Paris (AFP)
He held it at arm's length but the heavy defeat against Racing (25-9) was the one of too much: the owner and president of Stade Français Hans-Peter Wild fired Tuesday his head coach Heyneke Meyer, disowned by players.
"Heyneke Meyer is and will remain sports director and head coach," said Thursday the Swiss billionaire of German origin. The assertion did not resist the camouflage received during the Paris derby Sunday, after which the players seemed to let go of the former coach of the Springboks (2012-2015).
Since his arrival in the summer of 2018, Meyer, who was to bring back the club in a few years to the best continental level, as in the 2000s under the presidency of Max Guazzini, was increasingly criticized for his minimalist playing plan and his remote management of the troops.
Sunday, after the loss to Racing, the group seemed cut in half. "There are so many things to review, we are so deficient in some areas," said Captain Yoann Maestri.
The opening half Morné Steyn, key man of the last title of champion of France, in 2015, who played Sunday his last match in France before returning to South Africa had dropped him with AFP: "All the the world is not on the same page, not everyone is pursuing the same goals. "
Steyn, 66 times selected with the Springboks, compared the mood of his teammates with that of his compatriots just champions of the world. "I have the impression that here at Stade Français, it's not the same thing," he added.
-Arias and Sempéré at the controls-
The dismissal of Meyer balance an eventful period, marked last season by the successive departures of the coach Julien Dupuy, ex-historical player of the club, then at the end of the exercise of several executive players (Sergio Parisse, Djibril Camara, Alexandre Flanquart ).
Others like the Jules Plisson opener, did not hide their frustration at their meager playing time, disappeared from the match sheets.
"The players who do not agree with the coach, that they go to find another club," retorted the Swiss billionaire of German origin.
At the finish, Wild changes coach for the third time since he bought the club fourteen times champion of France in June 2017 to Thomas Savare.
Who's next? According Midi Olympique, neo-coaches Laurent Sempere and Julien Arias, former club players who just hang up crampons, should ensure the interim under the supervision of Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Landreau, returned in January in his heart club. A situation reminiscent of early 2018, when Dupuy and Olivier Azam had narrowly ensured the maintenance after the eviction of Greg Cooper.
-Lowering ? "You laugh!"-
The time is serious for the trio Landreau-Sempéré-Arias: the largest budget of the Top 14 (35 million) is already 9 points behind the first non-relegable, Brive, in the first third of the regular season . Back from the World Cup, the internationals (Gaël Fickou, Paul Gabrillagues, Pablo Matera, Nicolas Sanchez) return in time to strengthen a workforce whose lack of depth is screaming.
The question of substance is even more worrying: Wild, who also separated in two months from President Hubert Patricot, of which he took the place, and the general manager Fabien Grobon, replaced by Thomas Lombard, he still desire? "I did not lose my enthusiasm," he said in September.
The man, owner of drinks Capri Sun has already injected nearly 40 million euros in 2 years, and said he was ready to add 20 million. The takeover of the operation of the Jean-Bouin stadium in the City of Paris, which has been effective since the summer, is expected to eventually fill the coffers but, with a club in Pro D2, the project would be more than compromised.
"Are you kidding?", Reacted Wild Saturday to the possibility of a descent. "I am very confident, it will be okay, we will not go down." The players, now in the front row, have 17 days to save the club and avoid relegation.
© 2019 AFP