Updated 31st July

RED STAR LOSE AT MOISSY-SENART. Red Star went down 2-0 last night in a friendly match, although Red Star fans present at the game are still optimistic for the season.

Updated 30th July

STILL SUCK AT MARVILLE. On Saturday 10th August, Red Star take on FC Chartres in the CFA 2 at Stade Marville - kick off is 6pm CET. R. DEOM, DIOMANDE, DOUMBYA, MARQUES …. Names from last year, carried through to this year will be the immediate future of Red Star. Other than those, Red Star have recruited, but largely from a lower level than the CFA 2. So far the club has given the following names : Nordine Mérabet & Kamel Bousseliou (Aubervilliers), Carl Priso Yaya (Poissy), Fawsi Garvi (Ivry), Jean Eude Nemouthé (Les Lilas), Pascal Gossec (Mondeville), Cédric Crientor (Montrouge), Dieudonné Banen Dassony, Stéphane Doceul (Arménienne), Makan Fofana (Villepinte), Kangui Kounakey (Saint-Denis), Abrahim Tounkara ( Montmartre), Frédéric Néret (France Army team) Action from the friendly Red Star v Poissy, of the 20th July FABIEN VALERI. Former Red Star captain Fabien Valéri has joined newly promoted Portugese Division One club Association Academica de Coimbra

Updated 29th July

FRIENDLY. Something of a misnomer that - a friendly. Saturdays' game at Marville against Paris FC ended 1-1, Red Star scoring first after 25 minutes with a Rémy Deom penalty, only for the visitors to equalise in the dying seconds from a close-range header. Earlier the game had threatened to boil over at times, and resulted in the dismissal of a PFC player... only to be substituted by another player ! Once again we are unable to bring you details of the Red Star line-up, as there was no public address announcements at all - the reason for this is because at one point, the usual PA man at Marville Jean-Claude Maucourant had waddled onto the pitch acting as bucket man to an injured player. Red Star must really be broke to drop to this level. The match had only just started when a Red Star defended booted the ball into the empty stand opposite - no ball boy, so François had to waddle round to fetch it, resulting in a delay of five minutes... more shamateurism. After the game, Red Stars' youngsters were led on a warm-down jog around the pitch by coach Ousfane. Conclusions which can be drawn from the game - in Rémy Deom Red Star might have at last found a playmaker, although at times his distribution could be a bit wayward. He looked confident on the ball and has an eye for the game. The right winger looked to have a bit of pace in the style of Soumaré (departed for RC Liège in Belgiums D2 it appears). The goalkeeper made one superb save, and as captain appeared to lead his men well. And he's got a big mouth ! Red Star played in green, a kit borrowed from some long-passed cup game, some shirts had the sponsor "Lion" on the front, some didn't have a number on the back. All shirts did have long-sleeves, however, ideal for a Saturday in July when temperatures were up in the 30s !! Good job I didn't need the bogs - they were all locked out of use. No drinks either on sale. More shamateurism... Next friendly is tomorrow night, 8pm CET against CFA club Moissy-Sénart. Watching from the stands were former Red Star goalkeeper Jean-Philippe Forêt, and Abdoulaye Soumaré. BAUER. Unconfirmed reports reach us that Bauer might not yet be ready for the first home game on August 10th against FC Chartes. Rumoured date is August 31st, against Auxerre reserves. In this case, the Chartres game will take place at Marville. TRANSFER NEWS. Other than Soumaré, Franck Guidali has joined CFA club Boulogne, and Robert Gomis, headcase ex-Red Star defender is currently undergoing trials with a D3 club in England. Anyone any ideas ??

Updated 26th July

NEWSFLASH: Promoted Choisy-le-Roi will take the place of Saint-Dizier, in Group B of CFA 2. So, on the 16th November 2002, Red Star will have an away trip in the Val-de-Marne.

FRIENDLY. Red Star lost 1-0 at Senlis in Wednesday nights' friendly. More details as and when we have them. Next friendly is on Saturday evening at Marville against Paris FC (CFA). Kick off 6-30pm CET.

Updated 25th July

MESSAGE FROM NORWAY. Runar from Norway, who professes to be a "Racingman `til I die !", sent us this mail... Cheers ! I`m a Norwegian supporter of your local rivals Racing Club De Paris - in my opinion the most beautiful and mythical club in the world. Unfortunately we`ve been "blessed" with the same crap managment in charge of the club as yourself, and now has to come to terms with life in CFA. God knows what the situation will be one year from now. Further downfall wouldnt come as a surprise to anyone. I just want to express my sympathy towards Red Stars commited supporters, who has to witness their beloved club being dragged further and further down into the mud. Simply because I now know so perfectly well what it feels like. My sympathy goes in particular towards those who have followed the boys in green thorughout an entire generation and mans-age. Good luck with your ambition of getting rid of those in charge and responsible for the downfall of Red Star. And good luck in the task of rebuilding the club of yours. It won't happen tomorrow. It probably wont happen next year. But one day... one day... both of these Parisian clubs will be back were they belong. In a local derby. In a divison they both deserve. One day...WE WILL BE BACK !! All the best....

