Paris Saint Germain [R]

[SportBoy321]

Hi Papa Bouba Diop I see that your from Nice. Their was an American here who said he went to Nice and said he couldn't find any OG Nice merchandise in the city. That lead to a little bit of a debate as to weather they support the team over there or if people of Nice even care about football. Coupled with the fact they have a small stadium so maybe you can tell us what the situation is over there because you live/lived there. Do they care about the club over there or what ? Why isn't it a bigger footballing city

[Papa Bouba Diop]

Originally posted by SportBoy321
Hi Papa Bouba Diop I see that your from Nice. Their was an American here who said he went to Nice and said he couldn't find any OG Nice merchandise in the city. That lead to a little bit of a debate as to weather they support the team over there or if people of Nice even care about football. Coupled with the fact they have a small stadium so maybe you can tell us what the situation is over there because you live/lived there. Do they care about the club over there or what ? Why isn't it a bigger footballing city

Hey there sportboy, let me see what can i say about Nice...let's start off with the merchandise thing, first off you have to know where to look, take my cousin for example, he came from France to visit me in mtl and went out looking for a Habs hockey jersey, and came home disappointed after roaming downtown all day not finding one. so the next day i took him to the habs boutique and he bought a lot of stuff. My point: you have to know where to look. So anyways, i know of one OGC Nice store in downtown Nice, but i see many more general soccer boutiques.

As for fan support, Nice was the most popular team in france in the 50's, and from what im seeing this year their fans are super passionnate, they're filling up the stadium at 85% capacity compared to about 45% last year in division 2, so thats a big factor, now that the team is back in top flight people are showing up.

Also, from the moment they won promotion to L1 and up to a few weeks before the start of le championnat, Nice were relegated to Division 3 on financial grounds, but the fans held many rallies to show there support, long story short, they got access to top flight.

The stadium they have right now holds about 15k, but there are talks of a new stadium to be built in the near future at a 30,000 capacity.

Anyways, hope this helps.

[SportBoy321]

Well even though I am a Nantes fan I am a bigfan of the French League and National team and I want to see the clubs in France do well in Europe. I am interested in teams like Nice and Lille because I think they have huge potential to become big clubs in France like PSG,Marseille,Bordeaux,Nantes, Lyon are right now. I think Nice and Lille can join them in the elite but their gonna need big new stadiums first thats most important. I'm sick of all the Leverkusens,Feyenoords,Alaveses type clubs doing well in Europe who aren't superpowers. I know ManU,Real ,Bara,Milan. etc. will be dominate but when a club like Feyenoord wins the Uefa cupand a French team can't even make the quater finals it's embarassing. I want as many clubs in France as possible to be able to compete at a high level in Europe. Nice and Lille stepping up wll only help make France stronger. Lyon is doing great now but we need more to cheer for.

[Papa Bouba Diop]

Ya, i totally agree with you there, it's getting on my nerves, we owe all this to that belgium cu*t Bosnan. Look at monaco of a few years ago, had they kept the team intact they would be kings of europe.

The thing about the French league is that it's too balanced, you have no clubs dominating for long periods (exempt Lyon at the moment), any club can finish over any club, where else would you see cities of under 40,000 people competing so well, (i.e. Lens, auxerre, Bastia, guigamp) with cities with over 1 million inhabitants.
Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing for domestic football, but once they get into europe there just mediocre, if all the great players went to the biggest clubs, like in Germany or Italy, the league wouldnt be as exiting but you would see French teams dominating europe.

Also the god dawm tax system in France is messed up, we need new rules, we could see more money in the players pockets which would help us keep some players. Are you telling me Italy and Spain are richer countries than France???i think not.

Look at the TV ratings, merchandise sales and stadium attendances for OM and PSG, how come were always indebted? If Real Madrid were playing in France they would be playing in the 4th division becuase of their deficit.

Look at the TV deals in France, PSG and Marseille are on Canal+ practicaly every week, but they get the same revenue than teams like Ajaccio and Guingamp who are on like 4 times a year. It's time to

If we wanna see French succes in Europe we need many changes and soon.

[SportBoy321]

I think Bordeaux and PSG have a good shot in the UEFA Cup.Bordeaux just beat some club 10-1 on agg. their clicking on all cylinders right now PSG struggled today only won 1-0 over some team I never heard of they need to pick it up in the next round. If Lens and Auxerre finish 3rd in their CL group they have a good shot at advancing far in UEFA cup expecially if Cisse is healthy for Axuerre. Auxerre's defense is outstanding they only allowed 1 goal to Arsenal the other day now they need to find some offense. Right now it's not looking good for Lens to get into the UEFA CUp I think their in 4th place in their CL group now so we'll see what happens.

[Papa Bouba Diop]

Yeah, honestly i'm really pumped this year about french teams in Yurop, mostly PSG and Bordeaux in UEFA cup along with l'OL in champs league. i wouldnt worry about PSG's result, Luiz played 2nd team players and returnees of injuries, there was no real motivation.
How about PSG-Bordeaux in Seville? that would be nice.