Stade Français Saga..la suite

The powers that be(Direction nationale d'Aide et de contrôle de gestion (DNACG)) have now given Stade until Wednesday to show that they have the 12million Euros(to wipe the 5.8m debt,and have cash in the coffers)

Where is the money coming from,you ask...

...from a Montreal based foundation called "Facem"-which loosely translates as "Foundation for the Improvement of the Condition of Children in the World.
Now what interest can a charitable organisation have in investing money in some blingy French rugby club;to begin with, you'd never be able to see their logo on the shirts .
It looks as though Bernard Laporte has been using his contacts(he has a history of imbroglios in the casino world,although he does run a few straight-up camp-sites) to attempt to bail out Mad Max,after being shown the door when he tried to become part of the Aviron Bayonnais management.On May 24 he set up,and is chairman of, SAS "Rugby développements" to transfer the funds to France.

Apparently much of the evaporated cash from the last few seasons went the way of Sportys,a sports management company based in Paris,who have fingers in several pies including Tour de France,NBA in France,Les Barbarians etc.

Things look quite murky, but as the bloggeurs are saying over here,if SF are to be relegated, it would already have been done,as was the verdict for Montauban, Albi, Narbonne, Toulon(not so long ago,remember?) or Mont de Marsan for lesser financial misdemeanours.

If,tomorrow evening the DNACG do announce relegation, SF still have a series of appeals which will give them more time to sort their finances;however, the situation has been public knowledge for months,and it would be unfair to La Rochelle(who will remain in the Top14) to keep them waiting throughout the close season.
If they are permitted to remain in the top echelon,restricting recruitment should be one of the controls placed on the club

PSG, the soccer club of the French capital, have announced today that the have been bought by an investment group from Quatar


Mick(TEFC)

Posts: 27
Join date: 2011-02-14

How did things get so bad for them Mick?

Missing out on HC qualifications? Poor attendances? Problems with their new stadium?

They’ve signed Contepomi and Stan Wright (that I know of) this season, I would have thought that a 2 time HC winning tighthead would be worth a fair wedge. I assume there is danger that these deals could fall through if they are relegated.

Munster to hijack the Contepomi transfer. We need a 12 badly and just imagine a 10-12 pairing of O'Gara and Contepomi

A mixture of all that,Kado, plus Mad max's spending of millions to fill the SdF an create the mirage of immense popularity in the capital.If you look at attendance figures,they don't attract the number of spectators that a team from a city of 8m+ inhabitants should.The battle with the town hall over the new stadium hasn't helped,but it hasn't hindered the spectators;the capacity where they play now is higher.
Leguizamon signed for Lyon today,Haskell,Palmer,Bastareaud and others could well be on the move.

Mick <chef>, from The Rugby Paper:

Average attendance:

1. Stade Francais - 26,182
2. Toulouse - 22,069
3. Leicester Tigers - 21,096
4. Harlequins - 18,274
5. Toulon - 17,246
6. Leinster - 17,064
7. Munster - 15,249
8. Bayonne - 14,628
9. ASM Clermont - 14,517
10. Perpignan - 13,600
11. Northampton Saints - 13,358
12. Racing Metro - 13,150
13. Gloucester - 13.041
14. London Irish - 12,812
15. Montpellier - 12,649
16. London Wasps - 12,313
17. La Rochelle - 11,936
18. Biarritz - 11,878
19. Bath - 11,853
20. Saracens - 10,326
21. Cardiff Blues - 10,245
22. SU Agen - 9,510
23. Exeter Chiefs - 9,153
24. Brive - 8,653
25. Ulster - 8,485
26. Sale Sharks - 8,246
27. Castres - 8,194
28. Ospreys - 8,105
29. Bourgoin - 7,835
30. Scarlets - 7,799
31. Leeds Carnegie - 5,751
32. Newcastle - 5,316
33. N-G Dragons - 4,987
34. Treviso - 4,363
35. Aironi - 3,103
36. Edinburgh - 2,989
37. Glasgow - 2,967
38. Connacht - 2,269

From the Sarries and Quins figures, I am guessing that the big London double header tournaments and games at Wembley are being included and potentially distorting the figures - would that also apply to Stade Francais's number?

Any rumours on where Southwell may go?

I'd be worried if I were any player due to play with SF next season. Warwick is also a summer signing from Munster too. Fingers crossed that thngs do not go completely mammeries up for them, I have no special affinity for the club but I dont like a team in a nay sport to be a victim of off field failures.

They have interesting half time shows. Anyone see their tribute to Argentina half time show earlier on in the year? Bizarre.

Big figures for SF, but 3 of the the 13 home games were played at Sdf,and so with hire fees,and the show costs,the actual money raised from bums on seats will not have been huge,especially as many seats were at 5 euros.

All the French clubs in the top 12 of that list,apart from USAP&ASM played at least one "home"fixture in a much larger venue.In fact, I think USAP may have 'delocalised' to Béziers for a match.