THE EVIDENCE The minutes of the recent meeting of the FFF, in particular the discussion about Red Star have been published in the official magazine of the FFF, "Foot", of the 6th July. This is what it says, in brief. "As of the 30th June 2001, the club had made a significant loss over the operating period 2000/2001 The accounts of the club had not been presented to the Commissaire au Comptes. Failure to meet the budget 2001/2002 and similar problems with the budget for the season 2002-2003 Failure to produce a coherent business plan and business structure (fairly important, one would say !!!) Documents not produced as required by the DNCG Following deliberation of this issues, and accroding to article 34 rules 11 and 12 of the DNCG, the decision has been taken to relegate the first team of AS RED STAR 93 at the end of the season 2001/2002"

OUR COMMENTS. The original document is fairly complex and admittedly hard to translate coherently, but in a nutshell, our interpretation of the document merely goes to confirm our opinions held since a long time - the club has been grossly mismanaged. In industry, such incompetence would surely result in the dismissal of the parties concerned... in Red Stars' case the simplest solution appears to have been to make scapegoats out of the easiest targets... not necessarily those directly responsible, either. Mismanagement, bad recruitment both of these have sufficed to push the club practically to the brink of oblivion. The people responsible have effectively wasted away the values of the club - the support, the dedication of the volunteers who spent their time building one of the best youth structures in the country - all virtually gone now. The rich seam of talent produced by the club has all but dried up. This is the dubious "honours" list of the clubs' management. In our opinion, the only way forwards now is for these pople to leave the club, completely, abandon and leave affairs to others perhaps more suitable to run the club. We do have more information on the departures of certain people at Red Star, but as yet (due to legal complications) we can't publish details. One day, I'll write a book... TRANSFERS. Habib Sissokho, who arrived part-way through last season has joined D2 outfit Créteil. Former goalkeeper Stéphane Lucas, who was with Noisy-le-Sec has joined Angoulême (National). Meanwhile, Arthur Gomis will not be playing for Viry-Châtillon , it appears.

Updated 24th July

FIRST FRIENDLY, FIRST DEFEAT RED STAR 0 POISSY 2 (0-1) Goals : Naït Abdesselem (25), Fresnel (65). Poissy took the upper hand over a young Red Star side, made up half of youngsters from our junior teams, and half from local players in the Paris area. Around twenty or so made appearances during the match. Red Star played in green, wearing a shirt once worn for a league cup match. Around one hundred spectators watched the game, from the main stand for once at Marville. Meanwhile, skulking around the corner flag, well away from the fans, were Jean-Claude Bras and his henchman Michel Castejon. Silence from the PA man at Marville (well-known R. Slicker)... no announcements of the teams... too busy doing other things, no doubt... neither was there any mention, nor a minutes silence in honour of the recently-deceased André Simonyi. Disgraceful. TRAINING. Due no doubt to the fact that the players are now semi-professional, training sessions will take place at Marville on weekday evening, from 7pm onwards "until it gets dark". BOOTED OUT. Following the departure of Jean-Luc Girard, at the end of his contract, Christophe Fiatte, assistant coach and all-round nice guy has been shown the door, even before his contract is due to expire. Sixteen years for one, fourteen for the other at the club, Gigi and Totophe get the same treatment. No thanks from the club - a truly disgraceful situation, one more black mark on the once-proud club of Saint-Ouen. Nowadays it is rare to see players showing such loyalty to a club. PHYSIO. Daniel Lasfargues, physio at the club is another departure - booted out, but he has found another job, this time in the sunny climes of D1 outfir Bastia, in Corsica.      INCOMING. Kamel Bousseliou, former Aubervilliers goalie will have the job of coach to the "second" team, in the DH. Aged 33, he started out at Blanc-Mesnil before joining Aubervilliers in 1988. TRANSFERS. The CFA 2 deadline for transfers runs out on the 15th of July. After then, clubs can only take on a "joker". ENGLISH-STYLE. Unconfirmed rumour as yet, but Red Star could see their home games kicking off at the traditional English time of three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon. EX-RED STAR. Arthur Gomis is still on the lookout for a club, but scored for Viry-Châtillon in a friendly against Paris FC. Meanwhile, Macedo Gomes-Varela has signed for Racing, despite that clubs' relegation to the CFA. Elsewhere, RICHARD AKIANA is having talks with D2 club Créteil.

