Three weeks after their last official match, the Angels of Béziers Volley can finally blow, with the exception of the international parties to join their selections. It is also time to learn from an eventful, but interesting season, marked by the departure of Frédéric Havas, the coach, during the season.
One of the significant facts of the 2024-2025 Béziers Angels season will undoubtedly been the change of coach in December. Recruited a year earlier, Frédéric Havas did not resist a halftime championship start. His eviction marked a turning point in the Biterrois season. It was Fabien Simondet, a well -known face at the club, for having trained the team before the arrival of Frédéric Havas, who took over the reins of the group. An always delicate transition, both sporting and psychologically.
“It’s half a season for me”
“It was a half-season for me, a difficult challenge, because we took over a team in difficulty, especially mentally. A young team with, unfortunately, series of injury”, summarizes Fabien Simondet. Back in control, the coach had to face chronic instability of the workforce, between physical seeds and lack of collective bearings.
At the end of the regular phase of the Saforal Power 6 championship, the Angels won a 7th place with a balanced record: 13 victories for 13 defeats. Sufficient performance to access the play-offs. But Béziers then inherited a dreaded opponent, Venelles, who has established himself with each confrontation, this season, against the Biterroises. And once again, they fell in front of their black beast, stopped net before the semi-finals.
A frustrating elimination, especially since the dynamics seemed positive at the end of the season: “We have never been able to work 100 %, because we have always had complicated weeks with injured. The only frustration is that I think that with a whole group, with the progression we had, we might have been able to go very far in these play-offs”, regrets Simondet.
The season over, the gaze is already turned to the future
“The rest? We are going to prepare for next season. We have already started, with the desire to build a competitive team, or at least as competitive as this year”, Ad Simondet.
Behind the scenes, reconstruction is underway. The challenge is clear: Béziers Volley must leave with the ambition to transform the frustrations of this season into force for the next one.
An exceptional grant of € 180,000
During the last municipal council, an exceptional subsidy for the Béziers Volley was voted for € 180,000. This sum is “intended to cover the forecast deficit and make it possible to maintain the level of equity, at the level fixed by the National League of Volley” He was explained during the session. The LNVB requires, in fact, professional clubs to reconstruct their equity up to 10 % of their budget, so that they can guarantee their financial stability.
On the BV side, it is announced that this forecast deficit is due to the departure of Frédéric Havas, who caused costs. But also, as said during the municipal council, by “The increase in certain management fees, a drop in ticket revenues due to the fact that the team is not playing the European Cup this season and not offset by sponsorship and patronage revenues.“
