Uefa Cup First round, first leg: Paris Saint-Germain are no longer a major French club on the field. Matthew Spiro explains why.

Derry City manager Stephen Kenny was right to describe the forthcoming Uefa Cup clash against Paris Saint-Germain as "a great draw for the club". After knocking out former winners IFK Gothenburg and then Gretna in qualifying, the side from the Eircom League are braced for a glamour first-round tie against one of the biggest clubs in French soccer - and, most appealingly of all, a club that on a good day they are capable of beating.

In terms of media coverage and fan base, PSG remain a veritable force in France. But years of chronic instability and ill-advised transfer dealings have led to an inexorable downturn in results.

Consequently, the team that arrives for next Thursday's first leg will bear little resemblance to the swashbuckling PSG sides of the 1990s which won the European Cup Winners' Cup, reached five consecutive European semi-finals and boasted such glittering talents as George Weah, David Ginola, Rai and Leonardo.

PSG's history may only be short, but they have already crammed more excitement, controversy and highs and lows into 36 years than most clubs manage in a century.

Created in 1970 by 20,000 Parisian soccer enthusiasts frustrated at the successive failures of Racing Club, Red Star and Stade Français, PSG quickly settled in the top flight and picked up a first league title under Gerard Houllier in 1986.

The club, however, were distinctly unfashionable. They attracted few supporters and became dogged by a racist tag as right-wing extremists gathered on the terraces of the Parc des Princes.

PSG's journey would take a turn for the better after Canal Plus became majority shareholders in 1991. Their popularity increased as the influential television network gave the club a radical makeover, cleaning up their image and putting together the finances to build a side that could not only rival France's southern superpower Olympique de Marseille, but also the best teams in Europe.

Soon the Parc des Princes was full to bursting on a regular basis, with close to 50,000 supporters creating a highly charged, partisan atmosphere with their smoke bombs, flares and rhythmic chants. Champions again in 1994, the heady European nights became commonplace, and giants like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich were all sent packing in the seasons that followed.

The potential was enormous, but just as PSG looked set to establish themselves among soccer's elite - having qualified for a second consecutive European final in 1997 and won two domestic cups the following year - they lost their way.

The start of the malaise can be traced to the sacking of club president Michel Denisot in 1998, after seven years at the helm. "It triggered a period of instability that the club are yet to come out of," commented Laurent Perrin, soccer writer for Le Parisien newspaper. Canal Plus subsequently got through five presidents and five coaches in eight years. "I can't think of any top European club that is run in such a haphazard way," Perrin added.

The direct result of this instability was an incoherent transfer policy. The example of Nicolas Anelka - a home-grown talent allowed to join Arsenal for €700,000 in 1997 and then re-signed from Real Madrid for €34 million three years later - illustrates a gross inefficiency.

Anelka is not the only gifted player to have graced the PSG shirt lately. World Player of the Year Ronaldinho, Nigerian playmaker Jay-Jay Okocha, Argentina trio Gabriel Heinze, Juan Pablo Sorin and Mauricio Pochettino, Colombia defender Mario Yepes, Portugal's record goalscorer Pedro Pauleta and a host of France internationals have toiled fruitlessly in the capital in recent times.

Two French Cups and a series of mediocre league finishes since 1998 is hardly a sound return on the investment.

"No matter how many good players PSG sign, they don't seem to be able to forge a good team," Perrin said. "The essential problem is the instability that came about through poor decision-making on the part of Canal Plus. "They appointed coaches who simply weren't cut out for PSG."

According to Perrin: "For a coach to succeed at PSG he must have a strong character, communicate well with the media and know how to manage players with inflated egos."

Philippe Bergeroo, Alain Giresse, Ricardo, Luis Fernandez, Vahid Halilhodzic and Laurent Fournier certainly have qualities, but none could tick all three of those boxes.

In his second spell in charge, Fernandez, a former PSG midfielder, failed to get any consistency out of Ronaldinho. The magical Brazilian reportedly spent more time in the Parisian nightclubs than on the training ground, and often found himself on the bench.

Fernandez was at least a popular figure, unlike Halilhodzic, who became so hated by his own players that they threatened a mutiny. Heinze had particularly frosty relations with the hard-nosed Bosnian, reacting furiously to the coach's insistence on playing him left back.

Tellingly, there are no such tantrums at Manchester United when Alex Ferguson asks the Argentine to fill the same role.

The continual switching of coaches resulted in a ridiculously high turnover of players and prevented any group from gelling. "A good team spirit is something that has eluded PSG for years," Perrin pointed out.

Having finished ninth in Ligue Un for the past two seasons, PSG no longer merit their "big club" status on performances alone.

Yet, they remain important in the eyes of French fans. The intense focus of the media, endlessly scrutinising each result, is largely responsible for their still lofty reputation. The vast majority of France's media is based in the capital, and home PSG matches are as much a social gathering for journalists as anything else.

The coverage filters through to the players, many of whom get taken in by the hype. PSG midfielder Edouard Cissé last season declared: "The problem is that a lot of players think they've made it as soon as they arrive at PSG. But most of them haven't achieved anything."

Recognising that PSG had become little more than a drain on finances, Canal Plus sold out to a group of American investors led by Colony Capital earlier this year. An exciting new era? Probably not.

For the first time in a long time this summer, PSG kept faith in their coach, the highly-regarded former Sochaux boss Guy Lacombe, and resisted making wholesale changes to the team. "We've been very careful in our transfer activity," said new president Alain Cayzac. "The only way the club can move forward is through stability."

Perrin sees it differently: "If PSG haven't made any big signings it's because they no longer have the funds. The new owners won't be freeing up money for new players so from now on PSG can only spend what they earn."

By far their most important summer transaction was extending Pauleta's contract. He may have flopped once again at a major tournament, but the Portuguese remains the most prolific striker in France and frequently rescues PSG.

The arrival of goalkeeper Mickael Landreau should also help a defence that has been over-reliant on centre back Yepes. Lacombe must otherwise hope that last year's recruits - France midfielders Vikash Dhorasoo and Jérôme Rothen and Ivory Coast forward Bonaventure Kalou - improve drastically on their dismal debut campaigns.

The early indications are that it will be another long season. Three defeats in their first four matches have seen PSG slump to 12th in the standings. The newspapers are reporting excitedly on a new crisis in the capital.

But on reflection, perhaps a mid-table berth is not so far away from Paris St Germain's rightful place these days.