DESTINATION THE VOSGES : RAON-L'ETAPE.
Raon-l'Etape will be the sixth match for Red Star in the National. The commune is home to 7500 souls, and is not far from the larger town of Saint-Dié. The match kicks off next Friday at 8pm CET at the Stade Paul Gasser, 104, avenue du Général de Gaulle 88110 Raon-l'Etape (Tel +33 3 29 51 02 83).
This is the first times the two sides have met, Raon-l'Etape were promoted into the National in 1997. Coach is Didier Ollé-Nicolle and this term has gone for experience with his recruitment policy. Arrivals are goalkeeper Ferry (Paris FC), Descendre (Mulhouse), Rauturier (Angoulême) and products of other clubs' youth policies such as Marcilly (Nancy), Didier (Troyes) & Jager (Metz). Top marksman is Nicolas Debord (12 goals in 98-99). Raon-l'Etape have lost two out of their three home matches, (Fréjus, Besançon) with one victory (Clermont). Like Red Star 93, the Vosgiens have four points up to press.
DOMORAUD IN ITALY. Cyril Domoraud, former Red Star player, after one season Bordeaux and another at Marseille played his first match in the Calcio. Together with Ronaldo, Viéri, Blanc et al, he featured in his new clubs' 3-1 win on Sunday.
Updated 30th August PARTNERSHIP. The partnership deals, announced by club president Jean-Claude Bras on the 23rd August should be signed within the next ten days. The deal, linking Red Star 93, Saint-Etienne and Arsenal only requires " The i's dotted " according to Bras. However this is not a sell-out to Saint-Etienne, but Red Star will send its best young players on to Saint-Etienne, whilst les Verts will in return send players on loan to Red Star. A similar set-up already exists between London club Arsenal and Saint-Etienne. A young Nigerian striker, Eric Obinna, on loan from Arsenal last season could be on his way to the club of Seine-Saint-Denis.
ECHOS. Named in the starting line-up to face Reims, Fabien Valéri was unable to make his comeback on the pitch. An hour before the match, Valéri was hit by a virus and had to be replaced by Gérard Milton. A pharmacien from Argenteuil, supporter of Red Star, made a mercy mission back to his shop before the kick-off to administer the necessary anti-biotic. RICHARD AKIANA JOINS RED STAR 93. The strike force of Red Star 93 has been boosted by the arrival of Richard AKIANA. The much-travelled (Corbeil, Créteil, Saint-Dizier, Racing, Paris FC, Racing, Bourges, Créteil) goal poacher returns to the Paris region after a spell last season with Troyes (25 games, four goals but started mostly on the bench).
EL OTHMANI BACK. After missing three matches including two suspended Mourad was back in action at Marville.
REIMS IN WHITE. The Rémois, encouraged by a travelling support of 200 played in their change strip of white.
CELEBRATIONS. The last minute equalisation sparked of scenes of joy among players, officals and supporters of Reims.
TWO SCARVES. The Friends of Red Star had two brand new scarves on sale for the Reims match. The first is red letters on a white background with the slogan " Allez Red Star 93", and costs FRF50. The second is green with white letters and red stars, costs FRF60. You can order these soon-to-be collectors items by correspondance: send me a mail at jwh@multimania.com.
TRIBUTE TO GEORGES BOULOGNE. All over France, including Parc Marville, a minutes silence was observed as a mark of respect to Georges Boulogne, former national team coach who passed away during the week.
SCOREBOARD. How much longer before Red Star get a decent scoreboard, worthy of a professional club ?
THE ARRIVALS. Saturdays' crowd expected to see both " new " boys on the pitch Saturday. During the same week in April 1994, both starred on the pitch at Stade Bauer. Akiana scored an eigth minute goal for Racing in a Cup quarter final, which opponents Auxerre went on to win 2-1 on April 19th. Valéri, scored in the sixteenth minute for Red Star in a 5-1 rout against Rouen. Unfortunately, he only played half an hour of his professional debut on the 23rd April 23 before succumbing to injury.
LAURENT DELANOUE. Laurent Delanoue is back in training, let's hope to see him back soon in action.
HERE COMES THE CAVALRY ? Before the transfer deadline of the 31st August, two players, probably from Saint-Etienne will swell the ranks of Red Star, including a striker from Cameroon.
