President of Les Supporteurs des Violets, the oldest group of Toulouse Football Club (TFC) fans, Alain Grolier has known everything, from the most beautiful victories to the most painful failures. Like the club’s relegation to Ligue 2 in 2020, to general indifference in Toulouse. “We were upset, there had been a decline for several years, the team was content only to play maintenance”he recalls.
At the time, the “Tef'” saw the Stadium, its lair of more than 30,000 seats, inexorably emptying of its supporters. Two years later, when the club has returned to Ligue 1, Alain Grolier sees “new faces” at the Stadium and finds that “people are coming back”. This should once again be the case against Reims, Sunday September 11, for the TFC’s fourth home game this season.
Already against Lorient (1-1) and Nice (2-2), in the middle of August, the Toulouse enclosure had welcomed more than 20,000 people. Against Paris-Saint-Germain, on August 31, the match was sold out, with 31,700 souls in the stands to support the TFC against Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar. Inconceivable two years ago, even though the opponent was called Paris or Marseille.
On the forecourt of the Stadium, in front of the club shop which is always full before the match, Elisa welcomes the current context: “When we were relegated, there was no one left. Today, we continue to be “chambered” when we say that we support the TFC, but there is a real fervor around the club. » Faithful for several seasons, Elisa subscribed to the club for the first time this year.
Resumption of subscriptions
There are many in this case: with 13,100 subscriptions, the TFC has seen an increase of 274% compared to 2021. “We had budgeted halfrecalled Olivier Jaubert, general manager of the club, in his office at the Stadium before the match against PSG. We say to ourselves that this is a good sign, that our pricing policy is the right one. Our job is to keep it going. »
In 2020, the tension was palpable between the supporters and the old management. “We had reached a point of no return, the leaders did not respect the hard core of the supporters”, remembers Alexandre Roux, president of the Tolosa Indians, the largest group of TFC faithful with 1,366 members. After relegation, the club is bought by the American investment fund RedBird Capital Partners, ending the presidency of the local entrepreneur Olivier Sadran, long of nineteen years and marked by a qualification for the preliminary round of the League champions in 2007.
Damien Comolli, new president of the club, is in charge of the athlete, when Olivier Jaubert takes care of the rest. With the mission of attracting supporters again. “They immediately reached out to us”, remembers Alexandre Roux. After narrowly missing out on the rise in 2021, following a season where matches were played behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the TFC enjoyed a popular resurgence in 2021-22, with an average of 12,500 supporters per game and a Ligue 2 title.
The attractive style of play of the team, the Occitan identity assumed by the club and the recruitment, thanks to the analysis of a large number of statistics, attract new audiences. Like Cédric, crossed in front of the food trucks surrounding the Stadium with his wife, children and friends. “There is really something happening in Toulouse, there is a new dynamic”appreciates the one who saw Diego Maradona (then in Naples) play at the Stadium in 1986, before distancing himself from the TFC in recent years.
Successful marriage
The arrival of American investors in French clubs is not a guarantee of success – neighboring Bordeaux can testify to this – but the marriage seems to be working for the moment. “I was immediately reassured. I saw that the new owners were there for serious business, not for a financial blowremembers Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse and president (Les Républicains) of the metropolis. They want to become one with the city, to have a social role within it. »
“We want to put the TFC back as a major player in French football. But we are still at the foot of the mountain”, portrays Olivier Jaubert. A challenge in what is known as rugby territory, where Stade Toulousain is the “Real Madrid of the oval”according to the director general of Tef ‘. “It is not because rugby has always been at the top of the bill that it harms footballreplies Jean-Luc Moudenc. Toulouse is above all a sporting city so there is no public problem for the TFC. Where there may be phenomena of competition, it is more in the choices made by local sponsors. »
The two clubs sometimes work together. Against PSG, Stade Toulousain players gave voice to support the Violets. Except Antoine Dupont, present in the dressing room of Bigflo and Oli, famous local rappers who have long supported the TFC. “We see more and more jerseys in town. The matches at the Stadium, it becomes a possible outing between friends “assure the two artists.
But for how long ? While four Ligue 1 teams will be relegated at the end of the season, Toulouse has come down from its little cloud with three losses in a row which place it 15ᵉ in the championship. “We know the Toulouse public, which tends to frayrecalls Claire, beer and membership card in hand before the match against PSG. This is why we must continue to encourage the players in each match. »
“We still need to be helped by the athleteinsists Olivier Jaubert. That doesn’t mean we have to win all of our home games. It’s much more the spirit, the way the team plays, the will to move forward. People can be disappointed with the result but must like the team. »
Crossed in the corridors of the Stadium after the defeat of the TFC against PSG (0-3), the general manager of the club seemed relieved not to have been beaten by the club of the capital, like others at the start of the season. Also relieved not to have seen too many Parisian jerseys in the Toulouse stands, a bad habit acquired in recent years in Ligue 1 against the big teams in the championship. Happy, above all, with the atmosphere of the Stadium, “like we’ve never seen before”.