A BRIEF HISTORY OF RED STAR FC 93

Squad 1941/2
Photo © Friends of Red Star

Back: Simonyi, Bersoulle, Meuris, Braun, Herrera, Roessler, Sefelin
Front: Aston, Darui, Vandevelde, Thevenot

Red Star were formed in a café in the 7th district of Paris in 1897 by Jules Rimet, who in later years was responsible for the creation of the World Cup of football. The name was given by an Englishwoman called Miss Jenny, at that time the Governess to the family of one of his associates. Football initially formed only part of the sporting activities of the club; in addition there were sections for rugby, cycling and athletics. Home initially for the Red Star was a stadium by the Champ de Mars, in Paris, but with the development of the suburban railway network, a site at Meudon was to be home until 1910. A proposed move to a site back in Paris in 1907 was halted because the land earmarked for the future stadium was sold to be developed as the cycling track, the " Vélodrome d'Hiver " In 1910 Red Star moved to the northern suburban district of Saint-Ouen, a stadium built amid allotments. On 23 March 1911 France played England in an international match to inaugurate the new stadium, despite having a capacity of only 5,000. 1913 saw the first ever French home win over Italy, at Saint-Ouen.
The 1920's were a golden age for the club, when they became the first club to win the Cup in three consecutive seasons, 1921, 1922 and 1923. Saint-Ouen was used for the 1924 Olympic football tournament following improvements carried out in 1922. At this time Red Star played in blue and white, but in 1926 the club merged with deadly rivals Olympique de Paris and adopted the green and white colours still in use today. 1928 saw a fourth cup victory then the fifth and final cup win came fourteen years later as part of the wartime competition.
Postwar, the club has been through many upheavals. In 1946 they merged with another Paris club to form Red Star Olympique Audonien, then Stade Français to become Stade Red Star. 1952 saw another change of name to Red Star Olympique Audonien. Non-league in 1961, professional again the season after, merging with Toulouse FC (!) in 1967, back to the old name of Red Star FC. The 1970's was a period of decline. Relegation in 1975 followed by liquidation in 1978, despite having a brand-new stand built. The efforts to restore top-flight football back to Saint-Ouen resulted in crippling debts, and the fall from grace to parks' football. A notable figure in the 1970s at Red Star was Roger Lemerre, cutting his teeth as coach at Saint-Ouen before going on to coach the French national side.
Driven by ex-player Jean-Claude Bras, the re-born Red Star fought their way back through the amateur divisions to a place in Division 2, where the club is today. Read the 1980 promotion story. Supported in part by the regional council, the club now play under the name AS Red Star 93, the 93 referring to the postal district of the council of Seine-Saint Denis. Recent near-glories include reaching the quarter finals of the Cup in 1992.
Crowds tend to be modest, but the ambition rests in the club to once again be the top club in Paris. Following the building of the 80,000 all-seated Stade de France for the 1998 World Cup Finals, the directors of the club prepared a plan of action to have Red Star installed as resident club at the new stadium. Despite an initial refusal, Red Star soon hope to make the short journey to set up home in the finest temple of football in France. Read the full story
However, despite early season optimism, including a spell where Red Star reached the heady heights of second place, things turned sour during the 1998-99 season. The coach was sacked following a series of reversals, but the new man in charge, Jean-Luc Girard could not halt the slide and Red Star, proud club of the Paris suburbs slipped into the National, the equivalent of D3.
1999 saw the return of former coach Pierre Repellini and closer links with the first division club Saint-Etienne. In March 2000, Red Star celebrate 100 years with a gala at the Stade de France, then in April, Red Star reached the league-cup semi-finals.

The season 2000-2001 was not a good one for the club; with only two weeks to go before the start of the season, coach Pierre Repellini moved across to be head of the Academy and ex-Bourg Perronas coach Jacky Lemée was brought in. The start was disastrous - Red Star never got out of the bottom four and Lemée was fired. Jean-Luc Girard stepped up to be coach once again, but could not stop the rot, and even the return of Repellini could not save the club from descent into the CFA, and the loss of professional status. France 3 TV even consacrated a special report on the demise of the club.

The club embarked upon a season in the fourth division of French football with President Bras as confident as ever, promising a quick return to the National. Indeed in January 2003 the club sat proud on top of the division, following impressive wins over their nearest rivals Lille reserves and Valenciennes. However, despite Bras' outpourings, behind the scenes all was not well and as rumours of unpaid wages circulated, form slumped and finally the club missed out on promotion to Viry-Châtillon, humiliation if ever there was.
During the inter-season of 2002 the news finally broke of Red Stars' precarious financial position, and the DNCG relegated the club into the CFA2, the fifth level in France. All the players left as did the coaches and youth officers. Coach Jean-Luc Girard did not have his contract renewed, and his assistant Christophe Fiatte, who had still two years to run on his contract was booted out with no financial compensation. Ex-forward Mustapha Ousfane was brought in, and he found himself with a squad made up mostly of the previous seasons' kids side.
The season got underway with a low-key 1-1 draw at Marville against Chartres, and as the season progressed the club started to find things difficult in the CFA 2. Off the field the club was placed into administration. In September the club lost 2-0 at Marville to Ivry, in what will hopefully be the last ever game at La Courneuve. Red Star moved back to its spiritual home at Bauer on the 12th October, drawing a gate of 1500 for a goalless derby against neighbours Aubervilliers. Another local side Paris FC were dispatched a week later in a Coupe de France match.
Despite some promising youngsters, the division and the off-field antics proved to be too much for the team, and a 2-1 defeat at Chartres condemned Red Star to local Parisian football, the level at which they had started out under the reign of Jean-Claude Bras.

