[gaijin]

*~~~~~*~~*~~~~~*

Bienvenue au Café de Saint-Germain! The one and only place for everything PSG!

Welcome back to a new year after a pretty mixed bag for PSG over the last 12 months. If you've never posted here before, don't worry, there is only one rule. You have to talk about PSG and Paris. Please feel free to post in French and English, I don't mind, it's all good - so long as I understand it.

So, please sit back and let the cool smell of Parisian coffee waft over you, as you just sit back and chillout at our very exclusive Parisian café. The sun is shining, the lights over Yvelines are bright, and the sweet sensation of springtime is trying to break free amongst the wonderful surroundings of the Boulogne forest.

(L'edition hiver/printemps)

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." - Ernest Hemingway

PARIS EST MAGIK!!!




If you want to read previous editions of Café de Saint-Germain....

Vol. I
Vol. II

[gaijin]

L'actu...

PSG more googled than Bush!

According to Google.fr, PSG has been searched more times than George Bush, the figures that cover the whole of 2004, put the Parisian club at no6, of the all-time requested searches.

Here's the list....

1. Messier
2. Bertrand Cantat
3. Raffarin
4. Maroc
5. Alstom
6. PSG
7. Bush
8. Pollution
9. Sarkozy
10. Irak

Man, we beat Nicolas Sarkozy too, if only we could control the entire political spectrum....

--------------------------------------------------------

Loans and other dodgy dealings...

Several of our young players have been rewarded with their hard work in the several of their loan deals. Here's how our players who were on or currently on loan, fared during the first half of the season....

Paulo Cesar
WOW! Remember him? Well Santos sure will. He's helped tham claim a Brazilian championship, playing 36 games and scoring a goal.

Franck Djadjedje
The young striker played 14 games for Brest (3 as a sub) but sadly no goals to tell you about. However he has impressed many people in his debut senior season in French professional football.

Alioune Touré
Another, remember him....Has played 10 games (6 as a sub) for Guingamp in Ligue 2. Not scored yet, and has been used as a bit part player...

Jean-Martial Kipre
A few years ago, my friend noted that this guy will be the next star of the PSG youth team. At just 20 yeras of age, he has played a part of a SCO Angers side, who are struggling for any type of form at the minute...

Romain Rocchi
I think he may have played against PSG this season.....Has been an starring player many times for Bastia, and is looking for a contract with the Corisican club at the end of his deal....

---------------------------------------------------------

1000th goal at the Parc.....

et voila.....http://www.psg.fr/fr/video/ram/cp_41...SGMETZISDN.RAM
if you have a slow modem - http://www.psg.fr/fr/video/ram/cp_41...PSGmetz56k.ram

---------------------------------------------------------

Cisse suspended

Eddy is banned for one game after getting sent off at Montpellier (again!)

And both sets of fans at that game have been fined for throwing objetcs and flares on the pitch...

----------------------------------------------------------

Players for Clairefontaine trip:

Here are the players selected by Vahid for the Clairefontaine training sesssions over the days of Jan 2nd - Jan 6th.

Jérôme Alonzo
Sylvain Armand
Jean-Hugues Ateba
Jean-Michel Badiane
Souleymane Bamba
Selim Benachour
Mohamed Benhamou
Branko Boskovic
Lorik Cana
Edouard Cisse
Charles-Edouard Coridon
Nicolas Cousin
Boukari Drame
Rodrigues Cristovao "Helder"
Vedad Ibisevic
Lionel Letizi
Danijel Ljuboja
Bernard Mendy
Bartholomew Ogbeche
Fabrice Pancrate
Pedro Miguel Resendes "Pauleta"
Paulo Cesar (le retour!)
Stéphane Pichot
José Pierre Fanfan
Hocine Ragued
"Reinaldo" Da Cruz Oliveira
Jérôme Rothen (yay!)
Filipe Teixiera
Mario Yepes

[gaijin]

Here are the few transfer rumours circulating amongst the French press recently...This is speculation....not confirmation.

Matias Almeyda to the Parc as a replacement for M'Bami

Carew to look to PSG

Ali Karimi to PSG? - Word is that the Iranian player has flown out to Paris to sign contracts.

Un grand quotidien Iranien (KEYHAN) titrait aujourd'hui qu'un accord devrait être trouvé entre la star iranienne Ali Karimi et l'entraineur parisien Vahid Halilhodzic.

Ce dernier est confronté à deux problèmes majeurs.
L'un étant le montant du salaire du joueur car Karimi percevait un salaire nettement plus grand dans le championnat des Emirats Arabes Unis !
Et l'autre est la limite qu'impose la fifa au sujet des Joueurs extra-européens . Le journal citait aujourd'hui : "C'est vrai que nous nous interessons à ce joueur , il possède d'énorme qualité tant niveau rapide et technique . Il est polyvalent et c'est ce qu'il nous manque en ce moment au psg ! Il reste quelques détails a régler mais nous souhaitons sa venu au plus vite."

