Ligue 1: "If RC Lens are sold, it will be for a symbolic one euro" (Gervais Martel)

"If the club is sold, it will be for a symbolic one euro. It must be understood that we are on the precipice (of disaster) and we must get out," said Gervais Martel, president of RC Lens (Ligue 1), referring to the Azerbaijani businessman Hafiz Mammadov, the majority shareholder of RC Lens, on 02/03/2015.

The 99% shareholder of the club, Hafiz Mammadov has been in financial difficulties in Azerbaijan since the summer of 2014, and has not paid the €14m that was guaranteed to the club by January 2015. RC Lens is currently in 19^th place in Ligue 1 (22 points) after 27 matchdays; the club is six points behind Evian TG FC for 17^th and the first non-relegation place.

"There is interest in Lens: with have recognised (youth) training, little debt (about €3m), a new stadium that belongs to us via a long lease until 2052..." said Gervais Martel to the French newspaper L'Équipe on 02/03/2015.

"It is up to him to act: if there are no solutions, it (the situation) will take us all to the cemetery" (G. Martel)

• "The role of a president is to think about all scenarios. We can not play ostrich.
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