Bordeaux endured a traumatic 2019-20 campaign, in which they saw two coaches sacked, incompetence at boardroom level and a takeover of the club. On the field, meanwhile, they endured a record losing streak and finished 14th – their lowest position since 2005 – while their points tally in Ligue 1 was their worst since 1960 if three points are given for a win.
The season started early due to the Europa League, but while progress was made, head coach Gus Poyet soon quit the club over their handling of transfer matters. Gaetan Laborde had been sold to Montpellier without his knowledge.
Further proof of the incompetence throughout the club came when summer signing Toma Basic was not registered for the Europa League group stages: he had meant to be.
Then came the appointment of Ricardo, who was the de facto head coach but could not be given that job title as he did not have the correct qualifications to work in France. As such, it was Eric Bedouet’s name that went down on the teamsheet each week.
Ricardo had been a solid but unspectacular coach when last with Bordeaux, and though he had enjoyed some success in his native Brazil, he proved ineffectual this time around.
Bordeaux did flirt with the top half of the table in the middle part of the campaign, largely thanks to Francois Kamano’s goal scoring contribution, but once the winger had his head turned by transfer offers in January, which were not taken up by the club, he slipped back into mediocrity.
A takeover midway through the season only served to muddy the waters for Bordeaux. In the latter part of the campaign they were neither one thing nor the other, and that was especially evident once Paulo Sousa took over from the sacked Ricardo.
The Portuguese endured a dire start to life in France, which saw Bordeaux slip to a record six-successive Ligue 1 defeats, having plenty of the ball but no penetration to speak of.
A final day win over Caen finally broke that run but the squad clearly needs an overhaul in the summer, while Sousa’s poor conclusion to the season means that the pressure will be on him to achieve it quickly.
There were no clear success stories this time around; this cannot be the case in 12 months.
