The Football Club of Sète is doing its big spring cleaning

The Football Club of Sète is the story of a soap opera that never ends. Engaged in a latent war more than a year ago with the municipal authorities, the “Green and White” club was deprived of the grant from the agglo (450,000 euros) for the 2021-2022 season and has had to do with the departure of several sponsors.

It was therefore with a low budget of N2 that he began a season which was going to prove to be trying, on and off the field…

Changes initiated during the winter

On the ground, Nicolas Guibal and his team, sometimes made up of odds and ends, resisted as best they could, always at the limit, just above the waterline. Outside, the arrival in February of Yoni Ragioneri (owner of a brewery in Sète), as adviser to President Gambetti, seemed to be able to ease tensions with the city.

This first resulted in a conventional break, at the beginning of March, between the club and its general manager Sandryk Biton. The municipal authorities had clearly just advanced their pawns, or at least removed one of those that bothered them the most… The post was then filled with Patrick Soria. But will it still be next season? To be continued.

A few weeks later, as the end of the season approached and the specter of relegation loomed, the leaders pulled Rolland Courbis out of their hats. For a friendly and disinterested helping hand according to the former Ligue 1 coach, whose role would have been purely advisory.

Bellec replaces Guibal

Finally, the season ended with a hard-fought maintenance by Nicolas Guibal and his troops, on the lawn of Bastia Borgo. A feat, given the obstacles that had to be overcome during this very special season.

Everything was going well then in the best of worlds? It would seem not. Last week, Nicolas Guibal was told, to his great regret, that his career with FC Sète ended there after four seasons. The match had already been played for a few weeks, with the arrival of Nicolas Le Bellec as coach. The former Ligue 2 player and coach of Limoges, Cholet, Bergerac and Lyon Duchère, will be assisted by Enzo Donis, who for his part officiated in Belgium, in Spanish D3 and at Bastia Borgo.

And on the effective side, after an almost total renewal a year ago, Sète supporters will once again have to familiarize themselves with new faces.

Wave of departures in N1

Without any communication from the club, it was through these same supporters that a major wave of departures was actually announced. Yamcouba Seydi (Les Herbiers), Nadjib Baouia, Steve Solvet (Orléans), Alexis Mané, Nassim Ahmed (return from loan to Marseille), Walid Jarmouni (return from loan to Sochaux), Alexandre Phliponeau (end of loan with Marseille), Enzo Célestine or even Amine Sbaï (Grenoble)… So many holders who will no longer wear the Sétoise colors when they resume.

But if new coaches arrived for the senior workforce and the N1 team had to be rebuilt almost entirely, the spring cleaning did not stop there.

President Gambetti resigns

On Friday, President Jean-François Gambetti actually tendered his resignation. Corridor rumors suggested a departure (more or less consenting) on ​​June 30, but the one who led FC Sète for three seasons obviously preferred to take the lead, thus dissociating himself from the policy carried out a few days before the club’s passage. before the DNCG.

Today, it is Yoni Ragioneri who is acting, supported by Kader Bouallaga, Fathi Driouche and Michel Raynaud. Rolland Courbis would obviously not be far away, keeping an eye on recruitment.

And according to our information, a deficit of 400,000 euros, to which it may be necessary to add a few “bonuses” such as unpaid rent, would plague the club.

Contacted, Yoni Ragioneri clarified that he preferred to speak after the passage of FC Sète before the financial gendarme, this Wednesday, June 8. Letters of commitment would have been signed by the city and the agglomeration, thus allowing confidence to reign…