“Although they haven’t reached an agreement yet, both parties have significantly moved closer in recent hours.” This was reported on the official website of the red and black club last June 10th, late in the day, and since then there has been radio silence on the negotiations that might very well lead to Jean-Pierre Rivère joining the ownership of OGC Nice, and likely even as a majority shareholder.
In a matter of days, and through a few articles where his name sometimes became Rivière, Jean-Pierre Rivère, a businessman from Nice involved in real estate, is fueling conversations about the future of a red and black house that might experience a change in presidency during the off-season. Nothing is leaking out from the discussions between the different parties involved, and although a deadline has been set for the end of this week, it might turn out to be a somewhat longer summer episode. In an interview published on Nice Matin, Jean-Pierre Rivère says he is ready to take on the challenge while knowing that the task will not be so easy: “Aside from my wife and children, I don’t know anyone who told me ‘go for it’.
While the 2011-2012 Ligue 1 calendar has just been unveiled, with a prestigious first match on August 6th to kick off at the Ray stadium against Olympique Lyonnais, it is now behind the scenes where a new verdict is expected, and consequently, a new organizational chart for the club as well. With three home matches (Lyon, Toulouse, and Brest) and a trip to the promoted Evian, it will be beneficial to accumulate points during the month of August in order to approach a more challenging September with two away games in Montpellier and Paris.
But for now, we can only hope that good accounts will make the good friends of tomorrow and that negotiations may quickly materialize to give a potential new team time to settle in to best start a season that everyone hopes will be better than last year, when the eaglets had to fight until the end to save their feathers in Ligue 1, even though the French Cup run provided some consolation to the Nice supporters.
