The China Mail - Stade Francais owner backs Gustard after relegation scare

The 14-time French champions needed a win over Castres on Saturday to confirm their top-flight status after a sluggish campaign

Their 21-10 win saw them finish in 12th spot, nine points ahead of bottom side Vannes, who are relegated automatically, but just one point clear of Perpignan. The Catalans will face a play-off with Grenoble, who finished runners-up in ProD2, to see which will play in next season's Top 14.

Gustard, who was England's defence coach under Eddie Jones, joined the Parisians in 2022 in the same role.

After the sacking of Karim Ghezal in February of this year and the subsequent sidelining of Laurent Labit, the director of rugby, Gustard moved up to head coach.

The 49-year-old was linked with a return to Leicester, where he won the Champions Cup as a player, but has now signed a new deal until 2028.

"Paul would have stayed even if we had gone down," Wild told French media.

"He's an excellent coach. He studied psychology, so he understands the mindset needed," the 83-year-old added.

Stade Francais, who have the second highest budget in the Top 14 of 38 million euros ($43 million), won just 10 league games this season, having reached the playoff semi-finals barely 12 months ago.

"It was not a good season," Wild said.

"This is why we're meeting again on Wednesday to really work on the strategy for next year and what we have to change.

"We clearly made mistakes in hiring, we let five or six very good people go, and what we got is nothing, absolutely nothing," he added without naming individual players.

- 'Flexible' -

German-born Wild, who is reportedly worth 3.6 billion euros ($4.11 billion) thanks to his soft drinks company Capri-Sun, bought the club in 2017 but said in March he was looking for someone in France to invest in the outfit with him.

"I'm too old. That's the problem. I'll be 84 this month. So how long can I do it?

"This is a very expensive hobby," he added.

Wild denied reports claiming Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH luxury goods conglomerate and France's richest man, was interested in adding the rugby club to Paris FC, the football club he owns.

"We have interested people, but they need money," Wild said.

"It depends on who it is. You have to be flexible.

For next season, Wild, who was present for eight games this campaign, admitted the goal was qualifying for the Champions Cup.

There will be changes in Gustard's coaching staff, with ex-France scrum-half Rory Kockott and former England prop Perry Freshwater arriving as his assistants.

On the playing squad, they have been strongly linked by the rugby press with former New Zealand scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow and French prop Thierry Paiva, both at La Rochelle, as they look to avoid a repeat of this season's calamity.

"If we had signed someone, we're not going to talk about it, yet," Wild said.

"Most of the names in the press are wrong.

"Whatever you read is all talk, by an agent," he added.

Whoever comes in will need to settle quickly if Gustard is to restore Stade Francais to the top end of French rugby.

N.Lo--ThChM