POOR TURN OUT. We're getting used to poor crowds, but this crowd was even lower than the match for the Bank Holiday weekend of the 15th of August, normally low because many people are ob holiday away from Paris. Crap performances and raised prices have also contributed to this decline. For instance, Georges, a supporter since 1934 and often as not an awayday supporter, called it a day after the Noisy debacle.
IN THE STANDS. Francis Borelli, ex-president of Paris SG and former amateur with Red Star (1952-54) watched the farce, together with actor Jean-Pierre Bernard, a frequent visitor to Stade Bauer in the 1970's.
MICHEL MOULIN ON FRANCE 3 TV. Michel Moulin, general manager of Red Star 93 gave an interview to France 3 TV for the local Ile-de-France sports programme. He said "We haven't been good up to now, but we're going to nurse our wounds, there is no crisis. We've had four games, ther's still thirty-four to go. We still hope for promotion. Our main problem lies in midfield, if we had several good midfielders, there would be less pressure on the defence, and they would play better than they did in the last game. Whether we win or lose at Reims, there will be no revolution. It will take a month or even two to know exactly if we are good enough."SUNDAY TO THURSDAY. After a rest day Sunday, Monday afternoon at Marville they received a blasting from Jacky Lemée. Afterwards, two hours with Jean-Luc Girard and Régis Roch. Ex-GFCO Ajaccio player Mickaël d'Amore tok part in this session. Tuesday morning and Mickaël Tacalfred injured a toe and was out for the afternoon session, but should be ok for the trip to Reims. Brahim Thiam, suspended following Saturdays' red card will take the time off to recover from tendonitis.
Afternoon and another Probables-Possibles match, including d'Amore, Dambou Traoré, ex-Créteil, Roger Hitoto (ex-Lille) and Belgian midfielder Marc Wuyts, 300 matches in the Belgian league with Anderlecht and La Louvière as well as a under-17 from Dynamo Kiev.
The Possibles beat the Probables 2-1 (D'Amore 2 & Faye), watched by Jean-Claude Bras as well as Alim Ben Mabrouck, back in favour after a chat with his president.
Probables : Branger, Perron, Saxemard, El Othmani, Oponga, Saragaglia, Faye, D'Amore (Wuyts) , Aïchour, Van Kets, Castro (Saci).
Possibles : Bayiha, Deom, the Ukranian from Kiev, R. Gomis, Malfleury ( N'Goma), Traoré, Hitoto, Le Maux, Saci (Abda), Wuyts (A. Gomis), Rangdet (Ouejdide).
Castro carried a slight knock and only played for half of the game.
Mickaël Serreau is still with the club, his contract has not yet been cancelled.
Leugueun has undergone trials with Mulhouse of the CFA.
Wednesday mornings' retained group consisted of Branger, Perron, Saxemard, Oponga, Saragaglia, Aïchour, N' Goma, Rangdet, R. Gomis, Castro, Van Kets, Saci, Tacalfred, Le Maux and Ouejdide.
ONE WINNING TEAM. The reserves won their game against Moissy-Cramayel in the CFA 2 at Saint-Ouen 5-2. Goals came from Milton (2), Rangdet (pictured) and Serreau. Héréson and Maugé replied for the visitors. This win takes Red Star to top spot along with Poissy, victors against Créteils' reserves.RED STAR 93 : Bayiha, Mary, Faye, Perron, El Othmani (R. Gomis 46) , Busuttil, Serreau, Malfleury (Saïti 61), Rangdet, Milton, Jolibois (Gomes Varela 86).
Other scores in group B : Poissy - Créteil (b) : 1-0 ; Toul - Paris SG (c) : 1-1 ; Senlis - Auxerre (c) : 0-1 ; Blénod - Evry : 1-1 ; Châlons - Saint-Dizier : 1-0 ; Tinqueux - Chantilly : 1-0 ; Ivry - Chaumont : 1-1.
On Saturday a trip to Saint-Dizier for a match at 5pm CET.
UNDER 17S. On Wednesday at Bauer, the under 17's beat Beauvais 1-0. On Sunday their season gets underway for real with a match at Pablo Néruda, Saint-Ouen (3pm CET) against Magny Metz.
Updated 24th August NATIONAL, WEEK FOUR ALREADY. A vital match for Red Star 93 in entertaining one of the pre-season favourites, Grenoble at Marville. After an awful start, Red Star now hope to get their promotion push underway with a positive result. Two players could be in line for a call-up from coach Jacky Lemée (pictured), Camille Oponga and recent arrival Thierry Saxemard. Other matches taking place this weekend are Clermont Foot at home to leaders Racing; Brest – Istres and Valence – Amiens; GFCO Ajaccio – Alès, Valenciennes – La Roche-sur-Yon, Dijon – Besançon, Pacy-sur-Eure – Reims, Pau – Noisy-le-Sec and Thouars – Louhans-Cuiseaux.