Red Star needed a saviour, and three potential candidates put themselves forwards for the task. Eric Charrier, Jean-Yves Le Gourrierec and William Delannoy proposed projects for the takeover of the ailing club. The decision was down to the court at Bobigny. On the 19th of June, after careful deliberation of all the projects, Eric Charrier, supported in his bid by ex-Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Fernandez was named as the new man in charge of Red Star.
The club would start afresh in the Parisian DH, with last seasons' Istres coach Azzedine Méguellati in charge.
After a steady start in the DH, Fernandez quits the club at the end of 2003 and Azzedine Méguellati is replaced as first-team coch by Jean-Luc Girard. The club finishes the season on a high note, after a good run-in, and a seventh-place finish is achieved. For the start of the following season, with new President Bruno Davoine at the helm, Girard makes a few changes to the squad and at the end of the season another strong winning spell sees the club promoted to the CFA 2 on a memorable sunny May day at Bauer against Evry.
Red Star soon emerge as one of the favourites for promotion in the CFA 2 after a good start. However, internal conflicts within the club result in some indifferent results at the turn of the year and the rest of the pack starts to catch up. After a poor home defeat to Rouens' reserves, Girard is given the sack with seven games remaining. In a stand-off between the club and the players, the latter go on "strike" in support of Girard. For the game at Evreux, Red Star field their under 18s whom narrowly lose. With six games remaining, Girard and president Davoine reach a compromise and Girard resumes coaching duties. Red Star win their next six games, achieving promotion with a 2-1 win over Valenciennes Reserves at Bauer. The championship is sealed at Sannois-Saint-Gratien where Vincent Fourneuf beats future Red Star goalie Yoann Djidonou with a cheeky chipped penalty.
The interseason proves to be one of many changes and as Girard leaves the club ex-Les Lilas coch Bruno Naidon takes the hot seat. Experienced players are brought in to face the challenge of CFA football...
Naidons' first season with the club gets off to a steady start at sun-drenched Poissy (oxymoron ??). But the return to Bauer set sparks flying as Red Star thump Pontivy 5-1, despite trailing 1-0 after a very poor first half. A goalless draw at Sainte-Geneviève-des- Bois is followed by a magnificent 4-0 thrashing of Guingamps' resreves at Bauer. But despite early optimism, the season settles into one of consolidation at this level, and Red Star cruise into mid-table. However there is to be drama on a Sunday afternoon in March 2007 in Saint-Germain. Red Star go behind 1-0 against PSG reserves and minutes later the ground is invaded by PSGs' infamous Boulogne Boys, who proceed to attack Red Stars' supporters before withdrawing from the ground taking with them some of Red Stars' flags. With doubts as to the security of the spectators present, Red Star players refuse to continue the game and the fixture is abandoned. Amongst the supporters there is one broken wrist and several bruises and one innocent bystander hit by a flying can of drink.
The match is not to be replayed and the fixture is awarded to PSG, despite Red Stars' protests. The season draws to a close with Red Star finishing a honorable tenth. The Dulwich element are in Dieppe to see Red Star...
Next season, 2007-2008 Red Star are placed in the East group of the CFA, which means some very long away trips. The first match sees Red Star winning 2-1 at Jura Sud Foot, but The season turns out to be a long grind, long trips and a mixed bag of results. Red Star once again finish tenth. The seasons is to be Bruno Naidons' last in charge, and with Red Star changing president mid-season, Patrice Haddad taking over from Bruno Davoine, former Bastia coach François Ciccolini is brought in. With him comes a raft of players he has previously worked with.
The season 2008-2009 proves to be a hard one. An opening season defeat at Rennes reserves is followed by a 1-0 win at home to Caen, but from then on the season becomes complicated. Back to back wins over Racing and high-flying Rouen give false hope before a dismal run throws Red Star at the wrong end of the table. Red Star go eleven games without a win before a miraculous 3-0 win at Le Havre. By now Ciccolini has gone, replaced by reserve team coach David Giguet. The relegation battle is not helped by the deduction of one point following sundry crowd problems at Bauer. Somehow, Red Star manage to win their last three games and finish third bottom, not enough to avoid the drop.
A new coach is announced, former Villemomble coach Alain Mboma, the man who took the small suburban club from the DH to the National, the third level of French football. After six years of being the official Red Star internet site, AllezRedStar.com is replaced by a new web site. AllezRedStar.com opt to carry on independant, focussing more on the historic of the club and leaving the day-to-day details to the new official site. As Mboma prepares for the CFA 2, off the field Red Star take their battle to the courts to reclaim the one point which would ensure their safety in the CFA. With the season only days away, Red Star are reprieved but are placed in the south-west group which means long trips to Bordeaux, Toulouse....
With a meagre squad the season is a hard one, but with reinforcements arriving en-route, Red Star avoid the drop and finish 2009-2010 in eleventh place.
2010-2011 is announced as the season for promotion, but with ambitious Quevilly in the same group, nothing is to be taken for granted... (to be continued)...

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