No idea,atm, for Hugo;this may interest you

http://www.rugby-transferts.com/top-14/tableau-transferts-rugby-top-14-2011.html

There's an "I told you so" moment for me here.

About a year ago on 606 I forecast that this was coming in France, and Stade will not be the last. Teams were spending beyond their means, leveraging crowd revenue too far, and ultimately gambling on future success. If this sounds familiar it's because football has seen exactly the same issues arise over the last decade.

I can't remember who it was on 606 that disagreed, but I got quite a snooty response from someone who told me that clubs in France have massive revenues etc. and weren't spending irresponsibly. Apparently I failed to grasp the enormous TV revenues etc and huge supporter numbers that the French sides are able to draw on.....

Rich owners come, but they also go. What often looks like investment and generosity at the outset, often ends up being debt with ever increasing rates of repayment and cross-default triggers.

The rule needs to be put in place and should be very simple. Clubs can only spend what they generate, and the only overdraft facility permitted should represent a tiny proportion of revenue, and only be for day-to-day income shortfalls and nothing more.

If rugby embraces this as a global rule, it should be able to avoid the multiple administrations and screw-ups that football has endured. You'd also be able to do away with the arbitrary salary restrictions.

I'm not in favour of "level playing field arguments". Clubs should be able to cash in on successful marketing campaigns and increasing revenues, and have that translate itself into on-field success (not that spending cash necessarily equates to on-field success). My only restriction would be to limit spending to net revenue.

funnyExiledScot wrote:There's an "I told you so" moment for me here.

I can't remember who it was on 606 that disagreed, but I got quite a snooty response from someone who told me that clubs in France have massive revenues etc. and weren't spending irresponsibly. Apparently I failed to grasp the enormous TV revenues etc and huge supporter numbers that the French sides are able to draw on.....

guess it was me (aka women_tennis_is_boring down there...) ... I mainly mentionned marketing/sponshorship as the main source of revenue though which is what is failing on SF case. at the end of day, the fact that irresponsible spending from some teams is penalised by the DNACG is quite healthy. on a side note TV revenues although on the up is still a minor source of revenue, teams should focus in developing their fan base and not giving away almost-free tickets while spending money on balloons, firecrackers, cheerleaders and outrageously coloured outifts.

I'm guessing that only a few of the French clubs all have these tens of millions we keep hearing about...
It seems the rest are dropping themselves in the poo just to keep pace.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:
From the Sarries and Quins figures, I am guessing that the big London double header tournaments and games at Wembley are being included and potentially distorting the figures - would that also apply to Stade Francais's number?

Quins didn't have the double-header this year. They average about 12796 at their normal ground but had a large following (74212) to their 'big game' at Christmas. The last 4 premiership games were sellouts of 14828 (which is larger than the capacity for Saints).

Saracens is massively skewed by their Wembley games. They average around 8000 normally.

Any update on this issue at Stade?

Parisse is gone to London Irish. Bergamasco joins Aironi. Haskell going to Melbourne Rebels and new signings Paul Warwick and Felipe Contepomi have fallen through. Warwick joins Bath while Contepomi looks set to be the latest non Irish inside centre at Munster. Or maybe i'm just telling lies

Stade presented their "financial guarantees"to the DNACG yesterday(Tuesday) evening at 10pm;these are guarantees and not hard cash,will the cash arrive,who are these mysterious Canadians,what is the role of Laporte and his new company? many questions still need to be answered.

SF say they will be holding a press conference on June 7th;in the meantime, La Rochelle are waiting, and waiting and.....

red_stag wrote:Parisse is gone to London Irish. Bergamasco joins Aironi. Haskell going to Melbourne Rebels and new signings Paul Warwick and Felipe Contepomi have fallen through. Warwick joins Bath while Contepomi looks set to be the latest non Irish inside centre at Munster. Or maybe i'm just telling lies

Perhaps not lies,Stag, just wishful thinking(especially for the Doc)

Contepomi to his beloved Munster, to join up with Gavin Henson, in a deadly 10/12 axis. ROG is retiring after the WC and Keatley needs nurturing. I am not betraying my sources.


Chef,
What's the latest? Cheika must be sheeting himself at this stage.

.

Cheika goes to Munster? A lot of people want rid of McGahan...........

Thomond wrote:Cheika goes to Munster? A lot of people want rid of McGahan...........

I don't see why Cheika would, he got further in the Amlin with Stade

Just been announced that the DNACG will announce the verdict on Friday next;meanwhile Sackey played for the Baabaas with SF socks last weekend.

The only news emanating from SF is this:

http://www.stade.fr/actualite/article/view/8021

OK,
Verdict has been handed down,and although there still seems to be a load of muddy water,Stade Français will be playing in the Top14 next season.

Quelle surprise!! Politics is a funny old world, even rugby politics!

So that's sorted then. No number one seed for the Dragons. Quelle Surprise as As says.