The fan dissent towards the Paris Saint-Germain squad and management reached uncharted territory yesterday afternoon, when a protest initially called at the club’s headquarters ended with a group of individuals going to Neymar’s home in the western suburbs and call for his departure. Later in the evening, PSG released a statement lamenting the fans’ “shameful behaviour” in doing so.
In an interview with Le Parisien published today, the head of the Collectif Ultras Paris, Romain Mabille, has criticised the supporters who showed up at the Brazilian’s house:
“I don’t support what happened. It’s not a CUP action, the group doesn’t claim responsibility for it, nor is it behind it. It was definitely avoidable. To go to his place, it’s not the best of ideas.”
Mabille goes on to explain that he fears the move could discredit the fans’ voice and the message they want to get across, and calls for other supporters to stay away from any violence. He adds that the insults that were aimed at Neymar were a sign that the fans are fed up with the former Barcelona man, but that their demands cover more than just the forward’s future:
“[Lionel] Messi is going to leave and we just wanted to let Neymar know that it would be good for him to leave too. We don’t want to hurt him, we just want him to carry on his career far away from Paris. We want to move on to a new era. He’s part of a time where players get to do what they want. We want to move on and write a new page with players who show desire.”
GFFN | Raphaël Jucobin
