Council steps in to take care of Beziers after Emirati takeover collapse | James Harrington
Thirteen months ago, you probably recall, a proposed mega-money takeover of French ProD2 side Béziers dominated the rugby headlines on the French side of the Channel.
It turns out that this particular soap opera is not over – and there's a twist in the tale.
First, a recap… a mysterious Emirati buyer was ready and willing to buy the cash-strapped club, pay off its debts and invest lavishly in bigname players to bring title-winning good times back to one of the most successful clubs in French rugby history.
The on-off-on again deal – which at the time looked too good to be true – was finally scuppered when French sports' financial police the DNACG refused to give the deal its blessing. What paperwork that was handed over was not enough to convince the watchdog that the deal on the table was on a sound footing.
Once that decision was handed down, the long list of players and coaches reportedly heading to Stade Raoul-Barrière evaporated.
Days later, the club faced the DNACG again, having lost its main sponsor – but this time the goal was more modest: survival. The club, sitting on a reported €5million deficit at the time, needed its financial plan for the season to be approved, otherwise relegation to the amateur leagues was a very real option. It got the goahead it needed to keep on playing.
Within four months, former France international Christophe Dominici, who had been the public face of the proposed buyout, had died in Paris at the age of 48. It was the most tragic of epilogues to a sorry tale that overshadowed the early part of the last campaign.
Fast-forward a season. Béziers finished the Covid-19 affected 2020/21 campaign safely in twelfth place, though their bank balance was no better. The DNACG were sniffing around again. It seems, however, they will go into the 2021/22 season on a stronger financial footing. Quietly, in total contrast to last year's repeated trumpeting of deal and no deal, Béziers council has bought the long-troubled club.
The deal was reportedly done in June, but only announced this week – with pre-season well under way, and the first match of the new ProD2 season against Aurillac scheduled to kick off on August 27.
“The société coopérative d'intérêt collectif (SCIC) Béziers Sports – in which the city is the majority owner – has become the owner of nearly 70 per cent of the club's capital,” mayor Robert Ménard told L'Equipe this week, confirming an earlier report from Midi Olympique.
This is a first in French professional rugby. Boulogne-Billancourt basketball club is the only other professional sports club in France owned by the municipality.
The move is not without controversy. Opposition councillors and politicians queued up to voice their concerns in the hours after the announcement.
“In principle, it is normal for a city to do everything it can to save a professional sports club, but becoming an owner raises a number of questions,” one said. “The city of Béziers is now a guarantor of management, financial balance and will have to assume the sporting risks of the club.”
Another questioned the existence of the SCIC: “It seems obvious that SCIC was created to buy out the club. But yet, the buyout of the club by the company was not voted on by the city council. We were informed of this decision by the press.”
A third added: “For several months now, we have been asking to know the financial situation of the club, as the sums paid out were beginning to become significant. An audit was carried out and Mr Ménard was supposed to send us the conclusions, but we never saw them.”
That makes sense. The club receives €1million a year from the city. But that financial outlay is also the reason Ménard – something of a hard-right political bull in a mayoral china shop at the best of times – has given to justify the takeover.
For that money, he said, the city should have some control over the books.
Besides, he insisted, it was vital to secure the future of the historic club. “It was the only solution if we wanted the club to stay in ProD2. It is a gamble on the enthusiasm of the Biterrois, on the fact that rugby is part of the identity of the city.”
The cost of the buyout from hold-ing company Passion Ovalie –a symbolic €1.
The mairie has taken on the club's debts, and has increased its overall budget from €7.2million last season to €8million. Of that sum, €350,000 has been set aside to cover recruitment and staff development, Ménard revealed.
Béziers have signed 11 senior players for the new campaign – including Charlie Malié, Pierrick Gunther, Dries Swanepoel, Watisoni Votu, Lionel Beauxis, and John-
Hubert Meyer.
The club is not out of the woods quite yet. One of the mayor's first jobs in his new capacity on the club's board will be to appeal against a three-point deduction imposed by the DNACG for the upcoming campaign for alleged financial breaches.
Despite the impending appeal, and concerns from fellow councillors, Ménard is clear that the club is on a sure financial footing at last.
“There are no longer any skeletons in the closet,” he told Rugbyrama.
“Above all, the club has regained ownership of its assets when recently, the refreshments, the brasserie and all the lodges had been sold.
“The situation of ASBH is healthy today and there will be no more drifts. I will not let it happen. Ideally, SCIC Béziers Sports will be a transitional owner. One day, other shareholders will arrive. But I will have the right to oversee them.”
He seems confident he has done the right thing. Others are not so sure.
“I intend to examine this matter, which is not neutral in substance or form. I will take the matter to the President of the Haute Assemblée and the Minister of Sports so that they can assure the taxpayers of Béziers that their mayor's decision complies with the rules,” Hérault senator Jean-Pierre Grand said.
To be, as the best soap tales often are, continued…
