2023-07-22 15:50:30
Can the Peugeot family save FC Sochaux-Montbéliard (FCSM) from bankruptcy? Yes, according to a local elected official who assures that Romain Peugeot, great-grandson of the club’s founder, is trying to bring together a group of investors to buy the FCSM from its Chinese owners. But time is running out.
Founded in 1928, the club was a model of stability for almost 90 years when it was owned by the Peugeot family. But in eight years, its Chinese owners have pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.
The industrialist’s ties with the city do not stop at his football club, however. It is indeed there that the main factory of the car manufacturer is inaugurated in 1912 to produce trucks. The city had already industrialized before, but the massive investment of Peugeot accelerated the process. The workforce of the factory went from 400 to 2,000 workers during the First World War.
In 1920, Fordist production methods, based on assembly line work, enabled the site to reach 10,000 workers. Two employees of the company launched FC Sochaux in 1928, quickly followed by the director, Jean-Pierre Peugeot, as part of his paternalistic policy towards workers, to whom he wanted to offer leisure.
Sochaux champion
His support allows the club to attract many top players. In 1935, FC Sochaux managed to win their first French championship following a victory against Olympique de Marseille with a score of 4 goals to 0.
The development of the Peugeot factory continued until 1940, when it was occupied by the German invader, under the supervision of Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the eponymous brand in 1931.
Some workers, in connection with the Resistance, organized a work-to-rule strike or even sabotage organizations. Many directors were deported, including Auguste Bonal, also sports director of FC Sochaux from 1941 to 1943. The Allied bombings also damaged the buildings.
Two dead at the Peugeot factory
Until 1972, the Sochaux site remained the brand’s only automobile production unit. The factory was again caught up in history in 1968, when strikes broke out for three weeks between May and June. The repression of the CRS causes two deaths, out of the four recorded in France during all the events of May 68.
In 1990, a historic flood of the Allan River submerged the entire site, causing production to stop and the loss of 12,000 vehicles. The plant was for a long time the largest in France, with 40,000 employees in 1979. Today, it has only 10,805 employees, and the title of largest industrial site in France is now held by Airbus Operations in Toulouse, which has 13,700.
#Sochaux #industrial #stronghold #Peugeot #family