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Disaster for Beziers as takeover deal falls through and club threatened with relegation
By Ian Cameron
Investors at the centre of a bid to takeover Beziers have pulled out after French rugby's accounting watch-dog rejected their approach, ending the ProD2 club's dreams of expansion. The DNACG, the French game's financial enforcement body, decided that the criteria for takeover hadn't been met.
It's a disaster for the club, who have also lost the patronage of their previous investors, who had been effectively bank-rolling the blue and reds for years. Their majority shareholder, Louis-Pierre Angelotti, exited negotiations earlier this month and appears to have stepped away from the side following two decades of support.
What's more, Beziers could now face demotion from the ProD2, due to financial irregularities in their accounts, which were submitted as part of the process of selling to the Emiratis. According to Midi Libre, the club now have to Thursday (July 16th) to explain €1,750,000 euros are missing from the club's accounts.
The mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, says he is "disappointed". "These are also five months of discussions and dreams that are ending".
"I'm sad like everyone, a little bit dejected. But another battle will take place. And we have to come out victorious over all that."
Meanwhile, Philippe Baillard, a spokesperson for Sotaco International, said: 'We were buying a relatively expensive damaged car and the seller is asking us to prove that we can make it more beautiful than it was…"
The news could have considerable ramifications for a number of players who are reportedly on the verge of signing. For many, their signing would have been contingent on the club being bought. Reports have emerged of Bath's Semesa Rokoduguni presenting at the club for a medical, with a view to joining. They have also been linked with Wallaby wing Marika Koribete.
Béziers have won eleven French championship titles since its establishment in 1911, but have fallen down the tables in recent years, even facing the ignominy of relegation to the Federale 1 at the end of 2008-09 season. They stand at 9th in the ProD2 and face a complete overhaul if they want to win relegation form the super-competitive second division, which currently includes the likes of Grenoble, Biarritz, Perpignan and Colomiers.
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I think England obviously need to train alot more to fix their defense. Time together working to ensure each defender takes the right man is paramount or we're going to see the same amount of tries and losses. Then what? Sack the coach? What a joke that would be. The other fix is being accurate with your basics. England were sloppy to excess, dropped balls in the midfield. Charged down boxkicks, failed restarts. They need to carry out their basic skills accurately. This is a domestic club training responsibility. England should not be teaching their players catching skills. If the clubs are not spending time with skills training then the players need to step up and do it on their own time. There is no excuse for sloppy play at Test match level. They won't win squat if they don't aspire to be the best. Lastly we have the scrum which should be a strength of England but its flakey as. Okay its year one of the world cup cycle and you'd rather have these issues now that 2026 / 27 but we have alot to fix and we also have a media who won't give Borthwick the time he needs to fix them. That paragon of rugby Ugo Monye is already screaming for Borthwick's head. 14 caps and two tries and apparently he's the rugby media mesiah... ...This is where you say he's not the mesiah, he's a very naughty boy.
Go to commentsBen Smith your a biased against the Springboks -making it so obvious as a journalist makes you totally inadequate and not worthy of being taken seriously.
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