BESANCON 2 RED STAR 93 1 (1-1). Red Star dominted this match and opened the scoring through Meïté, but as per usual were sucker-punched and caught on the hop by two counter-attacks. Hakim Saci looked the most lively, and should have had a penalty when the scores were tied at one each. Let down again by a lack of experience.
REPELLINI. After the return of Fabien Valéri, hot on his heels comes Pierre Repellini. He will take his place alongside Jean-Luc Girard. Pierre Repellini was coach of Red Star from 1992 until October 96. A playing career with Saint-Etienne was followed by a spell in charge of the youth development policy there, before taking over as coach at Lyon-Duchère, then Red Star 93 and finally Saint-Etienne for one season.
Updated 20th August VALERI BACK IN TOWN. Fabien VALERI, who featured in Red Stars' first team last season is back with the club, having signed a new one-year deal. He made his debut under the former coaching duo of Robert Herbin and Pierre Repellini on the 13th March 1993 at Rouen, won 1-0 by Red Star. He could feature in Jean-Luc Girards' plans against Reims. Updated 18th August BESANÇON, fourth match..... Updated 12th August FREJUS v RED STAR. Friday 13th August at 8pm CETat the Stade Perruc, avenue du Général Brosset 83400 Hyères. (Tel. +33 4 94 65 55 54).
TRINITA. Red Star will come face to face with another " old boy " on Saturday at Besançon. Jean-Marc Trinita, aged 34 now stars with the current league toppers after a spell with Lorient. Being top of the tree hasn't changed the ambitions of the club, who still regard league survival as their main priority. The majority of the players are semi-pros and have daytime jobs, only four full-time pros are on the clubs' books. For Saturday, a crowd of three thousand is anticipated at the Stade Léo Lagrange.
SCARF. For the Reims match, Friends of Red Star will have two brand new scarf designs on sale at the club shop - hurry hurry !
Saturday 21st August and Red Star are on their travels again, to Besançon.
Racing Club de Besançon is one of the new arrivals in the National, promoted at the end of last season. vient d'accéder au National. The two clubs have met 32 times in D2, the first occasion being in 1952-53. At that time the club was called RC Franc-Comtois Besançon, before going into liquidation in 1986. Currently the score reads 11 wins Red Star, 10 for Besançon and ten draws.
During the season 1954-55, Red Star won the two encounters, scoring six goals in each match. A memorable date is the 22nd May 1955 when Red Star won away 6-0, still the biggest away victory. Also, in 1962-63 Red Star on their travels won 5-4. The current coach of Besançon, Sylvain Matrisciano has locked horns on several occasions with Red Star, as he was a goalkeeper during the 1980's.
Thierry Perrot, who scored 18 times in the CFA campaign leads the attack.
Besançon won their promotion ticket by beating Reims, also now in the National in front of a crowd of 1200.
The " Bisontins " play in red, so Red Star revert back to their traditional green.
Stade Léo Lagrange (cap. 6000), avenue Léo Lagrange 25000 Besançon (Tel. +33 3 81 88 42 18).
BESANÇON (Doubs), pop. 125000 by the River Doubs, by the Jura region. Centre of the clock industry. Citadelle de Vauban, Roman and Gothic cathedral.
Friday 13th August (ha ha) Red Star are on their travels to Hyères, for the match against FREJUS. The Stade Pourcin has been closed for the first home match following incidents at the end of the season 98-99.
L'Etoile Sportive Fréjusienne was formed in 1938. The only silverware came with the title of Champion de France Division 4 in 1991. Coach is Didier Nervout. Directeur sportif is Jacky Novi, former international with Nîmes and Marseille. Fréjus finished in tenth spot last season in the National. Seven players quit the club including the brother of Youri Djorkaeff, and four have arrived : Ajas (Angoulême), Daquin (Cannes), Javegny (Sète), Nozaïque (Saint-Raphaël). Top scorer Stéphane Beyrac (9 goals) is still with the club, whose target this term is to avoid the drop. The two clubs have never met.
FREJUS (Var, south coast of France) is a town of 35000 inhabitants. Resort town with Roman ruins. Disaster hit the town in 1959 when the Malpasset dam ruptured. For information the town of Hyères is about forty miles west of Fréjus, not far from Toulon.
Gérard Valck