Racing Metro and Stade Francais are merging!

[Leonormous Boozer]

Is Goosen free to do whatever he wants now? This is so French its crazy!

 

[Midlander]

The south-west, my friend

Of course..... my bad, I was thinking of Clermont, La Rochelle and Lyon too. I appreciate that the last two are not traditional big teams though.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Talk is Munster will merge with Leinster fortunately all the Leinster fans already own Munster shirts so the merge should be swift.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Talk is Munster will merge with Leinster fortunately all the Leinster fans already own Munster shirts so the merge should be swift.

Red + blue = purple!

#Bestout

 

[gaston le gaff]

the press here are all dubbing it as Racing buying out Stade and nothing to do with a merger with Savare the Stade president coming away with a very large cheque.
This is going to roll on for some time but it will probably save Grenobles bacon as there is a good chance only one down from the TOP14, and two up from the Pro D2

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

the press here are all dubbing it as Racing buying out Stade and nothing to do with a merger with Savare the Stade president coming away with a very large cheque.
This is going to roll on for some time but it will probably save Grenobles bacon as there is a good chance only one down from the TOP14, and one up from the Pro D2, that's going to really p*** of the play-off clubs for the 2nd Pro D2 promotion place.

Would it not be one down and two up considering there'll be one less team?

 

[gaston le gaff]

Would it not be one down and two up considering there'll be one less team?

yes you are right sorry just realised i got mixed up with one less and then 2 more to come up

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

what fans? :huh: they have the smallest fan base in the country in spite of having the largest population around. That's parisian rugby in a nutshell.

Do you know how many Racing fans were reportedly present to greet their team last year after they got back from Barcelona as new champs? media reported less than 1000 (one thousand) :lol:

Not sure whether you you are taking the **** or not. Fair game if you are (i would do the same) but if you ain't, 50 thousand fans at Camp Nou suggest that is not, at least not always, the case.
I have no sympathy for Racing, but as a fan of the sport, its history and traditions, things like these break my heart, a bit.

I genuinely, sincerely, wholeheartedly feel sorry for the fans and some of the players.

 

[munstermuffin]

So it seems Racing sim0ly bought out Stade. A bit sad as Stade have the history.
Rumours tonight to Parisse is returning to play in Italy too

 

[Osezno]

Not sure whether you you are taking the **** or not. Fair game if you are (i would do the same) but if you ain't, 50 thousand fans at Camp Nou suggest that is not, at least not always, the case.
I have no sympathy for Racing, but as a fan of the sport, its history and traditions, things like these break my heart, a bit.

I genuinely, sincerely, wholeheartedly feel sorry for the fans and some of the players.

I was in Camp Nou and Racing fans were not even close to 10,000... Flags from both teams were distributed to all neutral fans (like me) so the atmosphere was improved.

 

[gaston le gaff]

before all the dust settles this is going to go around the block several times. The FFR, LNR, Provale, the mayor of Paris, the players, coaches and backroom staff all throwing in their 2 penneth, while Racing President is denying a buy out, the one fact that is true, both clubs have very poor support and Racing have a brand newstadium for next season, will this finally bring big crowds to Paris club games or not, this looks to be a complete financial deal and nothing more, Savare the Stade President wanted out and this way he gets cash with it, but i'm sure that will be very difficult to prove.

 

[JJFlash]

Even with one "super club" in Paris, I can't see match crowds being more than 10,000 as I don't believe there are that many Parisian supporters who would want go to every match so revenue from spectators ain't going to be much.

 

[munstermuffin]

Jackman sacked at Grenoble. Interesting timing considering it is a playoff as opposed to automatic relegation they face

 

[gaston le gaff]

Just been thinking if Stade ( the players) who are up in arms about the fusion were to lose their last 6 games and by chance Grenoble finish above them, they would be classified as Pro D2 next season. The fusion takes form at the end of the season, would the LNR turn round and say well thats fine by us BUT you start in Pro D2 as from next season, it's possible, just depends on how much the authorities are against the fusion, they could make it very difficult if they wanted. Just a thought.

 

[Car]

I was reading this Midi Olympique article and there was this part I didn't get:
"l semble que Lorenzetti ait souhaité investir dans le Stade français pour empêcher le rachat du club de la Porte d'Auteuil par les Qataris. C'est en tout cas ce dont parle « JLO » lorsqu'il évoque « la solution franco-française ». A-t-il eu peur que les soldats roses, boostés par les fons du Qatar, ne dame le pion au Racing en quelques mois ? C'est ce qu'il se murmure en effet."

Source: https://www.midi-olympique.fr/article/28937-fusion-stade-francais-racing-92-quand-ou-comment

What exactly are they referring to here? Is that a reference to the PSG comments that can be read elsewhere in the French press?

 

[TRF_heineken]

Just been thinking if Stade ( the players) who are up in arms about the fusion were to lose their last 6 games and by chance Grenoble finish above them, they would be classified as Pro D2 next season. The fusion takes form at the end of the season, would the LNR turn round and say well thats fine by us BUT you start in Pro D2 as from next season, it's possible, just depends on how much the authorities are against the fusion, they could make it very difficult if they wanted. Just a thought.

If it's a buyout merger then wouldn't it mean that the 2 teams will join up and make one super team? Which would possibly mean that it will become just Racing 92, and Stade will completely cease to exist. So it wouldn't really matter where they finish, unless this deal is finalized only after the next season starts?

 

[Car]

It's not officially a buyout and Stade won't cease to exist, actually, IIRC, their youth and women teams will stay just like Racing's.

 

[TRF_heineken]

It's not officially a buyout and Stade won't cease to exist, actually, IIRC, their youth and women teams will stay just like Racing's.

Based on the reports we recieve here in SA, it seems like the youth and women squads will remain as they are, but the proffessional teams will merge, which basically means that next season there will no longer be a SFP team in the top 14 or in the second division.

 

[gaston le gaff]

If it's a buyout merger then wouldn't it mean that the 2 teams will join up and make one super team? Which would possibly mean that it will become just Racing 92, and Stade will completely cease to exist. So it wouldn't really matter where they finish, unless this deal is finalized only after the next season starts?

its not beeen quoted as a buyout and not a meger by many but Racing are talking merger, the players are now talking about striking, whatever happens cannot happen until the end of the season, players contracts and all sorts of other things but if as i said above if it was to get nasty who knows where it may end, there's going to be around 45 players without a club, they, the coaches and the people who work for both teams are the ones that will suffer not the 2 presidents who have dreaamed this little fiasco up

 

[TRF_heineken]

its not beeen quoted as a buyout and not a meger by many but Racing are talking merger, the players are now talking about striking, whatever happens cannot happen until the end of the season, players contracts and all sorts of other things but if as i said above if it was to get nasty who knows where it may end, there's going to be around 45 players without a club, they, the coaches and the people who work for both teams are the ones that will suffer not the 2 presidents who have dreaamed this little fiasco up

yeah I read about the protest action. Which is mostly coming from SFP players. come to think of it, most of these articles mention the SFP players, but not one of the Racing players. but yeah, seems like a bunch of players are going to have to look for other clubs.