunities to get back in the race for maintenance by leading in these two games 2-0 before being joined against ASSE (2-2) and outright being beaten by the Canaries ( 5-3). Which will make Gérard Lopez, the owner and president of the club, say in particular that the Marine et Blanc have "self-destructed" this season with in particular the worst defense of the five major European championships (89 goals conceded in 36 matches i.e. 2.5 pawns taken per match).
🔴⚽️[Thread] L2 or not, @girondins supporters have common wishes
👉Start from scratch (but where/with whom)
👉Restructure the club
👉Rebuild around the training center
👉Restore order on all floors #Bordeaux #Girondins #FCGB 1/6 https://t.co/N9VS08mpBf
— Clement Carpentier (@clementcarpet) May 8, 2022
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A statistic to sum it up: the Navy and White have lost 28 points after leading in the score this season (17 times, for only five successes in the end).
This is the highest total of L1.
The observation is clear, this Bordeaux team simply does not have the technical and mental level to play in Ligue 1.
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