Article from the Parisian, a few days ago.....

Vahid Halilhodzic a émis le souhait de recruter trois joueurs de haut niveau. Concrètement son club s'est donc mis en quête d'un attaquant, d'un milieu offensif et d'un milieu défensif. A quelques heures de l'ouverture du marché d'hiver, les désirs du manager parisien se heurtent toutefois à des finances limitées.

Aujourd'hui, Paris disposerait d'à peine 2 millions d'euros pour faire ses emplettes. Cette somme doit permettre l'arrivée de Sergueï Semak, le milieu polyvalent russe du CSKA Moscou, bourreau du PSG en Ligue des champions. Les négociations sont bien avancées mais butent encore sur l'indemnité de transfert réclamée (2,5 M€) par les patrons du club moscovite.

Actif côté départs ?

Une chose est sûre : Paris devra donc payer pour enrôler Semak. L'argent va inévitablement lui manquer pour ses autres objectifs. Des solutions de prêt sont à l'étude. A moins que le PSG ne réussisse à vendre certains de ses joueurs. Pour cela, il mise sur Danijel Ljuboja et Reinaldo. Pour le Brésilien, Paris réclame entre 3 M€ et 3,5 M€. En revanche, il espère davantage pour Ljuboja, acheté 3,5 M€ l'hiver dernier à Strasbourg. Mais l'attaquant ne semble pas franchement décidé à quitter Paris, même si son statut de remplaçant ne lui convient plus. Pour démarcher son attaquant et son milieu défensif, Paris ratisse large. Le Marseillais Steve Marlet possède le profil idéal en attaque selon Halilhodzic. Nonda ou Adebayor ont été envisagés, mais Monaco ne veut pas s'en séparer. A la récupération, des joueurs ont été proposés comme l'Argentin Matias Almeyda libre de tout contrat. Le Monégasque Pontus Farnerud, déjà convoité l'été dernier, figure aussi sur la liste des dirigeants parisiens. Au même titre que Silvio Proto, 21 ans, le gardien international belge de La Louvière. Des discussions sont en cours pour... la saison prochaine. C'est du côté départs que Paris pourrait finalement être le plus actif. Ogbeche, Benachour, Teixeira, Ragued ou même le jeune Haddad réclament du temps de jeu. Edouard Cissé est aussi sur les tablettes de plusieurs clubs étrangers.

Edouard Cissé, le milieu de terrain du PSG, expulsé à Montpellier en Coupe de la Ligue a écopé d'un match de suspension ferme. En conséquence, il manquera seulement le 32 e de finale de Coupe de France face à Langueux.

[gaijin]

Its shamless advertising I know, but heck its my thread....

If you want to play my Australian Open tennis game, then click here:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3864236

Trust me you don't have to know loads about tennis to play it.

Roland Garros, is the next major grandslam - and that's right next door to the Parc!

[RandyNA74]

I still don't understand why there arent PSG and OM forums. There are probably more people who check this thread out than go to entire forums elsewhere.

[Mel Brennan]

Paulo César leaves FC Santos



The Brazilian international right-back and national champion 2004 has not accepted the offer done by the managers of "Peixe". He should be present in the "Camp des Loges", the PSG training camp, next week.
However, PSG shouldn't keep the 26-year-defender. Offers from the Netherlands and Spain should [mean] Paulo César [will] know his second European experience.

[Mel Brennan]

Originally Posted by ganu

*~~~~~*~~*~~~~~*

Bienvenue au Café de Saint-Germain! The one and only place for everything PSG!...

Many folks want to know where the crest/logo springs from. The main bit is of course the Eiffel tower. But what about that bit at the bottom?

It actually represents the "berceau royale," or royal cradle, springing from a blazon/coat of arms representing the royal town of Saint-Germain en laye ("royal" because somebody royal lived there regularly).

A blazon is the actual written description of a coat of arms, a royal one of which the above town claimed as early as 1638.

From the website, where, if you look in the upper-right corner, you will see the royal blazon/coat:

...Many old documents referring to the city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye are stamped with the 3-fleur-de-lis royal seal bearing the arms of France. This "signature" identifies Saint-Germain as a royal city, first of all because it was part of the royal domain, and secondly, because it served as a residence for the royal family.

• As early as the period of the "Restoration" of the Bourbons, the city had wanted to use the seal bearing the arms of France (and of Navarre), arguing that it was justified in doing so because of Saint-Germain-en-Laye's past and its status as a royal city. Unfortunately, the city was unable to substantiate its claim at the time.

