Le Havre fans call for American owners to leave after coach's suspension and president's exit

With their club in turmoil, Le Havre fan groups are calling for the American owners to leave.

Le Havre, founded in 1872 and considered the oldest club in French professional soccer, has plunged into a deep and unprecedented sporting crisis.

Languishing at the bottom of Ligue 1, and with relegation looming, the club started the week without a coach and a president.

Following a heavy 5-1 loss against leader Paris Saint-Germain over the weekend, Le Havre announced head coach Didier Digard had been suspended, and that the board members of owner Blue Crow Sports Group had accepted the resignation of president Jean-Michel Roussier.

Roussier’s resignation will be formally presented and ratified on Thursday, Le Havre said.

He's led the Normandy club since 2022 while Digard was appointed in the summer of 2024.

The exodus does not end there because French media have reported that sports director Demba Ba and goalkeeping coach Nicolas Douchez are also on their way out.

Blue Crow acquired Le Havre in July 2025, adding it to a portfolio of soccer clubs.

“In the space of just a few days, every individual who embodied this club, who helped bring it back to Ligue 1 (in 2023) and keep it there, has disappeared from its organizational structure,” three supporters groups said in a joint statement.

Le Havre has two points from nine matches and the fans blame the multi-club group based in Houston for the worrying situation.

“Blue Crow represents nothing in Le Havre,” they said. “Blue Crow Sports Group has dismantled (Le Havre) and demonstrates more clearly with each passing day its complete lack of understanding of how to run a football club, its history and its identity. The catastrophe that now looms is entirely their responsibility.”

Le Havre’s next game is against Lorient on Sunday.

“With this crucial match against Lorient approaching, the united front established between the players, the manager and the Kop (of supporters) following the match against PSG has been shattered,” the fan groups said.

A former Le Havre player, Digard managed to keep the team in the topflight over the past two seasons. He leaves the club with a record of 17 wins, 20 draws and 40 losses, according to Ligue 1 statistics.

The club has appointed Jaïr Karam, the academy director, as interim coach and said Yacine Alaoui would oversee administrative and sporting activities until a new chairman and CEO are appointed.

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