Thursday morning, Mets 92 employees received a text message from a manager telling them that the club would not throw in the towel and would ultimately remain domiciled at the Marcel-Cerdan sports hall in Levallois-Perret in 2022-2023.
« We have no feedback, no explanations “, is surprised Frédéric Donnadieu, president of Nanterre 92. “ We weren’t demanding because our club is stable and healthy, but when they asked us last week, the idea of uniting the forces of the 92 department was great, allowing us to grow. Wednesday afternoon, we had no more news when things had to go very quickly and Thursday, we learned via a lawyer that they were staying in Levallois “, adds the brother of Pascal Donnadieu, the coach of Nanterre.
“Surprised and disappointed with the method used”
Frederic Donnadieu, Chairman of Nanterre 92
« We are extremely surprised and disappointed with the method used. Tuesday noon, the mayors of the two cities were convinced that it was going to do it. It seemed idyllic. Beforehand, Boulogne had to recover the shares still held by Levallois (5 %), cease its activity and we launched a partnership to be called Nanterre-Boulogne 92, play in Nanterre next season (with a mechanically increasing budget) et we kept the keys to the club. They had already contacted us with this idea in April 2021 and had not given any further news afterwards. Did our desire to keep the reins of the club dissuade them? asks Frédéric Donnadieu.
In search of a land of welcome since the construction of an Arena on the territory of Boulogne is frozen by the appeals, the Metropolitans 92, properties of the city since 2019, hunt all over the place since the deterioration of their relations with the Levallois SC, root club. The municipality of Levallois-Perret no longer wishes to finance professional basketball and simply grants the Mets the enjoyment of the sports hall (training and matches), according to the agreements made in 2019 valid until 2023.
Several avenues have been considered in recent weeks: the sports hall of Issy-les-Moulineaux and rapprochements with Paris Basketball and therefore Nanterre, all abandoned. But unless there is a new twist, they are back to square one, in more precarious conditions. They will indeed have to coexist in Levallois with women’s volleyball, which has entered League A, and will have lower resources in 2022-2023.
“It was complicated to complete everything legally on time”
A source close to the town hall of Boulogne
This season, with a budget of 7.2 million euros, the third of Betclic Élite, the team coached by Vincent Collet finished third in the Championship after having raced for a long time in the lead and reached the quarter-finals of the Eurocup. There is also no guarantee that the coach of the Blues will take these procrastination and permanent uncertainties on the right side and that he will honor his second and final year of contract with the “Mets”. “ It was complicated to legally complete everything on time “Advanced Thursday evening a source close to the town hall of Boulogne, to justify this sudden change of course.
