Takeover soap opera rumbles on at Beziers

A lot can happen in a month. A month ago, French clubs were taking their first, cautious steps out of lockdown. Players were undergoing a series of medical tests and beginning socially distanced individual training programmes.

- JAMES HARRINGTON

As of this week, what restrictions that remained were suddenly lifted without much warning, allowing ball-in-hand and early contact training.

A month ago, it seemed Beziers were on the brink of that Christophe Dominici-fronted Emirati buyout that would wipe out their €5m debt, inject millions into their budget, bring in a Fantasy Rugby-level raft of new players, and set the sun rising on a new era of dominance that would, in time, rival that of the 70s and 80s.

As of this week – the same day training restrictions were lifted – that offer was rejected in favour of a late bid with former Toulouse president Rene Bouscatel at its helm.

But this daytime soap opera story is far from over.

In an interview on Friday afternoon, Beziers’ former international prop Jean-Louis Martin told L’Equipe the Emirati deal would be finalised this weekend. The Bouscatel project, he said, was ‘buried’.

According to Martin, the day before, a group of about 20 former players had urged the club’s major shareholders to reconsider the bigmoney offer from the UAE. The club, he said, had erred in announcing it had accepted the Bouscatel deal. He insisted that, on Saturday, co-president Cédric Bistué – the majority shareholder, according to Martin – would go to Paris to finalise the Emirati buyout.

Three days previously, the club had issued a statement saying their lawyer had received no credible information about the finances of the deal from the Emirati bidders.