A little stunned by the scale of the new project led by the Arnault family, which is at the head of the LVMH group (owner of “Parisien-Aujourd’hui en France”), and Red Bull, Paris FC supporters welcome the promise an imminent takeoff from their club as a great happiness. However, they remain wary of the specter of the Austrian energy drink firm and are awaiting more details from President Pierre Ferracci soon.
What did you think of this announcement at first?
Maxence. Since June, I knew that Paris FC was going to be bought, but not by whom? Mr. Ferracci, during a meeting, told us that a pair of two large investors were on board and had mentioned a budget of over €100 million in the coming years. This is also why we were not overly surprised by the arrival of players such as Jean-Philippe Krasso, Maxime Lopez and some good players from Ligue 2.
What do you think of the names of the buyers now that they are known?
There is a lot of optimism and a little worry. The good thing is that it is a French fortune, whatever one thinks of Mr. Arnault. In football, we know very well that it takes great resources to get your head above water. The downside is Red Bull. What we don’t want is multiple ownership, conflicts of interest, one club being put forward over another, etc. We saw where Troyes, the Red Star, led… We, for example, do not want to become Red Bull Paris. It would be a huge blow to our values. But hey, Red Bull only has 15%. We hope that Paris FC will keep its name and its identity, as Mr. Ferracci told us in June. We see him again on Wednesday and we will have some information, I imagine.
“We will go where the club goes”
Which stadium do you see yourself moving into?
There are a lot of unknowns. In June, we were told about the Jean-Bouin stadium, but that presents a lot of problems with the Stade Français inside and the PSG next to it, prefectural problems too. In any case, if Paris FC has to play in Ligue 1, Charléty is not suitable, there are no boxes for partners, etc.
Does the Jean-Bouin stadium seem compatible with Ligue 1 to you?
With 20,000 places, it would remain in the shadow of PSG. Afterwards, we remain spectators of the soap opera “PSG at the Parc des Princes”, it’s political, it’s beyond us. Historically, Paris FC started at the Parc des Princes at the very beginning of the 1970s, before going under. But it didn’t last more than two or three seasons, it remains the PSG stadium. We will go where the club goes. It’s very recent, it’s hard to imagine where we’ll land.
And the prospect of being a second major Parisian club, of looking all the other French clubs in the eye?
Let’s go step by step. Let’s move up to Ligue 1 already, we’ve been eating our black bread for several years and failing to reach the elite. Let’s keep our feet on the ground. We no longer have any excuses, because we have the investments, we have an audience thanks to free access. And this announcement will bring more people. In 2009, there were 300 of us at the stadium, so…
