Six games. Six matches to hear, in front of a furious audience ready to cry tears of happiness, the same music which repeats again and again that you are the “Meisters”, the “Beisten”, a “great team”, in short “the Champions” . Playing in the Champions League means arriving in a new world that glorifies you excessively, where caviar replaces taramasalata, where the three-piece suit left at the bottom of the closet goes back to the dry cleaners and where the slightest draw earns you a million euros.
So, how can we prevent clubs, like RC Lens, who face Arsenal on Tuesday, from having their heads spinning in this sumptuous setting that is the most prestigious European competition? A sort of natural “gentrification”, with the millions flowing freely, which would make you lose control and forget the values of a club which never ceases to praise them. “Not with us,” supporters, former players, and former Sang et Or president essentially told us.
“To move away from these values is to go astray”
“Lens, a city of 35,000 inhabitants, plays a little on this identity of a club which has earned its place among the big ones on the field and remains the little thumb among clubs from large European capitals, clubs with multi-billionaire owners, oligarchs, develops Williams Nuytens, sociologist and university professor at the University of Artois, author of The popularity of football: sociology of supporters in Lens and Lille. In the identity of the club, there is solidarity, the popular dimension. It’s something structuring. To move away from it is to go astray. And that would be a sporting and economic threat but also in terms of audience and popularity of the club. »
The current leaders of RC Lens are well aware of this. When they arrived at the club at the end of the 2000s, they immediately brought together supporters, partners and local players to organize a seminar in order to understand what Lens was and its DNA. “The particularity of Lens is to be an ultra-regional, ultra-identity club, but at the same time, it speaks to all of France about football”, summarized Joseph Oughourlian, the president and owner of the RCL on RMC Sports Wednesday.
Blend into the local environment
So, even the bonus of 15 million euros automatically offered to clubs participating in the group stage of the LDC, the salary increases offered to executives or the 35 million euros in transfer compensation to securing the services of Elye Wahi this summer should not tip the club into a world it does not know.
Externally, one might think that this expense, and even the salaries paid to the players, are indecent given the socio-economic realities of the region, with unemployment rates above average, living conditions, very precarious for some of the population, explains Williams Nuytens. But, the supporter puts aside, in a certain way, his identity as an everyday individual. He switches to another regime of appreciation, which can make him accept the indecent. But it can disappear if the results are no longer there. »
Especially since, in addition to sales (Fofana and Openda) which brought in big profits, Lens did not invest all out. Far from the supposed flashiness of the C1. There has been a sort of continuity in recruitment, with young players coming to develop in Pas-de-Calais. “If you want to continue and perform in football, you have to have money,” comments Gervais Martel. Either we are a darts club, and it doesn’t cost much, or we are a football club, and it costs a little more. Yes, there may be a risk of gentrification, but the reality of modern football hits you right in the face. The RCL has healthy foundations and we are safe from that. »
Sotoca and Gradit guarantors of the club’s identity
The legendary former Artesian president, who launched construction work on the La Gaillette training center in 2000 with money from the C1, also tended to warn his players to respect the local environment. “During the first contracts, he advised us not to do anything, not to buy just anything like a car, not to wander around [en frimant], says José-Karl Pierre-Fanfan, who participated in the Champions League in 1999. All this was so that there was no gap between the values of the club, which are advocated by the region, and our lifestyle. »
That was over twenty years ago and, obviously, times have changed. Discreet cars no longer come out of garages, unlike luxury cars, and local players no longer have as much importance as in the early 2000s (Warmuz, Lachor, Sikora, etc.). But the goal still remains to blend as much as possible into the local context. “We have a team that resembles us and we identify deeply with these players,” said Norman Noisette, president of the Lens United supporters federation. Sotoca, Gradit, Frankowski… these players come from nowhere, have experienced hardship, are very humble and have a taste for effort. They have a state of mind that fits perfectly with the club, and it is something that is sought by the managers, who have their feet on the ground. »
A new demanding audience
Finally, and as surprising as it may be, the only ones to have moved into another world are (some) supporters. Especially with the slow start to the RCL season. “There is a risk of gentrification among some, and we saw it against Metz (0-1 defeat), with a few whistles which started to appear in Bollaert, even though there is nothing wrong , continues Norman Noisette. We have a new audience at the stadium, who have been there for two years, thanks to the results, who have not experienced the difficult years. »
The struggling years, with the descents in Ligue 2, Hafiz Mammadov eternal crook or Guy Roux ephemeral coach, this is precisely what allows the club not to forget where it comes from. “The club has learned from its mistakes, not to do anything, not to get carried away,” concludes Pierre-Fanfan. In Lens, the pressure is to please the supporters, to respect the environment in which we are, in this mining area where people bleed to come to the stadium. If in the state of mind, we correspond to their values, it is already a small victory. » The big one would be to beat Arsenal and qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.