Bernard Guasch reveals staggering cost of travel for Catalans Dragons with rise for 2026 expected

   16/09/2025

CATALANS DRAGONS owner Bernard Guasch has revealed that the Super League club has lost €400,000 in 2025.

Guasch admitted that the club have lost such a major figure having to pay for travel costs for visiting teams and officials for the first time ever.

Total travel costs had reached a million euros for the first time in the club’s history and he expected this to rise to up to 1.5m next season.

The President was also frustrated by “administrative delays” which continue to thwart any progress on plans to redevelop Stade Gilbert Brutus but he is determined to see the project through.

The president was delighted by Thursday’s 16-8 win for the Dragons at Leeds, telling L’Independant: “I don’t know if it was an exploit or a surprise, perhaps it was more of a realisation.

“I did not go to Leeds but I had a long discussion with Benjamin Garcia before leaving. I asked that the players respect the jersey and the club in front of 15,000 people and in prime time on Sky Sports and that they also think about their last months of play.

“I hoped they respected their commitments because we will respect ours and I want departing players to leave the Dragons with their heads held high. That is what I said to the captain, who repeated my words to the players.”

The club owner reflected upon a “season of misfortune” and lamented the “unavoidable decision” to part company with long-time coach Steve McNamara.

He said, “It was unfortunate and we didn’t expect it because the squad on paper was a very good squad. Except that it has been a season of misfortunes, a season of accidents, of glitches, of worries, of suspended players, of out-of-shape players, of trauma.

“We saw everything this season, everything piled up. It was perhaps the most difficult season ever for the club.

“Firing the coach almost never happens to us but I had no choice. If I separated from Steve McNamara, it was because it was the end of the cycle, that our discussions were no longer in agreement. If there is no connection between the president and the coach, it cannot be done.”