The Lille football club was ordered, Friday, September 29, by the Douai Court of Appeal to pay 2 million euros to its former coach Marcelo Bielsa, dismissed in 2017, due to a “parachute clause” which protected him in the event of dismissal, according to the judgment consulted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
At the same time, the court “confirms” the serious misconduct justifying the dismissal of the Argentinian, already retained at first instance by the industrial tribunal of Lille in July 2021. “It is a judgment in which everyone can find himself,” Bertrand Wambeke, lawyer for LOSC, reacted to AFP.
Recruited in the wake of the takeover of the northern club by the Spanish-Luxembourg businessman Gérard Lopez at the start of 2017, Marcelo Bielsa, formerly on the bench of Olympique de Marseille, was to allow LOSC to “change dimension”. But he fizzled out, and was laid off after thirteen matches while Lille was penultimate in Ligue 1.
The court of appeal considered that the pre-contract signed between the club and the coach on February 14, 2017 and the one sent for approval to the Professional Football League (LFP) on July 1 “could have applied cumulatively”, the second document being considered “an addendum” to the first. However, the contract of February 14, unlike that of July 1, included a so-called “parachute” clause, stipulating that “if the club (…) had for any reason arrested the technician in the exercise of his duties”, he should “compensate him by payment of all quantities specified” in the contract.
A “disappointing” sum for the Argentinian’s lawyer
The court of appeal significantly reduced the amount induced by this clause, to 2 million euros, a “disappointing” sum for the Argentinian’s lawyer, Benjamin Cabagno, while his client claimed 13 million euros. euros under this clause alone, out of a total of 19 million. “The damage actually suffered by Mr. Bielsa ran over six months at most,” underlines the court of appeal. The Argentine coach had in fact returned to service in June 2018 at Leeds, an English D2 club which he had led to the Premier League after two seasons and where he received “emoluments much higher than those of the disputed contract”, writes the court.
For the court, Marcelo Bielsa committed a serious offense by his behavior towards Luis Campos, advisor to Gérard Lopez, and Joao Sacramento, assistant coach and video analyst of the club. According to the ruling, Bielsa “persisted in refusing to comply with management’s request” to collaborate with Luis Campos, despite an e-mail in which the coach told Gérard Lopez that he “[will] accept the presence [ de Campos] by [behaving] in a civilized manner.” This “obviously does not bode well for an effective and positive collaboration,” wrote the court of appeal. Concerning Joao Sacramento, “it is not debatable that Mr. Bielsa, as soon as he took office, took away Mr. Sacramento’s role as assistant coach and that he did so in a less than gracious manner.” is it written in the judgment.
