The mayor of Sochaux (Doubs), Albert Matocq-Grabot, sent an open letter to Carlos Tavares, calling on the managing director of the car manufacturer Stellantis, heir to Peugeot, the creator of FC Sochaux, to save the club from football on the verge of bankruptcy. “I appeal to you, Mr. Tavares, who cannot remain indifferent to the sinking of a century-old professional football club whose birth and evolution are closely linked to those of Peugeot, today Stellantis”, writes the elected in his missive dated Monday and consulted Tuesday by AFP.
“Given your function and your responsibilities, you cannot allow such a shipwreck to happen and remain indifferent,” continues Mr. Matocq-Grabot. “In view of the billions of profits of Stellantis, symbols of a prosperity which we all rejoice in, the rescue of the FCSM would hardly weigh on your company but would represent so much for a territory still hoping for strong support to convince Nenking”, the Chinese consortium owner since 2020 of the club but in great financial difficulty, “to disengage and thus, to initiate a beneficial reversal of the situation”, indicates the mayor in his missive.
“I sent this letter a bit like a last appeal to the only one who could, if he wanted to, find a solution to get the club out of the rut,” he told AFP. that Stellantis, already asked to bail out the club, had refused.
Founded in 1928 in the birthplace of car manufacturer Peugeot, the Sochaux club was a model of stability for nearly 90 years when it was owned by the family of the same name, who sold it in 2014.
Abandoned by its Chinese shareholder, the club, on the verge of bankruptcy, was rejected last week by the Paris administrative court to play in L2 this season: justice rejected the plan carried by Romain Peugeot, great-grand- son of the club’s founder, to stay in the second division. The club is now struggling to complete a financial plan, which it must imperatively submit on Thursday at the latest, in order to evolve in National 1 and avoid the disaster scenario of relegation to National 3.
According to the regional daily L’Est Républicain, the former president of the club from 1999 to 2008, Jean-Claude Plessis is currently working on a budget to evolve into N1. “The interest of the club and its future take precedence. I will support honest and sincere approaches,” said Romain Peugeot in a statement sent to AFP.