Council steps in to take care of Beziers

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.

- JAMES HARRINGTON

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 big-name 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 go-ahead 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.