Jean-Paul Dambrine, the king of the northern fries -
F. Lo Presti / AFP
Lens receives PSG Thursday evening (9 p.m.) in a late match for the second day of Ligue 1.
What should have been a great football party will be spoiled by the health context.
Club, bar owners and chip shop managers, they explain the shortfall
In the world before, it should have been a nice party.
Imagine a Lens-PSG in a sold-out Bollaert and bars filled to the brim around the stadium to celebrate the return of the Blood and Gold in Ligue 1. Except with the Covid-19 epidemic, the dream will have not take place.
Thursday evening, only 5,000 people will be allowed to cross the gates of a stadium which should normally have accommodated 38,000.
A shortfall at the counters of "several hundred thousand euros" as recognized by the Artesian club.
Between the stands but also the VIP lounges, RC Lens clearly sits on one of its finest recipes of the year in view of the opponent's pedigree.
In real life I'm going to come see Lens - PSG ... but I admit I'm not excited ...
Bollaert without the Marek for a return to Ligue 1 ....
It's really sad ...
❤💛 #rclens # Ligue1 #RCLPSG
- Radek Bejbl (@ Bigor59430) September 7, 2020
"Everything was there to live in normal times a great evening of football"
“There will only be 3,800 subscribers [all from the Marek stand] out of the 23,000 in the club.
And there will only be 800 VIP partners out of the 2,800 to 3,000 that we could have had for a match against PSG.
It's a real blow because everything was there to live in normal times a great evening of football.
But hey, we will still try to make sure that it is a good time anyway, ”hopes Fabrice Wolniczak, sales, communication and marketing director at RC Lens.
But it is not only in Bollaert that the losses will be enormous.
Usually full on match days, the cafes around the stadium won't fill up on Thursday evening.
And the shortfall looks huge.
For a cafe owner, "there's nothing that goes"
“We lose 70% of the usual turnover for a match of this kind.
Normally, there are 40,000 people at the stadium.
The whole city, a whole region, a whole people are moving.
It's a big party.
But there, it will be a very big shortfall.
We have been waiting for Ligue 1 matches at Bollaert for ten years and we end up with the Covid and a limit of 5,000 people.
We didn't expect that at all.
It's very difficult ”, laments Muriel, owner of the famous bar“ Chez Muriel ”located close to the stadium.
Even sinistrosis on the side of Mac Ewans, another night establishment in Lens where the match schedule and respect for barrier gestures will automatically lower attendance.
“Usually, when we broadcast Racing matches in the café, there are three rows of people standing, but this is no longer possible.
I cannot accommodate more than the people seated around the tables.
And then, the schedule of the match does not suit us.
It's a Thursday, people are working the next day so they won't be staying long.
There's nothing going, ”laments Eric, the owner of the café.
Amounts of fries divided by ten
The depression, Jean-Paul Dambrine also saw it.
Since March and the start of the health crisis, the king of regional fries, creator of the famous Sensas friteries, has lost 90% of its overall turnover with the cancellation of major regional events.
And inevitably, football matches are not spared.
For this Lens-PSG, there will only be three chip shops instead of the usual four around the stadium.
Above all, the quantities of fries were divided by ten.
“We will have 200 kg of fries per hut, whereas we usually exceed a ton.
But with only 5,000 people at the stadium, people will arrive later because there will be less traffic jams.
However, when we arrive earlier, we eat and drink.
This will not be the case for this match, ”regrets Jean-Paul Dambrine.
A victory to avoid disaster
Compared to a normal match, the boss of Sensas will lose 70% of his income and will only need four employees instead of eight.
“I sure hope it won't last for months and months.
We have to fight but that doesn't depend on us ”.
Our dossier on Ligue 1
Football club, bar managers, king of fries, all hope that the situation will quickly return to normal to avoid economic disaster.
Fortunately, in these clouds of uncertainty, there is still hope… sports.
"I hope at least that we will win," smiles Muriel, the bar owner.
The only way to put a little balm on wounded hearts.
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