Interview

Fifth place, transfer window, INEOS,… Julien Fournier provides his answers

Saturday  2 May was a press-filled day for Julien Fournier. Speaking to Nice-Matin and RMC, the OGC Nice Director of Football delivered his views on a number of topics. 

“The sensible decision”

 

The termination of the season 

It was the sensible decision and you have to remember that it was the government that made it. I was rather uncomfortable with the idea of an early return to football on the 11th or 12th May. Football is a contact sport, we would have needed to test all of our players and coaching staff every other day. We hear that there aren’t enough tests in France... During the lockdown, lots of people have faced up to this, so that we can continue to live normally, and we would have needed to explain to them that there aren’t enough tests for them, but there are for us? Honestly, it’s the most sensible decision.  

The economic impact for L1

The economic impact was put forward in order to continue but I think there are two sides to this analysis. Of course, we are losing the TV rights which is bad news. But we knew that by recommencing the league, the broadcasters weren’t ready to pay the full amount agreed. The second point is that apart from PSG, other clubs can’t rotate their players in the same way. Playing games back-to-back after such a long period of inactivity, and with only one week of team training, there would have been injuries. There is also the contract for next year’s TV rights that needs to be secured.

The fifth place finish 

Honestly, I won’t be drawn into quarrels on this. The calculation falls in our favour, that’s true. But there is no team except for PSG that fully deserves its position. We picked up the points on the pitch, we deserve as much or as little as any other side. I think that any potential complaints on this will have no impact, but clubs can hope to receive damages and interest on this in a couple of years time, even though the government is preparing an order to ratify and protect the results that are coming from the termination of the season. Our budget was developed based on a 7th place finish. We are losing less money, of course, but we are still losing in the region of several million Euros. It’s clear that this weighs heavy, but we need to put things into perspective when comparing ourselves to SMEs. Of course, it’s a critical situation, but we need to keep our feet on the ground.

The transfer window 

In order to convince players to join, of course Europe is an argument in our favour. But for the moment, we haven’t qualified for the Europa League. We can’t bank on an unknown. That doesn’t change anything for our transfer window though: we established a list of players before the league was terminated. In our conversations, we always present a medium-term project with the ambition of playing in Europe. The players need to be convinced by the ambition of the club, our vision, not just for the season that follows. And our ambition for this period is to be in the running for European football. It’s part of our discussions, both financially and on a sporting level. From what I am reading, the German, English and Spanish leagues will have their TV rights, so I don’t expect the transfer market to crash. From my point of view, I think a slowing down is more likely, with a 10 to 15% drop, and a psychological block for clubs when investing, fearing what’s around the corner… The market could drop off for certain players. Maybe I am wrong, because it’s impossible to be certain. We have never stopped working. We have very precise ideas on the areas we need to reinforce and the players that we want to bring in. It’s incredibly rare to bring in all of your targets but the plan of action is in place. 

The profile of the recruits

We always look at the intrinsic qualities of the players, the physical and technical aspects etc. What’s also very important is to be as precise as possible in terms of the mental side of things. We want to grow the club in terms of our competitiveness. But we won’t be moved on our approach to work. A player who doesn’t intend to work has no place in our project. That’s not just the case for the first team, but for our directors, coaching staff, academy and medical staff. We aren’t just looking for experienced players. Youcef Atal and Hicham Boudaoui are competitors, winners. It’s not only a question of age.

“Today, we tell the lads that they need to perform in a minimum of 100 matches with Nice"  

 

The project

The INEOS project is a continuation of our project. There is no change in the players we are targeting, we are just in a better position to keep our players and to attract players like Claude-Maurice, Nsoki and Dolberg. We have worked (with INEOS), and of course we are in a stronger financial position, but there are always rumours around the reality of the project in the media. The seasons in which we have had sporting success, we were unable to keep our key members of the squad. The objective of the project, would be to discover great finds (Dalbert, Ricardo Pereira etc..) but also to have the capacity to do so. We won’t be a supermarket, we want to build a team that is able to compete for Europe over 3-4 windows. The big difference from the past is that the players don’t feel that success in Nice will be short-lived. Once again, not that long ago, we struggled to keep players for more than a season, like Hatem (Ben Arfa) or Younes (Belhanda). Mario (Balotelli) also signed for a year in the first instance. Dalbert also left after a year. Ricardo was on loan for two years, it was a great deal. Today, we explain to the lads that they need to perform in a minimum of 100 matches with Nice. We can hold onto them, without a doubt. We are no longer a springboard for clubs like Aston Villa or Fiorentina, without meaning to lack any respect for these great clubs.

Le Gym in 2020

In terms of results, it’s positive. As I said, we didn’t fully deserve this 5th place because we didn’t play 100% of our matches, but we progressed. We have also restructured the club. Cédric Varrault, Didier Digard, Manu Pirès are all back at the club. Serge (Recordier) returned to the scouting team. There have been a fair few changes. It’s important, as is the closer relationship with the Association. Now we need to be worthy of these responsibilities. Today, the Club is attractive. 

The relationship with the Ratcliffe family

It’s an incredible thing to have a shareholder that is so strong economically, yet so willing to listen on a human level. A week ago, we had a videoconference. Jim and Bob were there. They are both real sport fans, they are very interested in the progress of the club.

I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened to OGC Nice if there hadn’t been the change of ownership, particularly given the “toxic” loan taken out on the back of the club. We need to be aware of this opportunity that we have had.

The players’ programmes  

They aren’t on holiday just yet, but of course we will take note of the consequences of the termination of the season. They will have holidays, but pre-season is likely to be longer than usual. We can’t allow their bodies to be inactive for five months. Pre-season could take place over two periods. Patrick Vieira and his staff are currently considering this.

The individual situations

Aside from the wider talking points, Julien Fournier also discussed certain individual situations.

Patrick Vieira

He will of course be here next season. There is no debate to be had. I hope that Patrick will finally be able to experience a normal season on the Nice bench. His first season was disturbed, in part due to us. The second was extraordinary, in the truest meaning of the word. When you are happy with a coach, you always try to keep him. We want to continue together, both on our side and his. We all need to be better. Our ambition will grow and we will be more demanding on everyone. The most important thing in a coach/board relationship is confidence. We needed to rebuild this link. I can’t talk for Patrick, but I feel that he is deeply happy at OGC Nice. Not everything is a question of contracts. It will happen naturally.

Walter Benitez

Our conversations continue. Walter (coming to the end of his contract) is very attached to OGC Nice and we are very fond of Walter too. There is a desire on both sides to strike an agreement. It can seem intriguing, but it’s the truth. It’s expected and only human that Walter wants to make the most of his status as a player out of contract. It’s also logical that we as a club need to be reasonable in the use of our money. But it’s a situation that is not a closed book, by any means.

Malang Sarr 

This is football (the player has announced his departure). It’s neither a shame, nor a piece of good news. These are things that happen. It will never affect the deep respect that we have for Malang, who will be a child of the Club for all of his life. He has brought us a lot, with impeccable behaviour in all of the teams he has played in. He is a fantastic product of the Nice Academy. We are proud of that.