The pandemic and then government measures kept them away from La Mosson for almost two years. Today, on the occasion of the 30th day of Ligue 1 also marked by the return to Montpellier of Michel Der Zakarian, coach of Brest, the ultras pailladins return to the stadium. The enclosure should be well filled, it is in any case what they hope, in particular Dony, spokesperson for Armata Ultraswhich we asked.
What do you hope for, for this return of your troops, during Montpellier – Brest?
We hope that everyone will play the game and that the Mosson stadium will be full, that people will finally fill all the stands. We are happy that the club used our return to make announcements so that people come. We just hope that the stadium will be full, because it’s true that we were still tapped on the knuckles, everywhere on the various social networks or fan forums, on the fact that we were not there . But the real problem was the crowds. The ultras are only 500 people in the gallery. So when 2 or 3,000 people are missing, it’s not the ultras’ fault. So we really hope that everyone will play the game and respond against Brest, for our return.
Have you missed La Mosson in the past two years?
Sure ! Of course we missed her. We Armatas put up banners at every home game, so we saw her. It’s just that we didn’t see it full, we didn’t see the matches inside, we went in to put our messages, then we left. It was a heartbreak, for two years, not to be able to go to this gallery, to your bays. It’s true that it was difficult.
Do you feel that you have also missed a lot at Mosson and the various actors?
Yes, we feel that we missed. We saw a lot of negative reactions about our absence on the various Montpellier networks, whether social networks but also newspapers or even on certain forums. We were even blamed for losing points to the club. No, we didn’t cause the club to lose any points. It’s demagogy for two francs, to say that. Those who said it are embittered. This speech appeared when the Paillade had a less good blow, at the beginning of the year, but it was not at all the speech in 2021. For me, when the public does not respond present when we receive Lille or when we receives big clubs like Monaco, with an average of 8,000 spectators, that’s what makes the club lose points. It’s the people who don’t come to La Mosson, and not just the ultras, even if we guarantee the atmosphere, that’s for sure. But when you have an audience of spectators, who don’t sing or who only start to vibrate when the Paillade has an action in the opponent’s penalty area, I don’t call that an audience, I call that spectators. And then, for me, when Téji Savanier wipes his cleats on a player from Troyes, that’s what makes the club lose points. When the public does not come en masse during the big matches, and we only do 8,000 or 9,000 on average in the year, it is not the fault of the ultras. So yes, we missed, of course. Laurent Nicollin asked us to come back at the start of the season, but he respected our choice, and we thank him. We’ll try to give it back to him when we get back.
What will your return look like?
There will be an animation at the start of the match, we weren’t going to come back with our hands in our pockets. It will be an animation that will reflect our joy to return to the stadium after two years of absence.
Is there impatience among the members of Armata?
There are, yes! We can’t wait to get back to the stadium. I do not hide from you that there is a certain apprehension, a certain stage fright, I would say. We do not know if we will resume our marks right away. We don’t know how it will turn out. A lot of people got into the habit of coming to the Armata square when we weren’t there this season. A lot of people have taken their marks, they must have had their usual seat, but they will be fairly quickly, in quotes, dislodged, even if they are welcome in the square, of course. But it’s true that there is this little apprehension, this little nervousness necessary to be able to give a good performance, in my opinion.
Besides, you have your tickets since you took out a subscription despite your absence, right?
Yes, we took our subscriptions. We made this choice, even if we did not return to the stadium because of the sanitary situation, to be in solidarity with our club and to take our subscription. It was a deliberate choice on our part. We even rented our subscriptions to certain people because we, no one was prevented from going to the stadium, even if no member of Armata and its close supporters was at La Mosson during the period of the health pass. We had therefore rented a few subscriptions to other people who are not necessarily linked to the group. We made this choice to be in solidarity with our club and the places belong to the members who have taken out their subscriptions, but they also belong to all those who come to the Etang de Thau grandstand, of course.