In the middle of the forty minutes of interview in a Parisian bistro that he grants us to evoke his Parisian years, Fabrice Pancrate, 40, is challenged by a supporter visibly happy to have recognized him.
The former striker (14 goals in 132 games) sends him a respectful hello and resumes the discussion with as much enthusiasm as ever.
When you arrive in Paris in 2004, what does that represent for you?
An outcome?
FABRICE PANCRATE.
It is not an outcome.
Finally it is in relation to the work carried out from the training center.
But when you are a competitor it's only one more step to get to the pinnacle… which I haven't reached in the end, but we'll talk about it again.
You were born in Paris and you were trained in Villepinte.
Was wearing the PSG jersey something very strong?
To be contacted already.
When you see my background: Louhans-Cuiseaux, Guingamp, Le Mans… It's not a relief, but you sigh: everything you've done to get there!
But you roll up your sleeves right away because you know that's another level you've reached.
And that everything you did before, you have to erase it.
Because to face the competition demanded by this club, you have to work four times more.
And, that, I assimilated it directly.
What do you have left of your history in Paris?
Only positive.
The negative must be used to make the positive.
Some people always see the wrong things, as if they've been hit on them and they are victims.
No, it's the opposite.
Paris is that: a questioning every year.
Because new players were arriving, the requirements were higher, you had new shareholders… You were never at rest.
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Was it harder to be a PSG player in your time?
Yes, you had to be stronger.
Because we already had our supporters, who were certainly always behind us, but who knew how to exert more pressure when the results were not there.
It was an external context that had to be taken into account.
When you are a player, you cannot ignore it.
But, that, the QSI generation did not know.
She can't know.
What are you thinking about?
For example, the remorada.
In the context before, the players would have known what PSG really is, with the Park and the problems!
I can tell you they would have seen what this club is, the volcano it can be!
Economically, the situation was also different ...
Our shareholder Colony Capital was very rich, but the football vision of our leaders at the time was not the same as that of Qatar today.
That of the Qataris is in the image of their slogan: “Let’s dream bigger”.
They want something beautiful right away, it has to snap, it has to be on top!
We are not going to blame them because that is what we expect from Paris to compete with the big teams.
Of course, it was more balanced in our time because there was not such a gap with all the others.
But because of wearing the PSG jersey, we had to be better.
So, yes, we had more pressure.
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Was it even more complicated for an attacker?
At the time, yes.
I'm still going to stay on the economic aspect: yes it was more complicated because it was harder to show off.
Although you had quality players.
But there was a level balance between top clubs like Marseille and Lyon.
Today, to compare, if you put a Pauleta in the squad, he would do as much as Cavani and Ibrahimovic.
With a Neymar on the back, Mbappé on the side or a Pastore, Di Maria and company?
But Pedro he would love it!
And you ?
But all!
Me, you would put me on the right side with a team like that, but ball calls, I would blame you - there you go!
With a Verratti who would put me outside, but I would take the hallway every time!
Eyes closed.
I would be even stronger than then.
Each of our group would have been strong in the current PSG, naturally drawn upwards.
And you would even have discovered other qualities in each of us.
What did you suffer most at the time?
The injustice of a coach.
When you have to play 56 games at the top to claim a starting place, while for some two or three games are enough, it's annoying.
That's what always annoyed me at the club at the time.
Especially since we were always the same fighting like crazy in training.
Did that prevent you from achieving your dream of the France team?
I don't know if “prevented” is the term, but I was not helped at one point.
I know I was close under the Domenech era.
I know it.
Because in the magazine Paris Foot, to the question of knowing which were the five Parisians on whom he had views for a close selection, he had answered: Letizi, Rothen, Edouard Cissé, Bernard Mendy… and me.
Vahid Halilhodzic and Fabrice Pancrate in PSG training in 2004. / LP
How did you react?
I was doing good performances at the beginning with Vahid (Halilhodzic).
I was 6 goals, 5 assists in mid-season.
If he had not been ousted (
Editor's note: in February 2005
), I was going.
Oh yeah.
Because with Vahid, I had this credit: I could tear up a game, he trusted me.
He was handing me over.
I was at that of the Blues (
Editor's note: he makes a gesture of a small gap with his fingers
).
And I regretted it.
Well, no, more exactly I had it mostly bad.
