When OGC Nice kicked off the 2023/24 Ligue 1 campaign with a 13-match unbeaten run, the noises coming out of France were that Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos ownership had finally learned from the mistakes of their early tenure at the Allianz Riviera.
Six months on and with Nice at risk of missing out on Champions League qualification like their new-found, English-based counterparts Manchester United, the Ineos regime is once again coming under attack, the public revolting and some rather probing questions being thrown their way.
Jerome Rothen, never one to bite his tongue at the best of times, is ‘very worried’ by his own admission about what the future could hold for Los Aiglons.
Highly-rated sporting director Florent Ghisolfi could reportedly defect to Roma. French publication Foot01 claim that Ghisolfi feels Ineos’ ambitious promises have not been met, Ratcliffe’s focus commanded by his beloved Man United and Nice’s own project stalling as a result.
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Head coach Francesco Farioli is allegedly closing in on a departure of his own, heading to Ajax.
The concern over Nice’s current direction of travel will only increase if – as has been mooted – Jean-Clair Todibo, Melvin Bard and/or Khephren Thuram swap one Ineos-owned club for another during the first summer of Ratcliffe’s reign at Old Trafford.
“It makes me crazy,” Rothen tells RMC Sport. “Because I find that these owners do not respect French football. (Ineos) do not respect Nice.
“We have been accustomed for several years to seeing Nice (near) the top of the table. The supporters of this historic club want to experience emotions.
“They’re the owners there, so we have to respect them because they put in the money. But they don’t respect French football – and they respect clubs like Nice even less.”
Rothen, the former PSG and France winger, feels that Ineos have over-promised and under-delivered. Despite spending heavily in the transfer market, many of their more expensive and more high-profile signings – such as Terem Moffi, Calvin Stengs, Kasper Schmeichel and Ross Barkley – have not lived up to expectations.
Nice have also not finished in France’s top four even once since that 2019 takeover, ending up ninth on two occasions.
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“Between not putting in the billions you promised and just putting in a few million, there is no problem. But you can at least commit to the long-term and create stability because that is the path to success in football,” adds Rothen, concerned that the departures of Ghisolfi and Farioli could spark something of an exodus.
“The more stable you are, the more chance the team has of progressing. But everything is up for sale!
“I’m very worried about Nice.”
Only a few months into the Manchester United tenure, the early noises coming out of Old Trafford are certainly optimistic. The appointments of Omar Berrada, Jason Wilcox and the soon-to-be-arriving Dan Ashworth look to have given United the kind of sporting director they were crying out for under the directionless Glazer ownership, with Ratcliffe insisting that the focus is not on profit these days but on-the-pitch success.
As ever, though, the proof will be in the pudding. And the Ineos era at Nice is leaving a nasty case in the mouths of many over in France.