Euroscene / Paddy Agnew: Here is one for your collection of Yuletide sports quiz questions. For what European club, once coached by Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier and founded only in 1970, have the following all played: Liberian George Weah, Nigerian Jay Jay Okocha, Panamanian Dely Valdes, Brazilians Rai, Leonardo and Ronaldhino, and Frenchmen Luis Fernandez, Dominique Rocheteau, David Ginola, Youri Djorkaeff and Nicolas Anelka?
The last quintet will probably direct you to the correct answer, namely Paris Saint Germain, better known as PSG. Even though PSG was formed only in August 1970 when two clubs, Football Club Paris and Saint-Germain-En-Laye, merged to fill a gap left in the French capital by the sad demise of the once mighty Racing Club de Paris, the new creation has long since established itself as one of the powerhouses of French football.
Winners of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1996, winners of French league titles in 1986 and 1994 and European competition semi-finalists in five successive seasons in the '90s, PSG were remarkably quick to establish themselves as the glamour side of French football.
Like many other famous names all across Europe, however, PSG are currently struggling, both on and off the field. A 1-0 away defeat to lowly Stades Rennes on Sunday saw PSG drop to 10th place in the French First division, seven points behind leaders Olympique Marseilles.
That disappointment followed a fortnight when the club were not alone knocked out of the French League Cup by Nantes but also, more painfully, out of the UEFA Cup by Portuguese side Boavista (2-1, 0-1 losing on away goals).
Not surprisingly, coach Luis Fernandez is reportedly under pressure. On Sunday night, PSG chairman Laurent Perpere said he would wait until PSG's last game of the calendar year, at home to Bordeaux at the Parc des Princes on Thursday, before making any decision about Fernandez's tenure.
Given that after this week, French football goes into a prolonged winter break, speculation is rife that Fernandez will get his marching orders just in time for Christmas so as to allow his successor a prolonged settling-in period. If he is sacked, Fernandez will follow in the footsteps of Brazilian Ricardo, Frenchman Alain Giresse, Portugal's Artur Jorge and Frenchman Philip Bergeroo, all shown the door in a turbulent four-year period before Fernandez returned for his second stint two seasons ago. As always in these situations, Fernandez continues to talk a good match, saying after Sunday's defeat: "I'm fine. We are now going to prepare for our next match. I'm sorry for the lads since they really got stuck in tonight. We're actually playing quite well at the moment but we're still on a losing streak."
Quitting may well not be in the nature of Fernandez, a man forever recalled for his midfield role in the great Michel Platini-dominated French side of the '80s. Yet, his problems at PSG are not helped by the fact that the club has been caught up in the massive meltdown of the Vivendi Universal empire.
The reality for PSG, of course, is their successful run of the '90s owed much to the huge financial input of Canal Plus, the European pay TV giant that is controlled by Vivendi. With Vivendi keen to restructure, speculation is rife that sooner rather than later PSG will be on the market.
In the meantime, Fernandez - or his successor - will have to make do with the talent already at their disposal. Indeed, PSG may well be forced to sell off their one world class star, Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldhino.
Christmas, it would seem, is unlikely to bring tidings of comfort and joy to either the PSG faithful or Luis Fernandez.
