Interview

Julien Fournier: "Gain in maturity"

Between Saturday's trip to Paris Saint-Germain and Wednesday's rescheduled Matchday 11 encounter in Marseille, Julien Fournier, INEOS' Director of Football, spoke to AFP about the club's turbulent season, the search for a coach, and the bridges being built to other INEOS clubs.

"It's a difficult season, with a change in coach, a lot of moves, ups and downs in form, players not yet up to speed, others who are getting there now, a disastrous COVID-19 outbreak, and a lot of injuries," was how Julien Fournier summed up the 2020/21 campaign though he acknowledged "better" things in the team's performances of late: "We're starting to see us play. We've moved into first gear, we have to continue and pick up points."

The club has got back to winning ways in February after a difficult January, and their Director of Football is happy with the contribution winter recruits William Saliba and Jean-Clair Todibo have made to the team's backline: "We've got four at the back, a set-up in which the team feels and can express itself best. The idea we had with Adrien Ursea and the staff was to give the team confidence through their play. From that point of view, Saliba and Todibo do us a lot of good."

'UP THE DEMANDS AT EVERY LEVEL'

Asked about the search for a coach, Julien Fournier talked about the first-team squad's future, which has been guided by Adrien Ursea since Matchday 13: "We're still looking for an experienced coach, one who is capable of progressing the team with a real attacking outlook, who can improve the players and be a competitor." It's a search fuelled by "the need to gain in maturity. OGC Nice has already taken some huge strides forward, but we're at the most difficult step. We have to up the demands at every level."

Although the whole of French football is having a difficult season in economic terms due to the public health crisis and the reduction in TV rights, he said "that INEOS' position puts us out of danger of bankruptcy or an industrial catastrophe. We're less in danger than others." He did, however, also acknowledge, 'the club has lost a lot of money. A shareholder isn't there to compensate for the lack of commercial income. Due to the agreement with Canal+ on TV rights, we know what we'll have until the end of the season. We and all the others are losing 50% of that revenue. Regarding a potential reduction in salaries, we've agreed with the players not to talk about that subject."

'THE AIM IS TO BUY A PORTUGUESE CLUB'

He also talked about the stage at which the project with Lausanne-Sport and RC Abidjan is at: "When INEOS bought OGC Nice, they already owned Lausanne-Sport and already had a partnership with Racing Club d'Abidjan. We have already started to establish connections between the three clubs." There is also the aim of extending the project by integrating a new club: "Even if the timeline has been disrupted by the pandemic, the aim is to buy a club in Portugal to help set up a link to Brazil where Carlos Henrique, the former Bordeaux defender, is developing his network for us. It's a system in which I have a lot of faith. The association of four clubs with one goal: to have a common DNA with an audacious style of play in all four clubs, who will preserve their own identity. The aim is not to have intensive trading between them. If we can sell a player, we will, but we're not about that. The goal is to create a sporting organisatoin that allows the four clubs to work together and perform as well as possible."