Since 1998, Michel Montana has known everything with the Paris-Saint-Germain club: the farewell of the Brazilian legend Rai, in 1998, or the arrival with great pomp of his compatriot Neymar, in 2017. But the historic speaker of the Park des Princes will undoubtedly never forget the date of August 14 and the reception in Strasbourg. A gala evening which saw the return of the supporters, and the presentation of the summer recruits, including a certain Lionel Messi.
“It was crazy stuff. I no longer had my bearings. And besides, my voice breaks at the moment of “Leo” during the announcement of Messi. We were no longer used to earpiece returns and the noise that the Park could make ”, remembers the man with the hoarse voice, as the winter break begins on Thursday, December 23, the day after the 19e Ligue 1 day.
𝗟𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶 𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲́❗️ #PSGRCSA #PSGxMESSI ▶ ️ https://t.co/zI9DZImw6X https://t.co/ysyDSRV92t
When the championship resumed in August, the speakers experienced a renaissance which still seemed to be unusual a few months ago. Announcement of compositions, launch of commercial spots or introduction of minutes of silence: the presenters at the microphone are responsible for the pre-match spectacle. All in a precise timing by the Professional Football League.
But the emergence of the Covid-19 in March 2020 and the cessation of competitions have long threatened this ritual which has become ceremonial in the world of the round ball. A dive into the unknown for speakers forced into silence.
“I was afraid that they would no longer need me”
“Football is too important, we knew it was going to start again. At the beginning, we saw that [le virus] like the plague. There were no vaccines, no pass and we said to ourselves that we could catch it ”, admits André Fournel, who has been in Marseille since 1986. The 57-year-old man admits to being afraid for his health, he who caught the OM virus from childhood, not hesitating to skip classes to go in the hunt for autographs from the players of the time. His double manager’s hat allowed him to keep a regular activity at the training center when the epidemic began to rage.
Michel Montana experienced the first wave in a different way, working at the same time in the dubbing. Recording studios experienced a decline in activity. “We didn’t know how long it was going to last. We say to ourselves that we are going to lose our job. With the Covid-19, I was afraid that all of a sudden they would no longer need me ”, admits the sixty-year-old, who saw his season stop on a lunar PSG-Dortmund in the Champions League.
At RC Lens, Sylvain Lemoine – known as “Sylvano” – did not experience the end of the championship. Former Red Tigers fan group leader has passed “On the other side of the fence” during a summer 2020 under the sign of gauges. His prestigious baptism of fire against PSG (1-0 victory) took place in front of only 5,000 curious, before the return of the camera a few weeks later. “There was pride in writing a new page in my history with the club, but also frustration. You tell yourself that it will not last too long, and behind comes the in camera. It looked like a curse ”, plague the forty-something, who will have waited like his friends for a season before (re) tasting the intoxication of a sold-out stadium. In the meantime, we had to compose and make the link between the field and the viewers.
“A show without spectators has no place. We had to adapt the tone. At first, I played it on purpose “moderato”, and then I changed my mind, telling myself that there were people behind their TVs who could hear me through their screens. I acted as if they were there ”, details Michel Montana, he who dedicated the greatest, from the 2002 world champion, Ronaldinho, to Edinson Cavani, top scorer in the history of PSG.
Edinson Cavani with the PSG club announcer Michel Montana 😅 https://t.co/lzu4MWIInt
Same story for André Fournel, who did not want to see his usual enthusiasm damaged by the absence of supporters, in “his house” at the Vélodrome: “I was not doing the minimum service, it allowed me to get out of it mentally. I tried to work the same and ensure the job no matter what ”, he confesses.
A temporary return to normal?
Sylvain Lemoine, postman by profession, was finally able to experience the thrill of the Bollaert stadium in front of nearly 35,000 people, during the reception in Saint-Etienne on August 15: “When it comes to compositions, you look at the platform behind the goals with a feeling of infinity. I had the impression that there were people there until life. You feel that your start is expected. I had no voice for a few seconds, and my legs were shaky. I finished the match alone, sitting for ten minutes to recover ”, remembers the one who has frequented the Lensoise arena since the age of 6.
While England and Germany are experiencing a return of postponements and closed doors, linked to the tidal wave of the Omicron variant, France is resisting – so far – rather well. Ligue 1 finished the first part of its championship without any stadium closure attributable to the health context. But the worsening epidemic situation raised fears of empty stands at the resumption in January.
“Sylvano” concedes that the vertigo of the closed door often touches his mind: “When I see the stadiums in the Champions League declining, it puts a little pressure. But it allows us to appreciate what we are going through at the moment. It would hurt more now that I have a taste for full stadiums. Are we going to resume in 2022? We’ll see. “