Beziers takeover hits the buffers

It’s taken several weeks, and several twists, but the Beziers afternoon soap opera is running down for the summer.

- JAMES HARRINGTON

The Emirati buyout collapsed in a mire of acrimony and finger-pointing on Monday, after French rugby’s financial police, the DNACG, refused to give their blessing. What paperwork had been handed over was not enough to convince the watchdog that the deal on the table was on a sound footing.

The buyers blamed the DNACG. Beziers’ owners blamed the buyers. The long list of players and coaches reportedly heading to the south of France evaporated – some had even been in the town that weekend, ready to sign contracts and undergo medicals in expectation that the buy-out was about to be rubberstamped, according to reports.

Days later, the club faced the DNACG again, having lost their main sponsor – a local property dealer, frustrated and wearied by the whole thing – but this time the goal was more modest: survival.

Everyone had been talking about Beziers’ anticipated glorious future once the monied new owners took over. Many forgot that the club headed into negotiations in a parlous financial state – and that is what now exercised French rugby’s financial guardians.

If the club – sitting on a deficit of several million euros – failed to provide a workable budget for the new season, relegation to the amateur leagues was a very real option.