Speaker of Amiens SC since 2005, Jérôme Jean bowed out last Saturday after the last match of a season mostly played behind closed doors. A surprising outing but fully assumed by the one who was the voice of the Unicorn for almost 17 years. Interview.
How did you experience this last rather special evening?
This is what I sensed. In twenty years, it has been the toughest game of my short career. I knew it was the last time that I parked in this parking lot, that I greeted the stewards, that I entered the stadium with such ease, that I walked the lawn, because as a speaker, we have this luxury of being as close as possible to the players, the action and being at the heart of what is happening. It is a real privilege. I savored it as a last with a lot of emotion. It was a very special evening for me. I feel like every time I did something, someone would tell me “we will miss you, I hope you come back”. It was an evening where everyone told an anecdote, I had the impression of seeing friends again that I had not seen for years and we brooded over the good or bad times. We think of all those who left, of the barrier against Lille, of the descent to Boulogne, but very quickly, the smile returns and the good times return such as the climbs, the incredible shots, the goals at the last second, the joys. , pleasure. It was a beautiful evening.
What was it like when you put the mic down for the last time?
I looked at the stadium and I was very moved. My first thought was to turn towards the stadium, and look at the stands, as if I was enjoying this stadium to which I was saying goodbye for the first time. I was really taken by the emotion, because the years lived here, I did not think to live them at the beginning and I am well aware today that I will never live them again. I may experience others, but we have experienced so many impossible things in this club that we still managed to do that I was very moved. I contained myself a lot but I was very moved.
Amiens SC: Jérome Jean, the voice of the Unicorn
The club has accumulated tributes for the latter …
When I arrived and settled in, the studio was already in place, although I usually get involved. I immediately saw the supporters’ banner because I always look north, with the hope that they are or not very far. I saw the golden microphone, it made me happy. Then I saw pictures on the screens, and these are things that I did not expect at all. These are expressions of sympathy that are beyond what I could have imagined because I know it’s a lot of work to do all of this. It touched me a lot in addition to all the messages I received, including those from Christophe Pelissier and Thomas Monconduit. I have about a thousand in total, counting all the social networks, and I’m very surprised. It’s a tidal wave of messages that I wasn’t expecting, and it’s not false modesty.
The announcement of your departure has had the effect of a bomb in the microcosm of Amiens. So it’s a surprise for you?
I did not expect that. I have always been fairly honest and spontaneous in my responses and my temperament. I say what I think, I mean what I say and I didn’t expect this! I could have had a “thank you, goodbye”, but I had extremely touching messages from young people, older people telling me that they grew up at the stadium with my voice, that it shocked them to know that ‘they wouldn’t hear me anymore. The years have gone by so quickly that I feel like we started yesterday. We got into Ligue 1 in four years, but before that we struggled for thirteen years. We exploded in L1, people discovered the club, the city, the stadium, the players and we took on another dimension. It really shook me up. It did not call into question my choice, but I was touched by all these testimonies.
A few people resented me when Stan left, imagining that I had pushed him out, which I absolutely didn’t.
You were the announcer for Amiens for 17 years. Tell us a bit about how this story was born …
I arrived in Amiens in 2002, I had created my communication agency there. One day I found myself in a restaurant where there were the leaders of the club, we finished this lunch together. We hit it off, and a fortnight later we met again for lunch and they offered to join the club to accompany Stan Kwinta who was already in place. Maybe they imagined doing a duet and dividing up the chores. I did not accept because I had just arrived from Le Havre and I do not like this “unfaithful” side that some athletes can have who change clubs every six months. A year later, we met again at the restaurant, I followed the results of Amiens because I came as a spectator at the stadium, they proposed something to me again, I thought about it, I got it. made on a match, they told me that it was very nice and that they wanted us to do it again in the next match. It was against Le Havre, I called a club leader to tell them about the solicitation that came from Amiens and he gave me his consent. It started like that, in a duet with Stan. One day, he withdrew, he no longer wanted to continue, he turned the page. For the anecdote the “Friends supporters of Amiens, are you there? It was his cry and I took it back faithfully because I consider it to be the club’s battle cry, and I will be delighted that my successor can take it back too. It would show that the spirit of Stan, and of the club, is still there.
How did you experience your beginnings in Amiens?