OLD PALS. Jean-Marc Branger and Olivier Saragaglia (left) will be up against former colleagues from their days at Grenoble.
COMPLAINT. Grenoble have protested about Valenciennes' use of an illegible player during the 1-1 draw between the two sides recently. Gustave Bahoken was the player in question and Grenoble could yet be entitled to the victory awarded in case of a decision in their favour.
CFA 2. Red Star 93 reserves area at home on Sunday to Moissy-Cramayel. The match will now take place at the Stade Pablo Néruda at Saint-Ouen, 3pm CET.
PRESENTATION OF REIMS. Exceptionally we bring you today the presentation of next Fridays' opponents, Reims.
NOTICE. The home game against Besançon will kick off Wednesday 6th September 8pm CET at Stade Bauer.
Updated 24th August OOPS SCOTTIES ! In yesterdays' Le Parisien, (see the other Red Star sites for copies of this article), under the heading "Monumental Errors", President Bras of Red Star 93 issued forth concerning Red Stars' crap start to the season: « This is a bit like last season. The we tried to play the youngsters. This time it's even more surprising. We had got together with the coaching staff six months previously in order to build a team." When asked if he was worried, he replies "Worried, no, angry, yes ! There have been some bad recruits made and some bad casting done. But Red Star isn't in a crisis, we'll sort out these little probles from within the club."
Concerning the arrival and departure of Tony Cascarino : «When he arrived, everyone said that it was a good idea. He should have been the captain of the ship. But, Tony is a very specialised player and just didn't fit into the plans of the new coach. Cascarino and Lemée just aren't on the same wavelength." He concluded that Red Star 93 hadn't yet really got the season underway and things are going to change, with more departures and arrivals in the next few days.
GIRARDOT BOOTED. Following Tony Cascarino, Raphaël Girardot has negociated his departure from the club.
OPPOSITION. Yesterday evening, a half-an-hour each way match between "Probables" and "Possibles" took place at Marville. Probales : Branger, Tacalfred, Oponga, Saxemard, Thiam, Saragaglia, N'Goma, Le Maux (Gomis), Aïchour, Van Kets, Castro. Possibles : Bayiha (Itandje), Deom, El Othmani, Perron, Pizzo (Rangdet), Gomis (Faye), Malfleury, Abda, Saci, Ouejdide, Milton.
Victory for the "Probables" 4-2, with gaols from Van Kets (2), Castro, Gomis and Ouejdide, Saci replying.
On the positive side, a good work out three days before an mportant match. On the other hand, the same old weaknesses are there. But, amongst the "Possibles" were Malfleury and Rangdet. The latter a real star of last season in both the DHR and CFA 2
ABSENT. Busuttil, Sirufo, Serreau and Leugueun were missing.
WEEKEND MATCHES : Other than the first team at Marville on Saturday, the reserves are at home at Pablo Néruda (Saint-Ouen) 3pm CET Sunday against Moissy-Cramayel. Other friendlies are :
STEVE MARLET. Steve Marlet scored a goal for Lyon in last nights' 2-1 Champions' League win at home to Bratislava.
RED OR GREEN. Raphaël, who lives in the UK, asked the colours of Red Star 93. This season the home kit os normally all red, with the green kit getting an outing at away matches where there is a colour clash eg Reims, Valenciennes.
WHO IS POHEN. Bruno Pohen asked us about the player named Pohen. Not too much is known about this chap except that he played for Red Star 1935-36. His first name started with A, he was born in Austria and later played for Antibes.
THE CIA IS WATCHING US. We have noted that recently the US military have been visiting our site... particularly since the arrival of Laurent CASTRO. OK, guys, before you set the CIA onto us, We're nothing to do with Fidel, or Cuba, and our Red Star is far from either Moscow or Belgrade. We're just a hopeless football club.
SORRY. The site will be out of action from Friday until next Thursday. But, for latest news, send your e-mail address to redstar189@aol.com.
