BAYONNE PRESIDENT MANU Merin on Monday dismissed a controversial plan to merge with historic Basque rivals Biarritz after threats were made against him and his family.
It was the second attempt to fuse the financially-troubled southwestern clubs after another failed bid in late 2013.
Banners hostile to the merger were displayed at the Chaban-Delmas stadium on Saturday as Bayonne lost 38-20 to Bordeaux-Begles, with threats also made against Merin and his family.
“Faced with such violence, to protect my family, the employees, I’ve decided to stop the talks,” an emotional Merin told a press conference.
“It seemed appropriate to have discussions with Biarritz. Today I prefer to stop before all hell breaks loose. There will be two professional entities (Bayonne and Biarritz) next season.”
Biarritz failed in their bid for promotion to the Top 14 next season on the final day on the Pro D2, with relegation-threatened Bayonne 13th in the Top 14 with their destiny out of their hands with one match to play.
- © AFP 2015
Got to respect his honesty tonne fair. It’s always easy to be critical.
Let’s hope it works out for him. Acknowledging that he was doing himself no favours sounds like a step in the right direction
best of luck to him, wasnt aware that he was hanging around with an unhelpful crew.
but at the same time every single sports person always says they are in the best shape physically and mentally ever so will wait to see how he goes.
It is probably a good thing for him to move to Italy. There is obviously a culture he is trying to get away from. If he eats and trains properly and focuses on soccer he could have a good career. They are built up and then knocked down. They work so hard to get to the top level but loads of them throw it away. Too much money too young perhaps. I think it’s generally they surround themselves with the wrong type of people. A player dyeing their hair for me is usually a very bad sign, they’ve lost focus completely. I hope he knuckles down and gives it everything because it feels like the last chance saloon