I got off because I think the stadium is great to liven up. When you go around the field, you see all the spectators, which is not the case at the Vélodrome or at the Park, for example. There is a closeness between the public and us which is extraordinary, we can talk to them, sometimes they answer. Still, it took a while because people thought I had made Stan quit. I was in a duo in Le Havre and it seemed normal to me to do it in Amiens too. A few people resented me when Stan left, imagining that I had pushed him out, which I absolutely didn’t. Today, even if we are talking about my departure, there is a whole “animation” structure that should not be forgotten with lots of volunteers who devote a large part of their time to this club. Don’t forget to say thank you.
Why stop now?
I had already asked myself this question several years ago. I had mentioned it with my children and my son had started to cry. I said to myself “I’m going to stay” and it was good because it was in 2017 and behind we have lived all the good years in L1. I have been doing this job for twenty years, which is a passion, including seventeen years in Amiens, I am slowly approaching fifty years and I ambition to take on responsibilities professionally speaking. If I wanted to reorganize my professional life with more freedom, this passion that was mine, I was going to have to turn the page. Having other ambitions, I told myself that at fifty, being an animator was not an end in itself and it was perhaps the moment to close the book to open a new one in the months to come. come. I will no longer be a speaker in any stadium in France.
Do you regret saying goodbye to an empty stadium?
When we were told, a year ago, that we were going to stop the championship, then I had some regrets. I said to myself: “there is nothing left”. Some time later, we reopened with a gauge of 5000 and then behind closed doors. I consider that as long as we have the chance to see the team and see the matches, and from the moment it’s like that, I’m more resilient and I stop hurting myself. Obviously I would have preferred the stadium to be full, that we could celebrate a rise in L1 with all the supporters, but that’s how it is.
How did you experience this season almost entirely behind closed doors?
Amiens SC and the flexibility of its managers have made it possible to be the first in France to start live performances. Today, they are more common in the majority of clubs. At the time we were confined and demoted unfairly, as we were not allowed to assemble, I had offered to the club to do so and I had the permission. These lives have had a success that has surpassed us. It was often covered in the national press, and sometimes internationally. Bernard Joannin has done interviews in Spain, England! The absence of an audience was an opportunity for us to launch these lives which never stopped thereafter. Even when we were deconfined, we continued to create this bond. Today, we still do it! But obviously it doesn’t make sense to play football in empty stadiums. The players feel like they are playing friendly matches every weekend. Even for us, not having the supporters, we miss it terribly. We are lucky to be able to watch the game, which many would like to do, but they cannot.
I will come back to La Licorne one last time because the president invited me to the game of my choice to say goodbye to those who weren’t there on Saturday.
So this context did not lead you to say to you I continue an additional season to leave with the public?
Never. It’s been a short year since I think about it, and if I had had to do that, I would have chosen a match with the public, why not a big match. I imagined that it was the right time for the club and for me to leave. I had only one fear, it is that we will not be maintained for this match. We are so used to playing our season in the last minutes that I had this fear. How happy I was when we beat Troyes and it was almost a given. Stopping before now wasn’t the time, but stopping after wouldn’t have been the time either. This year, everything turned in my favor for this to be the end. Even if we had gone up, I wouldn’t have done next season.
What’s next for you?
My future is to take on other responsibilities, other missions. Until it’s done, I don’t talk about it. For the moment, there is nothing fixed, definitive and I would not want to be the turkey of the farce. I am a supporter of Amiens SC like everyone else, I am becoming a “normal” person again, but by superstition I do not announce anything until it is done. It’s going to take a while for things to move forward. I will come back to La Licorne one last time because the president invited me to the match of my choice to say goodbye to those who weren’t there on Saturday, against Niort. It will be my pleasure to say goodbye to everyone.
If you had to remember only one memory of your common history with Amiens SC?
The match in Reims, of course. We hear so many different stories around this game! For example, on the broadcast at La Licorne, we were two minutes behind reality, and the one who was in the cabin and who managed the broadcast knew two minutes before those present at the stadium that we were in Ligue 1. I the regret that we did not manage to put together a really beautiful subject around this match. There are so many anecdotes to tell, memories… I broke my car between Reims and Amiens so I wanted to go home! I found myself stuck in the middle of the highway at eleven o’clock when I was expected at La Licorne. I saw everyone pass while I was stuck in Saint-Quentin! I have a lot of things that will remain engraved around this match. Reims – Amiens will forever be an incredible memory with ten thousand Amiens in Reims!
All comments collected by Romain PECHON with Adrien ROCHER
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