“With the new Stade Yves-du-Manoir for 2024, it’s as if all the planets were aligned. It’s up to us to do the job now…” A few days ago, Patrick Norbert, film producer and real estate developer, celebrated his five years as president of Racing CFF. A symbolic course but which allows him to measure the progress made. Upon his arrival in a club weighed down from the inside by the passage as manager of Azzedine Meguellatti, who will also have left some financial pans, the former president of Angers in Ligue 2 had however been greeted with a certain skepticism.
“When you arrive in a place like Racing, you are always entitled to a suspicious look, recognizes Patrick Norbert. People say to themselves: Another one who will be added to the long list of those who want to revive Racing, this old sea serpent… But it’s understandable. Racing is a big part of emotion. It runs through the veins of so many people… We have to take this dimension into account. If we haven’t understood that, we can’t come to Racing. We just tried to do things as well as possible. We have made some progress… More than a revival, I would use the term reconquest. »
On the sporting level, the team led by Guillaume Norbert, the eldest son of the president, ex-pro (Angers, Nantes, Le Havre) first came very close to the rise in N2 from the first season. She was in a position to access (2nd then 1st) during the following two championships stopped by the Covid, before going it alone (13 pts ahead of 2nd, 20 over 3rd) last year. Twelve years after its demotion for financial reasons, Racing has found the N2 where it occupies 2nd place, three points behind Rouen. With 46 goals, it is the best attack of all groups in N2. Even the relocation to the Montbauron stadium in Versailles did not disturb him.
“To build a great story, we need people who love each other”
“The first objective was to stabilize the club in N2 and to be in a position to access the National in 2024. (the last time Racing played at this level was in 2004-2005) for the delivery of the new Yves-du-Manoir, recognizes Patrick Norbert. But the season took another turn. We are in the fight. We’re not going to hide, we’re going uphill…” Racing can rely on a team that has been playing together for three years. Rather than betting on ex-pros, the staff mainly went looking for players in N3 and R1 and shaped a successful collective.
“Our strategy was to take players with a good mentality and a big character, explains the president. To build a great story, we need people who love each other, who respect each other and want to grow together. We have relied on this base for three years and it will be the same if we are lucky enough to climb. Our players are talented but the other side of the coin is that they are coveted as we saw in the last transfer window. After a small showdown, Merwan Ifanaoui ended up signing at Red Star (National) on January 31 with a transfer of a few tens of thousands of euros.
Racing also wanted to support its sporting success by a real internal structuring with the hiring of four full-time people: communication, sports director, financial director, administrative manager. “This should allow us to face the difficulties and me, it relieved me a little compared to the other seasons”, recognizes Patrick Norbert who continues to finance the majority of the budget, alone.
“Bringing Racing to the highest level is an incredible challenge”
“Not a month goes by without me being contacted by people who want to become shareholders. It’s not the time yet, but it will happen. We have a sponsorship unit and around twenty partners who bring in a total of around 150,000 euros. In N2, it’s not bad… But we are still looking for the big partner who would like to accompany us, like Vinci with Paris FC. Bringing Racing to the highest level is an incredible challenge, one of the finest in French sport today…”
Patrick Norbert also approached the public authorities, the departmental council of Hauts-de-Seine and the town hall of Colombes (which had lowered its subsidy from 90,000 to 70,000 euros) to support him in his projects. Things are progressing slowly. “With Colombes, the relationship is being built but I would like us to go further,” concludes the president. When at the Yves-du-Manoir stadium, it will change everything for us. With the return of rugby, there will be a 15,000-seat stand. It will allow us to win back an audience. A lot of people are just waiting for that… We want to keep our strong roots in Colombes. When we look at the concerns of some of our neighbours, we realize that having a dedicated stadium in Paris is very important. »