Updated 23rd August BYE BYE TONY. Yet another inspired piece of mnagement by Red Star 93 - this time they have decided that they no longer require the services of recently-arrived striker Tony Cascarino. According to new coach Jacky Lemée, Big Tony doesn't feature in his tactical planning, so out goes the amiable Irishman. In the opinion of your Webmaster, perhaps the wrong one out of the two has been shown the door - judging by Lemées' performance so far, Cascarino staying would have been a better option. Updated 22nd August MORE ON THE RESERVES. Over one hundred spectators including several youth coaches and players were at Marville for the opening fixture of the reserves season. Red Star deserved their win, but it wasn't as easy as that, as newly-promoted Châlons fought hard. The home side opened the scoring on seventeen minutes. The match was interrupted a few minutes from the end by a storm over La Courneuve. Probably a wise move as at the same time in Paris a man received a direct hit from a bolt of lightning. Updated 21st August SAD SO SAD. Watched by only a few hundred spectators, it was hard to imagine a derby match. The only time any noise was made was when Noisy scored their third, and then that was just ironical cheering from the Red Star contingent. Updated 17th August TRAINING. After the morning training session, there was a match in the afternoon between "probables" and "possibles", as last week. This time the "probables" won 2-1, with two strikes from Laurent Castro. Taking part were Camille Oponga as well as Thierry Saxemard, former Le Havre, Beauvais, Le Mans, Gueugnon and last year Racing player. Absent was the injured Tony Cascarino. Le Maux has started running again. As a result of the session, the match for the CFA 2 against FC Mantois was cancelled.
NICE ONE CEDRIC. Cédric Lestic, scorer of one onf Besançons' goals last weekend, was yellow-carded for removing his shirt to reveal a proposal of marriage to his girlfriend written on his t-shirt underneath. After the game Séverine, his bride-to-be replied yes to his question. Congratulations to both of them, and see you at Marville on the 6th of September.
KARIM MOVES IN. Karim Fellahi has found himself a flat in Saint-Etienne, taking poseesion on Monday of the apartment of former St Etienne player Bruno Carotti now at Toulouse.
APPRENTICES. Mickaël Natchimie, Franck Guidali, Price Jolibois, Yohan Rangdet, Macedo Gomes Varella and Sébastien Malfleury are the six apprentices for the new season, and Jimmy Hamme, Benoît Saunier, Denis Moutiounguissa, Rémy Deom, Martin Ekani, Erick Isnard, Rémy Marchandise and Fodie Traoré will follow.
Other results were :
PSG (c)-Ivry : 0-0 ; Poissy - Toul : 1-0 ; Sénart-Moissy - Senlis : 4-1 ; Chantilly-Créteil (b) : 3-4 ; Evry-Tinqueux : 0-0 ; St-Dizier-Blénod : 2-0, Auxerre (c) - Chaumont : 0-0.
WHAT THE PRESS SAID. « Noisy hammer Red Star » dans Le Parisien, L'Equipe go with « Red Star beaten again" and in Journal du Dimanche, « Red Star mess up»
CONVERSATION. The main topic of conversation amongst the supporters on Sunday was the woeful situation of Red Star. Some drew parallels with Paris FC last season as well as the poor recruitment and Tony Cascarinos' absence at Noisy.
NATIONAL. In total 25 goals scored, including one by ex-Red Star man Cédric Lestic for Besançon.
3653 at Amiens, with on Saturday the clash between second place Clermont and leaders Racing. The latter, despite their good form can only pull 400, as can high-flying Istres.
CAMILLE - THE RETURN. Camille Oponga was on the bench against Noisy, but didn't take part. Jacky Lemée wanted to keep him to one side so that he could get a full match in the reserves under the direction of Christophe Fiatte. He should be soon back to take his place in the center of the defence. And boy does it need him !
SIGN HIM UP. Thierry Saxemard signed a one-year deal with Red Star 93. The former Le Havre, Beauvais, Le Mans and Gueugnon man was unemployed at the end of his last spell with Racing.
THE NATIONAL. After three games, the state of play is that four clubs have seven points : Racing, Clermont Foot, Amiens & Istres.
Other than Red Star 93, the other big disappointment must be Valenciennes with two points. Red Star are 18th with the one point, the crappest attack and the second worst defence. Below are Valence and Thouars.
GOOD START FOR THE RESERVES. Christophe Fiatte got his new career as reserve team boss off to a flyer, beating Châlons-en-Champagne 2-0 with goals from Serreau and Milton.
Red Star 93 : Bayiha, El Othmani, Mary, Oponga, Girardot, Pizzo, Serreau, Malfleury, Ouejdide, Milton, Rangdet. Rempl. : Leugueun, Busuttil & Saiti.
Next Sunday the reserves are at home, only this time at Pablo Neruda (Saint-Ouen). More during the week.
IN THE NEWS. Ex-Red Star players in the news : Aziz Bellissaoui made the decisive pass to Akrour, his new Istres team-mate, to score against Pacy-sur-Eure, on the ground where he made his last brief appearance for Red Star before injury.
Missing the trip to Toulouse, Karim Fellahi scored the third goal for Saint-Etienne reserves against Vitrolles in the CFA (3-0).
Another ex-Audonien is sitting happily on top of D1, namely Ted Agasson with Lille, the surprise package at the start of the season.
ACE UP THE SLEEVE. The trio of substitutes (Saci, Ouejdide and Abda) contributed enormously to the last-minute equalizer. First goal in the National for Abda (see photo).
