Finally, secretary general Victoriano Melero, appointed in 2017, supervises the club's legal department under the direction of Jean-Claude Blanc. He also handles PSG's issues concerning UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations (FFP), defends players before disciplinary committees, and represents PSG in front of the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP), the French Football Federation (FFF) and UEFA. Paris Saint-Germain have always been strongly linked with Real Madrid. Indeed, the Spanish side played a big role in the foundation of the Parisian club. Developing football in Paris was a great ambition in 1969, since the French capital did not have an elite football team. Main backers , and were stuck with a problem related to the financing of the project until they met Real Madrid president Santiago Bernabéu. The latter told them that starting a subscription campaign was the best solution. After 20,000 subscriptions, Paris Saint-Germain were founded on 12 August 1970. For the first time in French football history, the fans had financially contributed to the creation of a football club. During its first three years of existence, the club was fan-owned and had 20,000 "socios". At the time, the annual fee to become a "socio" was between 25 and 40 francs (between 4 and 6 euros). PSG was run by board members , and until 1973. That year, PSG accrued a considerable debt and PSG president Patrelle set out to look for financial aid. He found it in the form of French investor and fashion designer Daniel Hechter. The latter took control of Paris Saint-Germain shortly after, becoming club president and naming fellow Frenchman Francis Borelli as vice-president. Borelli then assumed the presidency in 1978 after Hechter was banned for life from football by the French Football Federation (FFF). He was found guilty of running a ticketing scheme at Parc des Princes. PSG's first major trophies arrived during the tenure of Borelli, but he also left the club on the brink of insolvency. Bought by French conglomerate Matra, the resurgent Matra Racing reached the top-flight in 1984 and went head to head with PSG for recognition as the capital's main sporting entity. Matra's experiment was short-lived, though, and by 1989 they returned to the lower leagues after bankrupting themselves. Borelli, however, incurred serious debts and financial irregularities in an attempt to ensure PSG's dominance in Paris.