Season 1946/1947

Having achieved a creditable 5th place in the 1945/1946 season, Stade Rennais University Club wanted to maintain the stability in their squad to keep a homogenous and competitive team together for the 1946/1947 campaign. The Red and Blacks even reinforced their side with the arrivals of striker Simonyi, defenders Jean Combot and Fernand Pordié, and the goalkeeper Hatz (who had just won the French League title with Lille.) The beginning of the season, however, would prove to be a laborious one, with Rennes winning just one match out of the first eleven league fixtures, and Rennes found themselves in 19th. Mercifully, Stade Rennais would play their way back into form, winning seven out of the subsequent eight matches, climbing back up to 8th in the table in the process. Alas, the club suffered a sad loss on 27th November 1946, when young midfielder Marcel Gouédard was tragically killed in a collision with a coach. Rennes also saw their top scorer, Simonyi, leave the club to sign for Angers at the end of January 1947. Simonyi had recorded 13 goals in 21 matches for Rennes during his brief stay.) Having retrieved things on the sporting front, Stade Rennais would consolidate their place in mid-table, even getting up to 7th (their best position of the season), after a run of 8 wins in 12 matches at the end of Matchday 33. But the end to the season was a disastrous one for the Red and Blacks, losing all of their last five matches in the league. Rennes would end up 9th in the First Division, with the 11th-rated attack, and 14th-ranked defence. In the French Cup, Rennes were eliminated in the Round of 64 by the subsequent French Champions, Roubaix-Tourcoing in a 0-1 defeat.