PODCAST
In 1973, a wealthy businessman, a star fashion designer at the time, took over Paris Saint-Germain, which had just signed its divorce from the Paris Football Club. It's Daniel Hechter. Without him, Paris SG might never have been able to gain a foothold in the second division and then experience today's success.
However, at the start, the fashion designer, passionate about football from a young age, almost invested in another club. He had been contacted by the leaders of Paris FC who knew he was in love with football. The latter wanted Daniel Hechter to sponsor the club. "I told them I was okay with putting in the money but only if I took the chair of the club manager. They thought I was very arrogant," Daniel Hechter recalls in the fifth episode of the podcast. "Partner n ° 1, the birth of a great club in Paris", produced by Europe 1 Studio. The deal will not happen.
But the businessman, determined to invest in football, is put in touch with Henri Patrelle, the president of penniless Paris Saint-Germain. "He said to me: 'I am an insurer, I do not have the means to continue, I do not have subsidies from the city of Saint-Germain.' He tells me a little about the life of the club. He tells me about the disappointment of the Saint-Germanois, the cuckolding they suffered ", evokes Daniel Hechter, echoing the split between the Paris Football Club and the Paris SG a few months earlier. "He tells me that it will be complicated but the contact went very well. We were between football people, Patrelle knew the football world well. And then, at the time, I already had a reputation so he had trust".
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25 million old francs
PSG need 25 million old francs. The equivalent of 40,000 euros today. This is rubbish for Daniel Hechter. The marriage is quickly registered. A memorandum of understanding, which specifies that the heirs of the club will be required to keep the name "Paris Saint-Germain", is signed.
Daniel Hechter then sits in the chair of the "co-president" alongside Henri Patrelle. Despite his means and his address book, he promises not to change the foundations. He knows that on his own he will not be able to shape a PSG to match his ambitions.
To make PSG shine like a star at the top of the Eiffel Tower and be among the elite of French football, it needs a fiery team. And mark the spirits too. He will get there with a new jersey, the Hechter jersey, but above all with the help of legends such as footballer Just Fontaine or actor Jean-Paul Belmondo. "The history of Paris Saint-Germain was a story of men," confirms the fashion designer almost 50 years later. "There were the players, there were the leaders and there were the few supporters. It was a saga, this story of Paris Saint-Germain!"