« a season that will mark for life » the supporters of Bergerac Périgord FC

Naively, with the coach [NDLR : Erwan Lannuzel], we announced that we wanted to experience emotions this year. The least we can do is that we have been served! Some have been very positive, like in the Coupe de France. I even believe that it will mark the Bergerac residents, the members of the club and all those who gravitate around amateur football for life. But we also went through negative emotions, with this last day of the championship…

Naively, with the coach [NDLR : Erwan Lannuzel], we announced that we wanted to experience emotions this year. The least we can do is that we have been served! Some have been very positive, like in the Coupe de France. I even believe that it will mark the Bergerac residents, the members of the club and all those who gravitate around amateur football for life. But we also went through negative emotions, with this last day of the championship.

It was one of your objectives: did the Coupe de France allow you to retain the public for the championship?

Not necessarily at first. There was always the sanitary pass, the bad weather… But in the last four games, the stadium was full and the mayonnaise took. People have taken a liking to football and to this team which conveys a beautiful image. Now we have to capitalize on this.

People have taken a liking to football and to this team which conveys a beautiful image. Now we have to capitalize on this

Are the benefits financial or image?

Image and notoriety, in a somewhat landlocked territory acquired in rugby. At the financial level, the fact of filling the stadium necessarily makes the bar work better, even if it is not its receipts that make the club live. Above all, it allows us to be more visible to companies that are our first target in terms of cash inflows. When we approach them, we are well identified thanks to our careers in the Coupe de France and in the championship.

Can you already measure this impact with your partners?

Compared to our forecast, we are closing our accounts with a supplement of nearly 70,000 euros in sponsorship-patronage turnover. We made a record attendance against Angoulême, with more than 1,000 people at the stadium. It hadn’t happened for three years.

Do these cash inflows help you carry out projects on the Pont Roux facilities?

We were very much in opposition with the town hall on these installations. But thanks to the profits from the Coupe de France, we have changed our strategy a bit, explaining that we were ready to invest in land that does not belong to us, provided that the City also participates.

In concrete terms, the club undertakes to invest in a weight room and an equipped treatment room, with an administrative headquarters and a meeting room upstairs. Accordingly, we would leave our current offices to the sports section. The City has undertaken to redo the lighting on the college grounds, redo the synthetic turf and fit out four new locker rooms.

Is change planned at the Campréal stadium?

The City has no plans to do much about it. It would have moved, if we had gone up to National 1. It is therefore the club which will invest in an “economic” building, through which we want to generate other commercial income. There will be a coworking space for six people, four offices, and an upstairs box with a panoramic terrace that companies can rent out during matches.

Notoriously stormy, would your relations with the town hall of Bergerac have improved?

Honestly, it’s better. The fact that we arrive saying that we are putting money in makes them look at us differently. I don’t think many clubs have this approach. To move the situation forward, we had to take our responsibilities and I believe that the city is doing well. It’s pretty smart and well built.