Too Much Perspective

Coming from England it's possibly difficult to appreciate where Paris St-Germain (PSG) sit in terms of the Parisian publics feelings towards the one major club within its environs. Paris isn't like London with its twelve professional clubs, Paris has one big club (PSG) and two smaller clubs Paris FC and Red Star 93 (a club formed incidentally by Jules Rimet).

PSG came into existence, I think it would be fair to say, because of politics. The club was founded in 1970 when two clubs: Paris FC and Stade Saint-Germain merged and as the result of a public subscription the club was formed. The merger didn't last long however and Paris FC split in 1972 and were allowed to retain their First Division status whilst PSG were relegated to the Third Division. These mergers and subsequent splits were a result of the Paris mayor refusing to accept that Paris should have a professional club from outside of the city, St Germain en-laye, the St Germain part of the name, is the most wealthy suburb of the city but crucially lies beyond the city boundaries. Paris FC play within the city at a stadium on the left bank and have done so for nearly thirty years. PSG rose from the Third Division as Paris FC began their path downwards.

PSG are the great underachievers of European football. There isn't a team which can compare in terms of the quality of its ex-players whilst also demonstrating a clear lack of trophies for its endeavours. David Ginola, Youri Djorkaeff, Leonardo, George Weah, Marco Simone, Jay-Jay Okacha, Nicolas Anelka, Ronaldinho, Gabriel Heinze, Pauleta, Juan Pablo Sorin, Claude Makelele, Ludovic Giuly and Mateja Kezman are among the more famous alumni. Between them those players have contributed to the winning of one UEFA Cup, two Ligue Ones and three French Cups over the past twenty five years.

One of the current crop of Arsenal youngsters, Armand Traore, has said this week that he wants to return to France and PSG this summer, that seems a bizarre confession looking at the two clubs respective positions in both their own leagues and European football, this comes a couple of months after Emmanuelle Eboue said he wants to play for PSG as well - must be something in the half-time tea at the Emirates. Oh and just to show that when things can go wrong they will go wrong PSG turned down the chance to sign Landon Donovan before he was offered to Everton. Doh!

The location of PSG's ground, Parcs de Princes, is central to an understanding of the problems that have affected the club over the past two decades. The ground sits between the leafy middle class suburb of Auteuil and the working class areas of Boulogne-Billancourt. Boulbi as it is known locally, is the most heavily populated Paris suburb, it is also the most densely populated suburb of any major city in Europe. Walking around the ground two summers ago with Nathalie, the difference between the two residential areas that form the club boundaries could not have been more pronounced. It's also worth pointing out that the ground is positioned partly over the Paris Peripherique and less than four hundred yards from the Roland Garros stadium.

Because of the clubs location it has two distinctive sets of supporters who are divided on racial grounds. Set up in 1985, the Boulogne Boys - their name comes from the stand where they sit - are white, working-class, the Tigris Mystic firm come from the multiracial Parisian suburbs and sit in the Auteuil stand.

I don't think it would be stretching a point to say that Paris doesn't really want PSG. The ground is positioned so that the city can really forget about it if it chooses, the club shop on the Champs Elysees is tolerated rather than accepted, it brings into the centre of the city the type of people the city would rather keep out and the behaviour of the supporters brings disrepute to the city, although the sub-plots surrounding the club also highlight the racism that exists and which is hidden by virtue of the fact that most if not all non-European immigrants are kept beyond the man made boundary that is the Paris Peripherique.

Two seasons ago the club were almost relegated from Ligue One, had they been relegated Paris would have found itself in the position of being the only major city in Europe without a football club in the first division of its national league. Unfortunately the PSG fans managed to turn a victory into a defeat when, during the League Cup win over Lens, they unfurled a thirty foot long banner which read " "Pédophiles, chomeurs, consanguins: bienvenue chez les ch'tis." (Paedophiles, unemployed and in-bred: welcome to the home of the ch'tis). In the presence of Nicholas Sarkozy the supporters had managed to stir up bad feelings against an entire region. Sarkozy, who was attending the game with his young son, informed the head of the French FA that if the banner wasn't removed he was leaving the match, the banner disappeared within ten minutes - good old Nick.

PSG don't have any local rivals to worry about, both on and off the field, the equivalent of a local Derby or 'el classsico' is against OM (Olympique Marseille). When the home game against OM was played 28th February, a match which PSG lost 3-0, the away supporters boycotted the match. All this did was highlight the tensions between the two sets of the supporters who rather than turn their anger towards the perennial underachievers turned it on each other. As a result of this fighting, a 38 year old man was beaten-up outside the ground and, three weeks after falling into a coma, the man died in hospital on Wednesday night. Four PSG supporters were arrested after the incident and it is expected that three of them will be charged with murder.

PSG have already stopped selling tickets for away supporters and are almost certain to have to play some home games behind closed doors. The supporters have also turned their anger against the clubs manager and the American company that own the club.

In an ideal world the two sets of supporters would join together for the good of the club, you would hope that this death would unite them, personally I can't see it happening. There is an 'us v them' mentality underlying all the problems and unfortunately both the us and the them are PSG.