Grégoire Nitot for TVP Sport: I plan to invest even more money in the development of the club and team

Our club’s president Grégoire Nitot gave an extensive interview to TVP Sport, in which he talked about, among other things, the difficult first-league realities, further plans to invest in the club, details on the expansion of Polonia’s training base, the terms of cooperation with the MKS academy, or low attendance and the need for greater fan support. Below are the most interesting answers from Mr. President on the most important issues concerning the club’s activities.

President Grégoire Nitot on the difficult first-league realities

The result is below my expectations. I didn’t fully know the realities of the first league. I see that clubs have much bigger budgets and players earning much more. It’s much more difficult than I thought. There is a big difference between the second and first leagues. Also in terms of the game itself, the intensity. I thought we would be higher in the table, but I wasn’t fully aware that the rivals were so strong financially.

We are at the bottom, for sure. When I see how much other clubs pay their players, sometimes it’s twice as much as with us. How do the clubs finance themselves? Strongly helps the city, this is the case, for example, in Katowice, Legnica, Lublin, etc. Some receive as much as 10 million zlotys, we get one million zlotys. Some teams have rich sponsors: ORLEN is in Krakow and Plock, Bogdanka in Leczna. Minnik receives nine million a year from Bogdanka, for example. We have no sponsor other than my company, Sii. Sometimes the fans help a lot. This is how Ruch and Widzew, among others, were saved. At Wisla Kraków, 15 thousand fans show up. They buy tickets, passes, gadgets. They provide a large part of the budget. Polonia doesn’t have a lot of support from the city, doesn’t have a sponsor other than Sii, and doesn’t have many fans yet, as we would like. I have to manage on my own. We have one of the smallest budgets in the league. I wasn’t aware of that in July. Now I see how much others are paying.

Further plans to invest in the club

If Sii had financial problems, Polonia will no longer have money to pay players, stadium rent, employees, security. The club is one hundred percent dependent on me. As long as I 1) have the money, 2) have faith that it will work out, and 3) have the pleasure and time to do it, I will fight until the end. If any of these points I mentioned were not there, I will resign and sell the club. However, I do not plan to do so.

This is sports and it’s hard to plan well in advance. This year we’re a newcomer and staying on will be a big success. Next season I plan to invest even more money in the development of the club and the team. You have to measure your strengths against your intentions. One cannot succumb to pressure and act rashly. One has to have a cool head sometimes. Promotion from the third to the second league happened in the last game. It also takes some luck. I hope that now we will hold on, and in the next one we will already fight for promotion. We need to use the money wisely and make good transfers. I hope that through marketing we will find sponsors and, above all, fill the stadium, which would give us more opportunities. I would like us to be promoted to the Ekstraklasa in 2025!

Conditions of cooperation with the MKS academy

I am tired of waiting. I have been acting on this issue for 3.5 years. A few days ago I had another meeting. I gave an ultimatum. The lack of an academy is the club’s biggest problem. Rivals in the Ekstraklasa and first division have strong academies. Two of our top players Krzysiek Koton and Bartek Biedrzycki are not alumni and don’t double count for the Pro Junior System. This is a huge financial loss for the club. I made an offer. I said a certain amount. Talks are going on all the time. The club simply has to have its own academy.

Details on the expansion of Polonia’s training base

This is the club’s second biggest problem. The first is the lack of an academy. I’m talking to the city, we wanted to have the Marymont center exclusively, but it’s hard to get that. We have been training on artificial turf for a month. Before the game against Wisla Krakow on Thursday and Friday, we wanted to train at the stadium at Konwiktorska Street. It was 7 degrees, zero risk to the turf, and we couldn’t get on it. We were refused. I am strongly annoyed by Polish bureaucracy. We have been struggling for two months to get the locker rooms renovated. The old showers are simply an embarrassment. I am ready to do the renovation, but I have to wait for something all the time. We are still waiting for approvals from the city. I would like to invest in the Polonia Training Center. Quite a few clubs have recently received grants from the Ministry of Sports. I asked the city if there is land for construction. We are talking, but everything is taking a long time again. I’d like Polonia to have a few pitches, because it’s a great value for everyone. We train at Marymont, the players have to commute there, and sometimes we get a call that we can’t train because the weather is unsuitable… We don’t have our own gym, wellness. The conditions are simply poor.

Low attendance and the need for more support from fans

I thought the fans would help us more strongly. I had high hopes that the attendance would be much better. However, this is not happening. This is my biggest failure. There is a new marketing department. They have to help get sponsors and increase attendance at the stadium. It’s hard to get a sponsor because we have a strong rival – Legia.

We have to do everything to have 4-5 thousand people at every game. Warsaw is the largest city in Poland. The first league is a nice spectacle. Interesting rivals come, there is a lot going on at the matches. I can’t give away all the tickets for free. We need to promote our matches better, work harder on the Internet. There are a lot of ways. I’m counting very heavily on the new marketing department.

Całą rozmowę Prezesa Grégoire Nitot z redaktorem Jakubem Kłyszejko możecie przeczytać TUTAJ.