The timing couldn't be worse. Béziers passes this Thursday in front of the DNACG, the financial gendarme of the League, to validate, or not, his maintenance in Pro D2. A race against the clock has started since Monday, and the failure of the takeover project by the UAE investor Samir Ben Romdhane, to close the budget. Many concordant sources reported a hole of 1.75 million euros to plug in three days.
A deficit that could turn out to be even higher with the announcement, this Thursday morning in the columns of Midi Olympique , of the withdrawal of a historic sponsor. Louis-Pierre Angelotti confirms to the regional daily that, touched by the insults and attacks against him, that he completely withdraws from the ASBH. The real estate developer from Béziers was a historical and major sponsor, to the point of having occupied the functions of administrator of the club and of having made up several times the deficits at the end of the season.
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“I will no longer intervene at ASBH. It's over, I explained the reasons in my press release. I have never been a main shareholder, but simply a sponsor who wanted to lend a hand. Nothing connects me to the club, ASBH has definitely lost me, ”said Louis-Pierre Angelotti at Midi Libre . Very bad news for the two co-presidents, Pierre-Olivier Valaize and Cédric Bistué, when it comes to playing the future of Béziers before the DNACG.
Direction Clermont for the flagship recruit, Alex Tulou?
The financial situation is so worrying that, according to RMC Sport , one of the star recruits, ex-number 8 of Castres Olympique, Alex Tulou, could be released. The player had signed his contract but he would have obtained authorization to go to ... Clermont. The ASM is indeed looking for a medical joker to compensate for the unavailability of six months of his Fijian Peceli Yato, operated on a knee. By renouncing his arrival, the leaders of the ASBH would make a substantial saving on the wage bill.
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Finally still in the columns of Midi Libre , Mohed Altrad, who was emphatically mentioned as a new sponsor, declined. Requested by the mayor of Béziers, Robert Ménard, he had been sensitive to this call. “The headquarters of the Altrad group is in Béziers, I like Béziers, I am registered with the Commercial Court in Béziers. My first company was born in Florensac, I lived a good part of my life on this territory. But, a priori, it is not feasible either as a shareholder or as a sponsor. I cannot help as a sponsor. I have been since 2011 with the MHR and also official sponsor of the France team for two years. Go sponsor Béziers in addition, it would not be consistent, explains the head of the company. As for being a shareholder, the LNR rules prohibit being shareholders of two Pro D2 or Top14 clubs. If I became a shareholder in Béziers, that would mean that the club would never go up to the Top 14… ”
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