Ihe survivors of the sinking at the Santiago-Bernabeu stadium, in the Champions League, still had to weather a storm at the Parc des Princes, Sunday March 13 during the reception of Bordeaux. Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr suffered the brunt of a bronca that all of their Paris Saint-Germain teammates have had except Kylian Mbappé.
The case for ingratitude or disrespect brought against the supporters is particularly unfounded: the status of a player, however legendary, is not worth impunity if he does not justify it. Mbappé, mocked at the start of the season for his departure wishes, honored his, him…
The defeat conceded on Sunday March 20 in Monaco by a lethargic team (3-0, without Messi) will not better dispose the fans. However, they target less the stars than the star system, that is to say the club’s casting policy, the failure of which is completed by that of the recruitment of Messi. The chasm has widened between media or economic success and sports results, or simply the quality of play.
Burn in the summer, fade out in the spring
There have been precedents in the Parisian stands, but now criticism is targeting sporting director Leonardo and going all the way to President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi. If the banners “Direction resignation” are frequent in Ligue 1, the one deployed at the Parc des Princes is a first in the Qatari era – at least since the return of the ultras in October 2016.
In its press release, the Collectif Ultras Paris (CUP) considers that “NAK”, too often absent, is no longer ” The man for the job “laments a “stack of stars”the “senator rhythm” in the championship, the comfort in which the “eternal substitutes”an authoritative private coach, the resulting lack of a game plan.
It’s time… MANAGEMENT RESIGN!!! @PSG_inside https://t.co/y9ELoVKHaV
The CUP had already expressed its ” anger “ early February, before elimination by Real Madrid. Supposed to fly over its championship (it did not succeed in 2012, 2017 and 2021), weighed down by the objective of a victory in the Champions League (announced inconsiderately during the takeover in 2012), Paris always plays its season on a few cutthroat matches in the Champions League.
Syndrome of a club which blazes in the summer, during the transfer window, but dies out in the spring, it especially enriches its list of legendary eliminations. Even the Champions League final and semi-final reached in the previous two seasons highlighted the inability to convert the wealth of its workforce into victories during this money time.
The rebellion of the Parisian supporters does not stem from the divorce that has become classic with these managerial leaders who are often unable to understand the roots of the passion and those of the clubs themselves. They owe Qatar Sports Investments credit for giving PSG a luster beyond that of their glorious (but already turbulent) 1990s.
The reason for supporters
Still, placed at the center of planetary attention, become a highly valued global brand, arousing jealousy with its galactic transfers, PSG also exposes itself to the return of a stick that it tends a little too often. Sarcasm, too, is planetary.
Some are calling for a clean slate, an unreasonable temptation: the club has set up structures, gained experience and its workforce remains exceptional. It would first be a question of degreasing it – precisely what Leonardo does not know how to do. Above all, to put at its head a trainer endowed with full sporting powers and assisted (finally) by a real recruitment cell.
Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, however, seems to be irremovable, benefiting from a form of extraterritoriality: his position of power in Qatar (as well as in French and European football institutions) seems too solid for him to be weakened like an ordinary leader. Only the outcome of the legal proceedings against him could change the situation.
This sporting and institutional crisis nevertheless compromises the pact of reconciliation sealed between the club and its most fervent supporters, a few years after the big cleaning of the “Leproux plan” which had preceded the takeover of the club.
Admittedly, the ultras now represent only a tiny fraction of the club’s global “fanbase”, but it is the most legitimate and the most visible, and the facts prove them right. While in Bordeaux, the Ultramarines group unconditionally supported a direction that is leading the Girondins towards relegation, those of PSG may contribute to beneficial changes.
