[un pain: colloquial for a punch in the face]
No thread on French football 2017-18 by the looks of it, so I’m creating this one (the last one seems to be French football 2015-2016, as it has one post on the current season I’m hyperlinking it here).
Below is the post I wrote at 1am about the serious incidents that marred the Lille-Montpellier incidents last night, with an addendum on the sanctions the French football authorities could take against Lille (emergency meeting on Thursday apparently).
All hell broke loose too tonight at Stade Pierre Mauroy at the end of the Lille-Montpellier game (1-1), very ugly scenes at the final whistle, a few hundred Dogues supporters invaded the pitch and chanted "Si on descend, on vous descend" (if we go down, we’ll kill you – currently second from bottom) with some of these fucking cretins even appearing to hit or aim kicks at several of their own players (+ also possibly members of staff) as they were running to the tunnel protected by security and police. The incidents lasted over 20 minutes apparently according to reports from supporters in the stadium. The CRS (anti-riot police) were nearby (due to protests before the game, and they're often at games or in the vicinity anyway) and called to intervene, I hope they gave those yobs some of their usual dose of TLC in spades.
A great shame really as only recently it was a successful and well-run club under Michel Seydoux, the Lille owner-chairman from 2012 to January 2017 (and incidentally Léa Seydoux’s great uncle) but since businessman Gerard Lopez took over, it’s been a shambles (Lille is severely in the red, debts north of €50m apparently, hit with transfer ban just before Christmas).
At the beginning of the season, the LOSC was aiming for a Champions League’s spot and spent accordingly (about €70m on 17 new players – mind, 22 left in the close season…). The big problem is that they also recruited uber-maverick Marcelo Bielsa, not your average cheapo Ligue 1 manager: he is on ~500K net a month (that includes his staff of 4).
El Loco was duly sacked in November-December (bizarre protracted dismissal, lasted 3 weeks) for poor results and other "issues". He'd certainly wasted no time in pissing off people when he arrived last summer, straight away he banned a number of senior players to the ressies, had run-ins with journalists etc. Bielsa is now asking Lille for €18m as compensation but should get in the region of €12m. He was replaced by Christophe Galtier at the end of December 2017 (who did very well at Saint-Étienne for nearly 10 seasons).
The ultras among the DVE supporters’ group (a number of these ultras are said to be close to the far right) are suspected of having coordinated the invasion (it wasn’t spontaneous, trouble has been brewing for weeks now, they’d tried before to invade the pitch this season, 3 months ago). Or maybe they were just super excited by Steve Bannon’s presence nearby.
The whole thing will be looked at by the LFP later this week. According to RMC radio station, as a matter of priority as these incidents are considered serious (threats and physical violence on players, if confirmed by the investigations), the LFP could dock Lille points (directly, not as a suspended sentence as is usually the case), close down a whole stand (where the DVE supporters gather) or/and slap a "huit clos" order on Lille (matches played behind closed doors) for 2-3 games or until the end of the season (another 4 home League games) or force them to relocate, all this on top of a substantial fine. This said, these incidents being Lille's worst in a long time if not the worst ever, the French League officials could take into account Lille's good disciplinary record and not come down on them like a ton of bricks.
No thread on French football 2017-18 by the looks of it, so I’m creating this one (the last one seems to be French football 2015-2016, as it has one post on the current season I’m hyperlinking it here).
Below is the post I wrote at 1am about the serious incidents that marred the Lille-Montpellier incidents last night, with an addendum on the sanctions the French football authorities could take against Lille (emergency meeting on Thursday apparently).
All hell broke loose too tonight at Stade Pierre Mauroy at the end of the Lille-Montpellier game (1-1), very ugly scenes at the final whistle, a few hundred Dogues supporters invaded the pitch and chanted "Si on descend, on vous descend" (if we go down, we’ll kill you – currently second from bottom) with some of these fucking cretins even appearing to hit or aim kicks at several of their own players (+ also possibly members of staff) as they were running to the tunnel protected by security and police. The incidents lasted over 20 minutes apparently according to reports from supporters in the stadium. The CRS (anti-riot police) were nearby (due to protests before the game, and they're often at games or in the vicinity anyway) and called to intervene, I hope they gave those yobs some of their usual dose of TLC in spades.
A great shame really as only recently it was a successful and well-run club under Michel Seydoux, the Lille owner-chairman from 2012 to January 2017 (and incidentally Léa Seydoux’s great uncle) but since businessman Gerard Lopez took over, it’s been a shambles (Lille is severely in the red, debts north of €50m apparently, hit with transfer ban just before Christmas).
At the beginning of the season, the LOSC was aiming for a Champions League’s spot and spent accordingly (about €70m on 17 new players – mind, 22 left in the close season…). The big problem is that they also recruited uber-maverick Marcelo Bielsa, not your average cheapo Ligue 1 manager: he is on ~500K net a month (that includes his staff of 4).
El Loco was duly sacked in November-December (bizarre protracted dismissal, lasted 3 weeks) for poor results and other "issues". He'd certainly wasted no time in pissing off people when he arrived last summer, straight away he banned a number of senior players to the ressies, had run-ins with journalists etc. Bielsa is now asking Lille for €18m as compensation but should get in the region of €12m. He was replaced by Christophe Galtier at the end of December 2017 (who did very well at Saint-Étienne for nearly 10 seasons).
The ultras among the DVE supporters’ group (a number of these ultras are said to be close to the far right) are suspected of having coordinated the invasion (it wasn’t spontaneous, trouble has been brewing for weeks now, they’d tried before to invade the pitch this season, 3 months ago). Or maybe they were just super excited by Steve Bannon’s presence nearby.
The whole thing will be looked at by the LFP later this week. According to RMC radio station, as a matter of priority as these incidents are considered serious (threats and physical violence on players, if confirmed by the investigations), the LFP could dock Lille points (directly, not as a suspended sentence as is usually the case), close down a whole stand (where the DVE supporters gather) or/and slap a "huit clos" order on Lille (matches played behind closed doors) for 2-3 games or until the end of the season (another 4 home League games) or force them to relocate, all this on top of a substantial fine. This said, these incidents being Lille's worst in a long time if not the worst ever, the French League officials could take into account Lille's good disciplinary record and not come down on them like a ton of bricks.
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