George Quintard, fondateur et Chairman à vie de la French Branch, a choisi de démissionner. Il expose dans la lettre ci-dessous les raisons de son départ. Une traduction en français viendra plus tard, pour les non-anglophones.
Je verrouille le sujet, je crois que cet évènement est important dans la vie de l'association et nécessite la reflexion de tous, certainement pas des réactions à chaud. Si réactions il doit y avoir, je propose que le sujet soit abordé lors de notre prochaine AGM.

La lettre de George :

Citation:

When I decided to set up an International Branch of the Official Liverpool Supporters Club in France I had four main objectives to accomplish. 1 to create an International Branch where none existed, 2 to create a meeting place where supporters could meet and enjoy watching matches together, 3 Create a website that would provide a central focus point where fans could easily communicate with one another and be kept up to date with what was happening in their club and finally 4 obtain an allocation of tickets for our International Branch ( even though I was repeatedly told by LFC this would never happen before the new stadium was built.) I achieved all four of my aims and stood down as Chairman of the club. I was very proud to receive an award from the members of our club and be nominated lifetime President. The award that states I am a true red means a great deal to me as to be recognised as such by my fellow supporters is a constant source of pride for me and I can assure you the award has pride of place in my home. Thank you. Sadly recent events within the club have changed this for me and I no longer feel proud of what I have created. Ozzy recently told me in the Rush Bar “we are a French Club and Francophone” I sat and listened to this public tirade and didn’t reply. I thought to myself “I don’t recall having created a French Club or Francophone” I approached him later I told him I found his remarks offensive as neither I nor many of our members are French. In fact I am proud to say our branch counts French, Argentinean, American, African, Belgian, Swiss, Australian, Irish, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, Mauritian, English, Scottish, Welsh, Breton and many other nationalities and please forgive me if I have missed yours. No apology was forthcoming from him. I do remember creating an “International Branch” of the Official Liverpool Supporters Club. He also criticised me for the fact that members did not know my personal telephone number. The fact I preferred to log onto the forum anonymously (at least I got way with it for a while) as I this proved an interesting experiment to see how I would be treated and the fact that I continued to work quietly behind the scenes for the benefit of the club and members does not seem to count. My treatment on the forum where I specifically created a space for people to use English (The International language of the world that helps people from different cultures communicate) has been that I have been criticised several times for not writing in French or not providing a translation in French. Read above where I say I did create an International Branch” of the Official Liverpool Supporters Club. I did not create a French Club for French supporters to promote the French Language and culture. The only qualification for me is for someone to want to participate in our club was that they shared one passion. The passion for Liverpool Football Club. Regardless of colour, creed, religion, nationality or language spoken is the only criteria that should matter. I have found little pleasure in using the forum due to my lack of Frenchness and I can only imagine that many of our International members must be also put off using the forum for the very same reason. We have also had a problem with certain member’s behaviour on our recent voyage to Liverpool. Some members seemed to embark on this trip with the sole purpose of becoming and staying so drunk they could no longer tell the difference between behaviour suited to the Stadium during a match and that becoming of a public restaurant where two of the players were trying to enjoy a quiet meal with their families. Even after having been warned by a senior member of our club they preferred to ignore him. The people such as myself and your Chairman and Secretary who give up their precious personal time to enable you to realise your dreams are deserving of your support when they have to take difficult decisions for the long term benefit of the club. Not to be publicly shouted at as I was outside the Rush bar against Arsenal. Even more saddening is that one of these members decided the day after the event when he had sobered up a little to express that rather than be counted amongst the vast majority of well behaved and responsible travelling members he wanted to be counted amongst and punished equally with the badly behaved group! Again this is not something I personally want to be associated with. As I said I am no longer proud of what I created and therefore I am severing all connections with the Club I put so much effort into. I would like to end this letter on a brighter note and can only hope that the club can turn away from the path it has taken and return to the true values and traditions of Liverpool fans that I believe attracted many of you to the club. So I would like to mention some of the moments and memories I will carry with me from the club for always. Yves, knowing I was struggling to obtain a ticket for the final in Istanbul contacting me to tell me he had got me a ticket. When I asked him how much I had to pay him he replied he would not take a penny as it had not cost him anything. This is the behaviour of a True Red and Yves made it possible for me to have been privileged enough to have been there and have experienced my most cherished memory as a Liverpool fan. Seeing Ant’s face when I asked him if he would consider taking over as Chairman? He was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to do the job. We can all see the fine work he has and continues to do for the club. His face was a picture of pride though. You have a fine Chairman and Secretary, they are deserving of your support their task is not always easy. Having a man the wrong side of forty years old come up to me with tears in his eyes and thank me for having made it possible for him to finally realise his dream of seeing the team he had supported all his life play at Anfield. Thanks to Jean-Luc and Patrice (Autumn for those who don’t know him) and Arnaud and also Federico Ruggiero for helping with the club at a crucial moment in its development. To Ken from the Rush bar for making it possible that neither he nor I had to tolerate watching Man U when we were playing the same night in the CL because there were more United fans than Liverpools in the bar. Meeting Hazel who many of you have met, a blind lady who has never seen a football match in her life but lives for LFC. And many other positive memories that I prefer to carry with me and leave the negative ones where they deserve to be, discarded. It is now up to you all where your club goes from here, if you see a wrong taking place in your club and you do not condemn it you are in your silence condoning it Finally I leave it someone else to decide if these words are worthy of translating into French but I do not demand it.

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So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.