PRESS ROUNDUP

"The club’s future has never been brighter"

In an interview with Nice-Matin and L'Equipe, Jean-Pierre Rivère confirmed that there was no question of "writing off the season" after the poor start, backed Lucien Favre as manager, and said that INEOS had reaffirmed its desire to offer OGC Nice development opportunities that the club had never had before. Here are a few snippets. 

THE AUDIT

"After the audit carried out by Dave (Brailsford, director of Ineos Sports) and supported by Ineos' (the club's owner) financial directors, it was concluded that we were very far from the performance standards. The decision was made to work differently." 

THE EFFECTS OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT 

"I can understand that the press and the fans are disappointed with the results. What did we say? We said we would change the project, we would structure the club, we wanted a sporting director. We weren't going to take someone in the middle of the transfer window: the candidates we were targeting weren't available. We want the best. We're taking our time. We may lose months that are detrimental to the immediate results, but they won't be detrimental to the future of the club. We were late in the transfer window, we have to find the right balance. And if there are adjustments to be made in the winter transfer window, we will make them." 

LUCIEN FAVRE

"When I read in the press that we have negotiated an agreement with Lucien Favre to part company, it's ridiculous. We're not going to change coach after eight games, it's neither a solution from a sporting point of view nor from a human one.

Dave (Brailsford) had a long meeting with him yesterday, Lucien came out of the meeting very happy, he was happy that we supported him. The rumours were unfounded, Lucien said: "I know football and I remain confident for the future. We are going to make sure, on a staff level, that we take on extra people to help him work as well as possible. People will come to reinforce the staff in certain areas, especially performance related. We will all work together with Lucien to recover as best we can from the bad start to the season. No ultimatum has been set for him." 

THE START OF THE SEASON 

"We're not sitting on this season at all after eight games. Why are we 13th? Sometimes seasons get off to a bad start, there's nothing to say we won't turn things around. All together. And allow the club to recover. We want to identify the difficulties, we work to rectify them. It's true that the mercato was late, but we have to find the right balance".  

THE EVOLUTION OF THE PROJECT 

"Ineos have been here for three years. For me, we have almost lost three years. Today, for me, we are launching the real project that we had to do with Ineos. For three years, there was a project that consisted of taking young people and developing them. I did not agree with this project. I think it was a strategic mistake. Today, we have a different vision. We want to have a club that is structured, which will allow it to grow. Our job is also to look for competent people capable of bringing us these resources." 

THE SPORTING DIRECTOR 

"The arrival of a CEO (Fabrice Bocquet) is a first step. A sporting director will allow us to have a clear and targeted sporting policy. (...) We must be attractive to get to the highest level. The sporting director must work with the current coach. He won't come and ask to fire the coach. Who decides now? Dave, Jim and me. At the moment, Dave is running the meetings." 

INFRASTRUCTURE

"The owners can't be happy with the start of the season, but despite that, they have relaunched the OGC Nice project (...) The morning of Nice-Cologne, we had a meeting that confirms Ineos' desire to develop OGC Nice. It was decided to enlarge our training facilities with additional land and to build a very innovative performance centre next door. It will be top level. The cycling team, a small part of F1 and the sailing performance structure will use these infrastructures. This gives the project a sense of time and shows the resources given to the club. These are perspectives that we have never had for the club, and I am choosing my words carefully." 

THE FUTURE 

"Knowing what I know and the will to develop the club that our owners have, I can say that the future of OGC Nice has rarely been so exciting and interesting (...) It is not a question of being complacent, when everything is structured as we want it to be, it will be a successful and innovative club. It's an in-depth job, the results will follow." 

The full interview can be found on the Nice-Matin and L'Equipe websites, and in this Saturday's newspapers'.

Cyril Dodergny (Nice-Matin)