Early PSG fans remember his blonde hair. Guy Adam is part of the history of the club he saw born in 1970 and where he remained for 33 years wearing various caps. "I am a pre-his-to-ric", laughs the former leader who will blow out his 73 candles on November 4. Retired in Uzès, in the Gard, he looks back on his long Parisian adventure which ended abruptly.
Handyman
Like others, Guy Adam answered the call of columnist Pierre Bellemare on Europe 1 to revive football in Paris. “I became an associate member of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club by paying a membership fee,” he explains. I experienced the 3rd division, the rise in D 2 (1973 after the end of the merger with the PFC) and in D 1 in 1974. That year, RTL arrived and we created the club of friends of PSG , the official group of supporters, of which I was president.
When Francis Borelli took over as club president in 1978, he asked me to take care of the sales department. In 1982, the year of the first Coupe de France victory, Serge Guyot, the club's sporting secretary, resigned to join Racing Paris. I then told President Borelli that the position interested me, he replied: My son, that's what he called me, I'm going to talk to Georges Peyroche, the trainer. I became a sports secretary and then a sports coordinator when Canal + arrived in 1991, until my departure in 2003. "
In the fog at Videoton
“I have done the math since I retired, I have more than 1,500 games with PSG. There is the one in Videoton ( Editor's note: in Székesfehérvár precisely, in Hungary, on November 7, 1984 in the round of 16 second leg of the UEFA Cup ). The fog fell suddenly, we could no longer see the linesman on the other side of the field, the referee stops the match and decides that it will be replayed the next day. It was a bit of panic. We had no more reservations at the hotel, which I immediately contacted. There were a few rooms left, so we regrouped and got some beds. Our cook Georges Romano had given everything we had left as food at the hotel. He found some pasta so that we could eat in the evening and the next day. I also remember that Peyroche was warming up in the corridors. It is a moment that I have not forgotten (despite the 1-0 defeat after being beaten 4-2 at the Parc). "
The outpouring of joy with Artur Jorge
Of the 23 coaches he has known, the former manager has fond memories of the Portuguese Artur Jorge. It was during the legendary quarter-final of the UEFA Cup against Real Madrid in 1993. “I was sitting next to him, with Denis Troch, on the bench. When Kombouaré scores with a header (4-1 and Paris qualified), we all got up, and Artur turned to me then jumped into my arms. It struck me because he was not the man to have this attitude, it only happened once. He had a lot of reservations, maybe a little introverted, so living that is something exceptional. In any case, with him, we went into another dimension thanks to his experience, his past as a player and a very high level coach. "
Rai's thanks
Brussels, 8 but 1996. PSG won the Cup Winners' Cup thanks to a free kick from Bruno N'Gotty against Rapid Vienne. “We were waiting for it so much that I completely broke down, I burst into tears at the final whistle. While the players were doing the lap of honor, I was in a room next to the locker room, that of the uncles as David Ginola had nicknamed them, retirees whom I called on to manage the equipment. I was there with them, between the trunks. Rai asked where I was. He arrived in the room, I was still sobbing. He took me in his arms and said: thank you for everything you do for us . This is probably the best recognition. Even now, I am moved by recalling this moment. "
Bucharest and the history of fax
Bucharest, August 13, 1997. PSG play in the preliminary round of the Champions League. Beaten 3-2 by Steaua on the first leg in Romania, the club finally lost 3-0 on the green carpet for having lined up a suspended player, Laurent Fournier. Guy Adam is held responsible for this blunder as a sports coordinator. “When I hear about it again, it's always painful. Yes, it was out of my head but I thought we were going to be warned by a fax from UEFA, via the Federation, as was usually the case at the start of each season. We received a summary of the boxes, suspensions ...
The fax did arrive at the club headquarters but it never reached me in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He supposedly fell behind a photocopier. On the plane that took us there, there were also about 40 journalists, they saw that Lolo was there. In training the day before the match, they also saw that Lolo was on the pitch. But no one alerted me. I took it all upon myself. After the return victory ( Editor's note: 5-0, with a qualification for the main round ) which I did not attend, the players declared that they had won this match for me but the damage was done. It is certainly thanks to Michel Denisot, very close to me, that I managed to overcome this difficult moment. The following year, Charles Biétry, who became president, asked me at the very start of the season to return to the sidelines of which I was deprived. By specifying: I want to right an injustice . "
The jersey he made
“I'm very proud of it, we kept it for only one season, in 1990-1991. We had a white jersey with a blue and red band on the left side of the chest. Peyroche had also asked that this jersey become number 1 with shorts and white socks because he thought that the players were better on the field in this color. For the 1992 Olympic Games, the Paris city hall had a logo created which was a stylized blue and red Eiffel Tower. When I saw this logo, I got the idea to adapt it to the jersey. I drew a picture and talked to President Borelli about it. He liked it. He presented the model to Mayor Jacques Chirac who gave his approval. The jerseys were therefore made. The problem is that the logo belonged to its creator who sent a letter to the town hall of Paris. Either we bought it back or we stopped using it. "
His depression after leaving the club
His Parisian adventure ended in 2003 but not at all as he hoped. “After 33 years at the club, I would have liked to leave under other conditions. It went badly with the coach at the time ( Editor's note: Vahid Halilhodzic ) who ruined my life by criticizing everything, and I went nuts. A pre-season lunch was the straw that broke the camel's back. He introduced the players, the staff, everyone to the subscribers, except me. I fell into depression, I was on Prozac (antidepressant) for two years. My wife was operated on for breast cancer as a result of that… The doctors told me: you have to leave Paris otherwise… I took refuge in Uzès, where my friend Gérard Banide took me under his wing. I went back to the Parc des Princes three times, the last of which was with my wife in 2012, at an invitation from Leonardo for a PSG - Toulouse match. It remains my club of heart, I wanted it to exist, gave everything that was possible in me so that it grows, I hope it will confirm during a great European final. "
