PSG the next European football giant

Hi Ian..not sure why you're referring to income.

k77, Say what ? Match day income is one of the things that determine if you can sign that reserve defender, thats the difference between being able to cover for injuries and not.

Number of spectators in a stadium has never been a concern with English teams. For sure, people supporting City has skyrocketed in the last two years or so. I don't think this need evidence, it's a given. Like I've mentioned earlier, I know of several Arsenal fans who are now hard-core City devotees.. thanks.

Where's your evidence for this? Man City's average attendance has been steady at around 45-46,000 since moving into their new stadium, long before the Arab owners came in. City have historically had large and strong support, even going back to when they were in the third tier of English football, when the average was almost 30,000.

oh dear. twas a joke people.

Vic, Racing, Red Star and Paris FC, the other parisian teams were never 'big teams'. racing won the championship in the 30s and thats pretty much it. It the last 40 years it has been PSG all the way bar a few years in the 80s when Racing was bought by Matra and spent a few years in the then 1ere division. Although i agree that Paris isnt as much into football as other major european cities, i actually think its more a French problem rather than a parisian one. Football is the n1 sport in France but its nothing like in the UK, Spain, Germany etc. Rugby is growing, basket ball is pretty popular too and French are not very supportive by nature. Marseille, PSG, Saint Etienne, Lyon and even Lens, now in 2nd div, have a good following but its nothing crazy.

Every time I see the Marseille shirt I cannot help but think of the cab driver in "Taxi". The main thing is that PSG doesn't utterly dominate, leaving Ligue 1 to be but a classier version of the SPL.

Interesting observations Vic, especially coming from someone who's lived there. Thanks.

Competition is bound to get more intense in Ligue 1 I'd like to believe.

Yes Nick, definitely, we would like to see every league right on top boasting of the best teams and players. What the Chairman is doing now augurs well for the future of PSG as well as the French league. Thanks.

Marseille are pennyless mate. PSG and, to some extent, Lille, have the money these days. Marseille, like PSG, are basket cases.

I'm only reiterating what I heard from some french friends of mine. And I tend to agree.

Whether we want it or not, money is in football. Ideally, we would all like our clubs to be successful while growing local talent and been managed by true football lovers who do respect the game and the team they managed. Unfortunately, it's not always the case. As fans how should we react? be disappointed that qataris bought the club and injected a lot of their money to hopefully be one of the top teams in Europe? Or welcome them and hope they respect the club and its culture, try to grow local talent and reinvest in the community while trying to get results. I have chosen the second path (didnt have any choice anyway!!). happy to give them a chance. Most big teams have foreign investors these days, thats the way it goes. I still hope the new owners will not turn the club into a corporate machine with hundreds of 'boxes' to accomodate the new sponsors and their families like we have seen in some EPL teams. The parc des princes used to have one of the best and most raucous criowd in france and i hope tickets arent going to increase to some ridiculous level. But yes, to be able to watch Ibra, Tiago Silva, Pastore etc must be nice. Who wouldnt want these players for his team?

I'm sure with the influx of funds and star players such as Ibra, crowds will get bigger. Thanks.

Jinesh, yes money may not guarantee success but if everything does fall in place, the fandom does get stronger for the club. City is a recent example.

well psg are spending big but tat wont guarantee success..the madrid team of the previous decade is a prime example.. apart from money lot of factors like gud group of players,astute coach,gud support system.. psg have to win n only then the fan base will increase .. money is not goin 2 bring in fans.. same applies to chelsea n city... success brings in fans n tats applicable to any big club living outside..most of them are fans of united,barca,madrid cos they r champion teams..how many of them are fans of clubs like say blackburn,stoke city,valencia etc(applicable to ppl livin outside these cities)...even big clubs like united and barca have started spending big n probably thats how the market works..in this scenario a lot of credit shud be given to bundesliga and the german clubs like bayern who have their own system and bring in lot of players from their youth academies.

Yeh l noticed that...obviously not an Arsenal fan!

Bit harsh...they still average over 40,000 per home game...but really they should be selling out every home game. There are plenty of distractions in Paris...but from the games l've seen on TV those that do attend are very vocal and passionate. I think having 'super teams' can be good for the competition, as long as success doesn't drag on for too long such as Lyon who won 8 or was it 10 in a row. There is a good core of at least 6 teams who have the potential to win it this year including PSG.

They haven't got the belief or the passion. PSG is a hopeless case. Once Marseille gets its s**t together they will dominate for some time now that the Lyon era is over.

No team can be a pub team like you said. I think PSG's rise is good for the game.