Updated 22nd July

ANDRE SIMONYI Born 31st March 1914 in Hustz (Hungary), died in Compiègne, Wednesday 17th July 2002. Hungarian and French international (4 caps for France). A career which spanned 31 years. Upon his arrival in France, in 1932, he played for Olympique Lillois before spells at Sochaux, Red Star, Paris Capitale (during the war), Red Star, Rennes, Angers, Stade Français, Rouen, Roubaix, Covilila (Portugal), Avallon, Cherbourg. He played more than a third of his career in the colors of Red Star, winning the Coupe de France in 1942, and a finalist in 1946. He scored over 200 goals during his career, many for Red Star, including 21 in D 1 (1937-1938) and 26 in D 2 (1938-1939). Had it not had been for the Second World War, his honours list would surely have been even longer. He went on to caoch Red Star during the season 1959-1960, and on the 20th November 1993, he was given a standing ovation by the crowd at Saint-Ouen during a game which was the clubs' 1000th in Division Two. A true Monsieur of the round ball game, along with his faithful friend Fred Aston.

Updated 18th July

ANDRE SIMONYI One of Red Stars' legends passed away Wednesday evening at the Hospital in Compiègne, at the age of 88. Next week, we will run a feature on the career of this fabulous footballer, international with both Hungary and France. At club level, he played for Lille, Cherbourg, not forgetting a memorable spell at Saint-Ouen, from 1936 to 1946 including the 1942 cup win. The site www.allezredstar.com, as well as all supporters of Red Star send their condolencies to the family of Mr Simonyi.    André Simonyi, with his wife at Red Star in 1993, and several years later 2000 The funeral will take place on Saturday 20th July 2002, 10am CET at the church at Vieux-Moulin in the Oise. FRIENDLY GAMES First outing of the season for a new-look Red Star this Saturday evening at Stade Marville, kick-off 7pm CET, against Poissy (CFA). Wednesday 24th July, 7pm CET at Senlis : SENLIS (DH) – RED STAR Saturday 27th July at 6-30pm CET at Marville : RED STAR – PARIS FC (CFA) Tuesday 30th July at 8pm CET at Moissy-Cramayel : MOISSY-SENART (CFA) – RED STAR.

Updated 9th July

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY Red Star, in 105 years of existence, has been through several black years, in particular in 1950, 1955, 1960, 1978 and … 2002. In 1950, following the merger with the Stade Français in 1948, the club created by Jules Rimet disappeared completely from the face of professional football during two seasons. Readmitted to the D2, but three years later, in 1955, the Audoniens were prevented from gaining promotion to D1, depsite finishing in second place, because of some affair of corruption. Yet again, in 1960, another dodgy dealings affair hit the club. As a result the club was banished from pro football for a season. One year later, they were back, and even reached the dizzy heights of D1 for a few years, in particular following the improbable merger with Toulouse in 1967) before falling back into D2 and liquidation in 1978. The club started out agin in the DH (4th division at that time, under the presidency of Jean-Claude Bras, a one-time player at Saint-Ouen. Gradually the club climbed back through the levels of French football, and narrowly missed out on promtion to the elite in the 1990s. Then the bubble burst, and some bad signings, bad decisions and fanciful declarations in he press led tho the current pitiful situation. All that reamins now is the name and the history. 1960 … Red Star makes the headlines RED STAR – PARIS SG. Saturday 20th April 1974, match in D 2, a derby Red Star – Paris SG, at the Stade de Saint-Ouen, Red Star win 2-0. A couple of action photos from that game.    ROGER LEMERRE, 1963. Here's a photo of former Red Star and French coach Roger Lemerre, recently the scapegoat for the national teams' miserable failure in Japan and Korea. In 1963 he was playing for Sedan.

Updated 5th July

END OF THE ROAD FOR THE DSR Red Stars' directors have decided to withdraw the third XI from the DSR championship. Therefore, in addition to the youth teams, Red Star will have sides competing in the CFA 2, DH et district du 93. Entente-Sannois-Saint-Gratiens' reserves benefit from this withdrawal, and will re-take their place lost through relegation at the end of last season. COUPE DE FRANCE DATES. 3rd round : 22nd September; 4th round : 6th October; 5th round : 20th October; 6th round : 3rd November; 7th round : 24th November.