On August 11, 1816, the Ministry of Justice proposed a blazon. Thanks to a letter patent dated August 17, 1820, King Louis XVIII granted the city a blazon bearing a cradle and the date September 5, 1638, in honour of the birth date of his grandfather, Louis XIV.

• You can find the different elements of this blazon, along with an oak leaf symbolizing the forest, on the present-day Saint-Germain-en-Laye logo. It was created in 2002 and continues to identify the city's many undertakings...


Thus, PSG's logo, the evolution of which you can find here, has since about 1991 reflected "Paris" in its employment of the Eiffel Tower, and "Saint-Germain" in its use of the berceau royale, as reflected in a blazon/coat of arms for the town of Saint-Germain de laye. This also, of course, reflects primarily the merger of two clubs, FC Paris and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, into a new club similar to the way "United" in UK football parlance reflects the merger of two or more clubs into a new one (e.g., Manchester United, Newcastle United, etc.)

Oh yeah, and although some websites will state the date of the founding of PSG as 27 August 1970, that is wrong. That date is when PSG was acknowledged by the FFF. PSG was founded on 12 August 1970, the day before I was born.

First PSG, then me.

[panicfc]

I think you guys wanted a link to the old thread?

[gaijin]

From today's L'equipe....

Vahid Halilhodzic a déclaré mardi que le Paris-Saint-Germain n'avait pas « pour le moment l'argent pour un recrutement » lors du mercato, même en ce qui concerne Sergueï Semak (CSKA Moscou), dont le transfert est pourtant jugé imminent. « J'aimerais bien avoir trois joueurs, a commenté l'entraîneur. (mais) c'est très compliqué, je pensais avoir un peu plus de moyens. »

« On va essayer de faire quelque chose », a cependant affirmé Halilhodzic de Clairefontaine, où le club parisien est en stage de reprise. « Si Paris vend des joueurs, Semak sera alors susceptible de venir », a-t-il ainsi jugé, évoquant une marge de manoeuvre encore réduite par le retour de prêt de Santos du milieu brésilien Paulo Cesar. Une piste, légère, cependant : le jeune attaquant bosniaque Vedad Ibisevic sera sans doute prêté : « Il a besoin de jouer et intéresse plusieurs clubs en France et à l'étranger. »

Interrogé sur le licenciement de l'entraîneur nantais Loïc Amisse, avec lequel il avait joué au FCNA, Vahid Halihodzic a trouvé « vraiment dégueulasse » la manière dont ce limogage s'est déroulé. « Je suis tellement triste pour "Lolo", assure-t-il. C'est quelqu'un de sympathique, un très bon entraîneur et il représente quand même quelque chose à Nantes. Je l'ai eu un moment au téléphone quand il a été remercié. Il était dégoûté. »

« Après (les limogeages de) Denoueix et Marcos, ça montre que quelque chose ne va pas là-bas, pense Halihodzic. On voit ce qui se passe quand dans un club il n'y a pas de solidarité », comparant cette situation avec celle qu'il a récemment connue à la tête du PSG. « Vraisemblablement, Landreau aura peut-être des problèmes pour trouver un autre club. Ces histoires-là, on doit les régler en famille, on en discute », a-t-il enfin jugé.

Oh, well let me say this. There better be some ********ing money for transfers otherwise there will be hell on. The current squad just isn't good enough.

Also I would now expect with the problems Landreau has had at Nantes, to seal a move to Paris pretty soon.

[Mel Brennan]

French prosecutors investigate PSG transfers

PARIS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - French prosecutors have launched an investigation into alleged transfer fraud at Ligue 1 soccer club Paris St Germain between 1998 and 2003, a judicial source said on Tuesday.
The Paris prosecutor's office will look into the transfers of players like Brazilian Ronaldinho, the 2004 World Player of the Year, to determine whether agents received illegal commission payments, the source said.

The case was opened after a complaint by French pay television Canal Plus, which owns PSG, over Ronaldinho's arrival in 2001 and the Brazilian's departure in 2003.

Legal sources said the prosecutor's office was also investigating the transfers of France striker Nicolas Anelka to Manchester City in 2002 and Italy's Marco Simone to Monaco in 1999.

According to Le Figaro newspaper which reported the case on Tuesday, PSG officials said they were "not concerned about a case which belongs to another era".

French prosecutors have already launched inquiries into alleged tax evasion attempts during transfers at Olympique Marseille and alleged fraud by various soccer agents after a complaint by the French soccer federation last year.

Former players and officials at Corsican club Bastia will also go to court in March over illegal payments made to nationalist organisations.


Our ducks had better all be in a row. PSG is a public trust, subject to a type of social sporting contract, not anyone's plaything, and needs to be valued and managed accordingly.