Biarritz’s fight for survival goes on
TEN days ago, under-new-management ProD2 strugglers Biarritz gave themselves what looked a lot like a crucial safety net with a 26-30 win at Agen – a match that had added spice because of simmering background bitter boardroom politics between the two clubs.
The result, in the 28th round of the 30-match regular season, meant that the historic Basque side had 53 points, and sat 14th in the league. They came into this week’s matches with a 10-point lead over bottom-of-the-table Rouen; and a seven-point cushion over Montauban, who are in 15th place, and facing a survival playoff against the losing finalist in the third-tier, semi-professional Nationale 1 championship.
In French leagues, head-to-head results this season count toward the final reckoning. That means, in even better news for Biarritz, they have the edge on the two sides below them in the table, giving them a decisive advantage in the standings in the event that they finish level on points.
Basically, they have avoided automatic relegation as they cannot finish bottom of the table, because Rouen can only tie on league points and have a worse head-tohead record. Montauban and the survival play-off is the nightmare scenario.
If Biarritz win at home against guaranteed semi-finalists Provence on Friday, they’re officially safe. Even if they lose, Rouen still need to win at home against Soyaux-Angouleme, while Montauban have to beat Mont-de-Marsan at Stade Sapiac the same evening to have a chance of taking their bid to escape 15th into the final round of the campaign.
So far, so good, relatively speaking. The awesome majesty of mathematical possibility means we cannot say definitively, but it seems almost certain that Portugal-bound head coach Simon Mannix has done the job he was parachuted into Parc des Sports d’Aguilera to do in December. That was to prevent Biarritz – a club with a squad that’s so much better than 14th in the ProD2 – from slipping down a division.
But … there’s always a ‘but’ with Biarritz at the moment, isn’t there?
But ... despite their just-aboutsafe league position, however, the club could still be busted down to the amateur leagues for financial reasons, even after they were sold for a nominal €1 in early April.
At the time, that buyout was seen as preserving the club’s future, after current owner Vincent Gave decided he and his bank account would walk away at the end of the season no matter what.
But it has emerged that the financial watchdog of French professional rugby has yet to be convinced that last month’s buyout is built on firm enough budgetary foundations, after incoming president Shaun Hegarty told players and staff that the new owners would take over paying their salaries from May.
The L’Autorité de régulation du rugby (A2R) has summoned the club’s new owners – who have talked a big bright future game in recent weeks without scratching the surface of anything approaching detail – for a documents-on-the-table meeting on Tuesday to explain exactly how they’re funded.
There is pretty significant deadline pressure here.
April 30 deadline for submitting accounting documents in order to enable the drawing up of a projected budget for next season and ensuring the required 15 per cent payroll reserve is fully funded has, obviously, passed.
According to news reports in France, Biarritz’s previous management had completed the necessary documentation for next season.
However, the new owners have not. And officials at A2R want to know what funding they have in place, how much money there actually is, and where it’s coming from, so that they know planned budgets are fully costed. Small, unimportant matters in the running of a professional rugby club, especially with plans for next season to be accounted for.
Under the league financial rules, the new owners should have presented all this – plus a three-year business acquisition plan – at the time they took over the club. And, one month prior to the transfer of ownership, they should supply documents relating to the proposed changes. The official transthat fer of shares is set to go through by June 30 at the latest.
Sud Ouest last week reported that none of these documents had been presented to officials at A2R by the required deadline – and the watchdog was just a little concerned and more than a little frustrated at the lack of transparency.
The three-strong public face of the new owners were announced on April 4. Flip van der Merwe had been due to be confirmed as the management board’s new chairman at a meeting three days ago.
Hegarty has, on more than one occasion, dodged questions from the media about who, exactly, is providing the finances for the takeover. “We have a group of national and international investors who think the project is a good one,” he told journalists in mid-April.
Not telling the media is one thing. The only real outcome of doing that is speculation. So far the press’s more recent ponderings have included debunked questions over debt levels at the club, and fishing articles leading to the back door of businessman Romain DeAn tre, who was linked to an aborted €3.5 million takeover last summer.
Not telling the game’s financial police, however, is something quite different. They have the authority to approve or deny transfer of ownership – as they did with Beziers a couple of years ago. Eventually, and unusually, Beziers’ Town Hall took over the running of the club, following the failure of the buyout. Officially, Beziers – who are in the promotion hunt – are still up for sale.
Unsurprisingly, then, Biarritz Town Hall is watching the unrolling events at Aguilera closely and, probably, with no small amount of concern.
RMC Sport has reported that local officials may have more possible buyers lined up in case the current agreement fails the A2R test. Before the Hegarty-led consortium took over at Aguilera, it was reported that the Town Hall was in discussion with unnamed possible investors from Ireland.
Much rests on Tuesday’s meeting, when everything could be confirmed in favour of the new owners. Or not.
“Hegarty dodged questions about who is providing WKH ǭQDQFHV for the takeover”