Updated 3rd July

SOME FIGURES. In theory at least, Red Star will kick off the season 2002-2003 in the CFA 2. But with a budget of how much ? Whatever, last seasons' figure of € 2.29 millions will not be possible - normally in the CFA 2 clubs operate with a budget of around € 300 000. At present the piggy banks are empty, the councils' contribution for 2002 having already been eaten up so far this year. Therefore liquidation is a real possibilty, and this would wring further relgation. The nightmare continues, but still silence from the club (c/f the situation at Airdrie/Clydebank). If this continues, then we can only assume the worst, that the Red Star is dead. ELSEWHERE. Camille Oponga has signed for National club Pau, after contacts with Racing; Aziz Belissaoui has left Clermont and joined Louhans-Cuiseaux, another club in the National.

Updated 2nd July

MORE REACTIONS. A nice mail from "Claude", who points out: "I find you a little hard on President Jean-Claude Bras, President being a title which he deserves, having saved Red Star in 1978. He isn't the only one responsible for the current situation, above all he has left his place to others in the SASP. You should be more objective, let the clubs' directors have their say"> Willingly - we welcome without hesitation the replies from the parties concerned... no censorship here. Whether it be in French or in English, any response from M. Bras or his colleagues are welcome. To cliarify the point about M. Bras' involvement with the club, he appears to still have a major role to play in matters, even though his name no longer appears on the list of the Conseil d'Administration of the SASP. The official site as of the 14th January 2002 listed Jean-Claude Bras as president, and the treasurer Claude Thuel. During January this was changed to the SASP being presided over by Nigel Atkins with Jean Gallet and Ben Amar Seghiri as administrators. The SEM has for president Claude Thuel, Jean Gallet is the general secretary and Juana Sautour as treasurer. GERALD MILTON. Elsewhere, after a spell at Cosmo-Taverny (DH), the former Red Star striker is on the point of signing for Viry-Châtillon (National). Mickaël Pizzo could be making his return to France, after one season in Scotland. Division 2 outfit Grenoble appears to be his next destination. CONGRATULATIONS To Bhutan, 202nd ranked in the world, after their 4-0 win over 203rd-ranked Monserrat. COMISERATIONS to shell-shocked fans of Clydebank, Scotland, after the demise of their club. Their place in the Scottish League should be filled by newly-formed Airdrie United.

Updated 1st July

GET YOUR ROAD ATLAS OUT ! Should Red Star manage to avoid disappearaing completely, and should they play in the CFA 2, then the group that they will play in will consist of : Aubervilliers, Auxerre (c), Beauvais (b), Châlons-en-Champagne, Chantilly, Chartres, Chaumont, Créteil (b), Ivry, Orléans, Reims (b), Rethel, Saint-Dizier, Saint-Quentin. Out of all that lot, three are in the Paris region (Auber, Ivry and Créteil), so they should be relatively easy to get to, and of the rest, Auxerre is about 100 miles SE of Paris, Beauvais about 50 miles to the north, Chantilly is about 45 minutes from Saint-Ouen, Orléans isn't too far away, neither is Chartres (worth a visit), the rest a bit further away. Still, on the whole less travelling than last season. Red Star –Aubervilliers, season 2001-2002, in the CFA 2 GOING GOING GONE. In Le Parisien, one reads that the boss of Crit Interim (Red Stars' shirt sponsor), Claude Guedj has severed links with the club. He is quoted as saying "Me, I played the game in paying € 76 224 (500 000 F) to be shirt sponsor. "Jean-Claude Bras, whom I recently met with had assured me that all was well financially. Now he can sort it out for himself". He shoots - he misses ! LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONSEIL GENERAL. A few days before the DNCGs decision was announced, a group of Red Star supporters wrote a letter to the County Council, in particular the president, Monsieur Robert Clément, outlining the dramatic situation of Red Star. Don't forget that the Conseil Général paid out € 534 000 (3,5 MF) to the club this season. REACTIONS. Your reactions have been pouring into the site following Red Stars' collapse. Thanks for your letters, keep on writing to us. Some of the reactions we've had (our translations where necessary) : "Following sporting disaster, here comes the financial disaster.... best wishes to whoever takes over from Bras.... one thing is sure, they can't do any worse" Jacques from Saint-Ouen "...each year we have the right to grandiose speeches from the president, but at the end nothing, in fact worse because at the end of the season the Red Star finds itself in a lower division...." Romain from Montreuil "a president linked with the Crédit Lyonnais affaire, having problems with the tax people and sporting failure whether it be the first team or the youngsters... luckily on the offical Red Star internet site M. Rodighiero, back from Korea paints a magnificent portrait of the country and its history..." "... I want to finish by saying to all those who feel betrayed, as I do, not to give in, we have to do all in our means to make people react, other there will be no renewal..." Charles.

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