“
I go there three or four times a week, it's my circuit on Mondays to go running and I love to smell the cows' ass.
“Karl Olive readily jokes with a keen sense of the formula when asked about the progress of the work on the new Paris SG training center in the city where he has been elected since 2014. A few months before the inauguration of this monumental sports center (17 football pitches, a 5000-seat stadium among others, on a total area of 74 hectares) for an investment estimated between 250 and 300 million euros, the city councilor (DVD) measures all the way covered to make this very uncertain project a reality.
The game was not won in advance for the former sports boss of the
Canal + channel
who had to fight hard, supported by various local actors, to gain the trust of the leaders of Paris SG by convincing them to settle permanently in this territory six years ago, in 2016.
To discover
Calendar and results Ligue 1
League 1 standings
SEE ALSO
- In Poissy, the construction site of the future PSG training center is progressing rapidly
A move from Saint-Germain-en-Laye to Poissy: the idea had already been secretly germinating in Karl Olive's head for a few years, even before he was elected mayor for the first time, in 2014, three years after the arrival of QSI (Qatar Sport Investments at the head of the club).
“I knew that Paris SG was going to choose another place to train
, he confides.
I had the chance to be invited in 2007 to the Asian Games in Doha and to visit the Aspire Center (an ultramodern sports center near Doha).
When the new owners arrived, I understood that they would aim to have one of the finest training centers in the world for this club.
»
Read alsoTraining center: PSG abandons Saint-Germain for Poissy
In the early 2000s, Michel Denisot asked him to think about another site
Long before the arrival of Qatar, in the early 2000s, Karl Olive had already been surveyed by Michel Denisot, former president of the club (between 1991-1998) in order to think about places likely to accommodate an extension of the Camp-des- Loges, considered too small, not functional enough and complicated to enlarge.
A networker, with a large repertoire in the world of media and football and newly immersed in the bath of politics, the former journalist has had time to think about a project he is defending as general counsel des Yvelines in 2011 alongside the mayor of Poissy at the time, Frédérik Bernard.
Read alsoPSG launches … its pear juice from its future training center
At the time, Qatar did not rule out any avenues for its future installation, nor even that of a departure in another department.
The west of Paris and the Yvelines, where the majority of players live, remain privileged despite everything.
A site in the plain of Achères, next to Saint-Germain-en-Laye, will interest the club's management.
Another will also stand out, near Thiverval-Grignon.
But the first will ultimately be deemed too polluted and the second will come up against tenacious opposition from local residents.
Poissy quickly found himself in pole position.
Collective work then takes place.
The Yvelines department and its president Pierre Bédier, the deputy for the constituency David Douillet, the Ile de France region, the Paris Seine and Oise urban community, the State, but also the farmers in the proposed territory,
“It is because we had this alignment of planets that Paris SG chose Poissy”
, explains Karl Olive who officially obtained the agreement to set up PSG in his city on July 11, 2016.
Paris SG wanted to avoid any conflict with the surrounding inhabitants
That year, the department acquired 75 hectares on behalf of the city.
The municipality sells them to the club without added value but with two requirements in return:
"PSG first had to register in the territory of Poissy and not next door and I also wanted it to launch a virtuous circle for the local economy by ensuring that the club relies on the vital economic forces of the territory.
The project must move forward, quickly, and the Parisian leaders accept the conditions.
A platform is created to collect proposals for collaboration from local businesses.
PSG receives nearly 300 offers and draws from this pool to move forward.
1,000 jobs will be created for the duration of the project and several hundred will be created permanently once the work is completed.
To avoid a possible rebellion from local residents, which had been the case in the Thiverval-Grignon project, the Parisian club also took care of its communication.
Consultations were regularly held with the surrounding inhabitants (Aigremont, Orgeval, Chambourcy, Feucherolles and Poissy).
A cycle path is requested around the site.
Request accepted by the PSG which does not skimp on the means.
“
We worked in confidence with the leaders of Paris SG and President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi.
Jean-Claude Blanc was one of the great craftsmen of the conditions for the success of the project to have this flagship that is PSG accepted on our territory
”, assures today the Pisciacais of origin (resident of Poissy).
"
Nothing was difficult
," insists the elected official.
This is sometimes the paradox of these major projects.
The greatest leaders are sometimes the ones with whom things are the simplest.
»
Having this club on our territory means winning the Champions League before even playing in the final.
Karl Olive
The opening of the training center to the professional team is only planned in 17 months, but the construction of this ultra-modern campus already offers opportunities for the Yvelines region, in terms of attractiveness in particular.
Opposite the site, the largest Porsche dealership in France will open its doors, Fiat and Alfa Romeo will follow right next door.
“
It is the direct consequence of the arrival of Paris SG
”, assures the mayor, a supporter displayed for many years of the club of the capital.
The club will not change its name even if it moves
A club that he does not see changing its name in the coming years, even this one has left Saint-Germain-en-Laye and its historic Camp-des-Loges for his hometown.
“
Not at all,
” he decides, using a new, all-found footballing formula to conclude on the subject
.
The mayor that I am cherished the dream one day of possibly being able to find the place so that the PSG does not leave the department of Yvelines, because it was not said that he would stay.
Having this club on our territory means winning the Champions League before even playing in the final...
"
