© Iconsport
This interview was carried out in the Talk on webgirondins. The full podcast is available at the bottom of the page.
Webgirondins: How long has you been working for the Girondins de Bordeaux?
Jonathan Dalton: I worked in the recruitment unit of the training center with Yannick Stopyra and Patrick Battiston. I have collaborated with the Girondins since 2013, 11 seasons until my departure last September.
What was your role?
My mission was to be on New Aquitaine football fields, to observe clubs in the region in order to recruit them for pre-training and even from U10 to U15. So I watched, I made reports, I identified the players, and I was loyal. Local clubs had to be retained in Gironde in particular. It was one of my biggest missions with my colleagues.
Were you club employee?
No. I am a self -employeder, club provider, and I did this for more than 10 years. I had this mission in addition to my work. I exercised this role until June 2024.
Are you one of the club's creditors, what is the amount whose club is indebted?
The administrator said € 2662.83. These are their figures and I had to agree with them. However, I had a contract since M6, and I tried to explain to them that the renewal was tacit for April 30 of each year for the next season. So I had to be extended for the 2024-2025 season. I was told that no, and that I had to do the actions in my side for this point.
How many of this sum will you recover?
10% over ten years surely.
Twenty euros per year
Yes, I want to explain that I am not a multinational, a big business. These are funds that I have advanced. For me, these € 2600 make me not go on vacation with my children this summer. I'm not here to whine. I explain my situation. For 13 years, I gave myself 200% for the club, I did even more than I should have done, because it is my heart club. I put days off to get kids to bring them back to the Girondins.
“It's more than 10 years of lost in the training of the Girondins”
What are the consequences of closing the training center for Girondins?
We do not realize, but it's more than 10 years of lost with players who have left us to go to other professional clubs. We are being stripped. Observers of other clubs have taken the region and will use. It will now be complicated Bordeaux to offer a project to the kids. What project to offer to a top player?
It must be understood that, in the long term, it will be necessary to recover the pro status, then wait to relaunch the training center (one year after the rise in Ligue 2), then recruit kids. So, to find local players who will become professional in the Girondins, it will take many years. You have to get into account of everything that has been destroyed behind.
The rest of the interview is to be listened to on the Webgirondins YouTube channel or the podcast below:
Nicolas Pietrelli
To read here >> Jérémy Grain: “Do not go up with this workforce is a professional fault”
