Two years after the failure of talks with the Peak6 investment fund, Bernard Caïazzo has no regrets. On the contrary, the co-chairman of AS Saint-Etienne is relieved not to have ceded his club to the Americans.
Americans at the helm of Ligue 1 residents, it’s been a bit of the new fashion for a few years. Because after Frank McCourt, who had offered the Olympique de Marseille in 2016, GACP and King Street convinced the M6 channel to sell them the Girondins de Bordeaux. And the trend could have been accentuated if the negotiations between Peak6 and AS Saint-Etienne had been successful in 2018. But how to explain this phenomenon?
Asked by the newspaper L’Equipe, the chairman of the supervisory board of the Greens Bernard Caïazzo spoke of the transfer market. ” When you see that a player trained for almost zero euros is sold for 30 million in two years … The transfer window is an interesting vector for Americans because they have a rapid return on investment “, Explained the Stéphanois leader to the sports daily. The problem is that these investors come primarily to make money, even if they know very little about the world of European football.
“It can’t happen to us”
The proof in Bordeaux, where the owners at war with the ultras no longer wish to spend a single cent to strengthen a team in difficulty. This is enough to reinforce Caïazzo in his decision to end discussions with Peak6. ” We have a heritage club, what happens in Bordeaux cannot happen to us, he assured. Or we set fire to the city! If you don’t know a minimum of the local context, you break everything. Indeed, such a mistake would be all the more serious with such a passionate audience.