The break is confirmed between the management of Paris Saint-Germain and a large part of its supporters. After a meeting, Tuesday, May 9, with several leaders of the capital’s football club, the Collectif Ultras Paris (CUP), which brings together six groups (i.e. more than two thousand people) and plays a leading role in the animation of the Parc des Princes since 2016, announced on Wednesday the “total cessation” of its activities ” until further notice “.
This radical decision comes as the club is on the verge of winning its eleventh French championship title. It is a highly symbolic sign of the crisis that PSG is going through, now deprived of its most loyal supporters, decisive for it in terms of image and popular fervor.
In a press release, the executives of the CUP specify that their members will no longer be present, neither in the Auteuil stand of the stadium nor on the move, to support the team. This withdrawal extends to the women’s team and the handball section of the Parisian club. “The latest events and the state of our common relationship with management lead us to believe that this is the best and only solution likely to preserve a common future., declares the CUP office, while PSG still have four Ligue 1 games to play this season, including two in Paris, against Ajaccio (May 13) and Clermont (June 3).
“The situation, which we consider extremely serious in several respects, must not be underestimated and we do not intend to compromise on our freedomsunderline the leaders of the CUP. We are waiting for clear answers from the club on several points in order to possibly review our positions. »
With Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, an impossible dialogue
In recent years, relations have continued to deteriorate between the collective and PSG, and in particular with its president, the Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, alias “NAK”. The repeated failures of the Parisian team in the Champions League and the recruitment of stars with insufficient performance have strongly contributed to this deterioration. But the rupture also feeds on deeper reasons, linked to the governance of the club and respect for its history.
The members of the CUP, like many historical supporters outside the ultra groups, indeed believe that the PSG – and in the first place “NAK”, too often absent in their eyes – gives too much importance to marketing and the star system, to the detriment of the club’s identity. The grievances, to hear them, are numerous: the uncertain future of the Parc des Princes (the management, in conflict with the city, threatens to leave it), the ticketing system which penalizes the most modest fans, the non-respect historic colors (the red and blue jersey imagined by designer Daniel Hechter, president of PSG in the early 1970s)… More generally, many regulars at the Parc des Princes believe that the management is sailing by sight, without accepting the slightest criticism.
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