Why ?
Because when a club sees that its player is performing well and that he can climb to the Blues, well you have to put him forward, you have to push him.
As Aulas does with his players.
As Guy Roux did in Auxerre.
And Laurent Fournier did not?
At first, I played with him.
At one point, it turned around, I didn't understand.
Even if you take over from Vahid, you keep the players who performed well.
So I was in the group all the time because it was hard for him to pull me aside since I was serious.
But at one point I felt there was a putsch.
I said to him: “Be careful, you trust certain players, these are the same players who will stick a knife in your back.
Remember what I'm telling you.
“It did not fail (
Editor's note: he was fired in December 2005 and replaced by Guy Lacombe
).
Your time was also marked by many agitated episodes on the side of the Camp des Loges.
Tell us...
Ah yes !
There was everything!
The story of the mole, Rothen and Dhorasoo's problems with Lacombe, the vacations granted and not granted to South Americans, the November crisis… Frankly, every day there was a subject.
I said to myself: "But it's a reality show, it's not possible!"
"I remember that sometimes we would come to training and I was like:" What is going to happen today?
What will be said?
I was in that state of mind.
There was a form of paranoia among the coaches who found themselves at the head of PSG, right?
Frankly, it's hard, very hard.
Psychologically: every day, 24 hours a day, with the press, TV shows, we can understand.
And with the story of the mole (
Editor's note: on condition of anonymity, a player told the Parisian that the group wanted the departure of Halilhodzic
), what paranoia!
Why did this episode mark you?
Certainly there was a mole, I don't mind.
But every day there was an article on "Who is the mole?"
It looked like Les Experts camp des Loges or Saint-Germain-en-Laye season 2, season 7… 8!
(laughs
) It was crazy.
We were getting to training: “Hey, who's the mole?
Madness.
One day, I arrive in the locker room, I go to say hello to Vahid and he withdraws his hand, saying: “Oh no, there is a mole here, I don't know, I don't shake hands.
"And the same with all the players and the staff!
We said to ourselves: “It's abused, even the staff!
»I see Bernard Mendy arriving:« Hello coach ».
"Oh no, I'm not shaking hands!
(
Laughs
).
What is your best memory ?
The historic Coupe de France final against Marseille (2-0) in 2006 in particular.
In addition, I had scored in the half against Nantes.
It was great.
But I also remember Twente in the European Cup at the end of 2008. We had to win by 3 goals and we won 4-0.
In all humility, I had a crazy match.
I had asked Le Guen to take me out ten minutes from the end because I was done.
And so the atmosphere of the Park ... But it was bubbling, it was shaking.
I thought it was going to blow up.
I had chills, it was too good, too good.
I said to myself: “But why aren't we first in the championship?
We would have that all the time.
"
Would you have liked to win more stuff?
Exactly.
It's my big regret that.
I remain convinced that we could have finished in the top three with our team.
Easy.
But unfortunately, we did not know how to manage the emotions.
Me, the pressure, I do not know, I do not care.
But I know that some had it and that we weren't playing 11 against 11. And that is very problematic.
So yes, we could have done better.
With more aggressiveness, more self-confidence and better management of emotions, we could have finished regularly in the top three.
Besides, every start of the season, we were, and as soon as January arrived, it left in peanuts, 8th, 9th… It annoyed me, I swear!
What image do you think you left?
I am very demanding of myself.
So I am satisfied, yes, to have worn the Parisian jersey and to have left a certain image.
Because it's not just the footballer, there's also the man, and that comes up often.
When people recognize me, they know who I was at the Park.
They say to me: “P… right side you were tumbling down.
So they have the picture of that.
And I know what I did at PSG.
But when I say that I am very demanding with me, it is because I could have done better still.
And that I know.
That's the bitter taste I have.
What are you thinking about?
If I had a time machine, I would change some things.
And I would have had a better career.
When I arrived from Le Mans, I said to my friends: “I'm going to impress them, I'm going to blow everything up.
I was on this momentum with Vahid.
And when it broke afterwards, I got into some kind of false conflict that was useless.
It is this regret that I have: not having shown even better.
Because I know very well what I had under the pedal.
Really.
When you're nothing from the France team, it's because you have a certain level, a certain potential.
But what's frustrating is when you don't fully develop it.
That's it, this taste of unfinished business.