On the field, the season is coming to an end with a match scheduled in Marseille, against a ghost team, relegated at the beginning of the season and maintaining its presence as a regulatory obligation with only amateur players.
A season of mixed results that leaves an unfinished taste, a 7th or 8th place with no glory and the feeling (of regret) that, without the corporate mishaps, the story could have been quite different.
So, this trip to Marseille will have a vacation feel, a good training session before heading back home, a goodbye which, in some cases, might rather mean farewell and good luck. What will the future hold for a club that is always showcasing its potential but keeps going from crisis to crisis?
Behind the scenes, Midol (the bible of rugby) informs us that “several dossiers have reached the hands of the RNCA leaders and the city hall desks, which, after having played the role of firefighter multiple times, wants to ensure the coherence of the takeover”.
The city hall — did we read this correctly? — But we believed that it, like its officials, had declared in the most convincing manner, not to be interested at all in the club’s life, leaving all initiative and decision to the President and his team elected by the AGM.
Ah the Pinocchios! Why do they deny a truth that everyone knows, as if it was a fault and not a rightful duty of vigilance. And this is true even when taking for granted the false truths or mistaking the person and the subject.
Is it so painful to acknowledge a mistake?
But let’s continue reading: “And today it seems that two candidates are in the running. One of them, according to some echoes from Languedoc, would be none other than Thierry Perez, vice-president of the LNR and former key figure of rugby in Montpellier. The same who, in the past, had already clashed with an old acquaintance of the RNCA… Philippe Deffins°. Surely, the arrival of this man, praised for the quality of his work and his patience, behind Montpellier’s rise to the top level, would be a blessing for Nice rugby”.
There is no doubt that Thierry Perez is of a different caliber than Philippe Deffins, but some questions need to be asked with full transparency and notably:
- What is the sporting project and the financial means to support it? We still remember the fabulous objectives of Philippe Deffins (Pro D2 in three years and Top 14 in the subsequent three years) and the investments planned and supposedly guaranteed (€1,100,000 for the first year and increasing in the following years), only to end a few months later with a resignation by mail “for professional reasons. As for the promised money…
- Who are the people who will lead the club? the same anti-Baldacchino schemers, the same accomplices and guarantors of Deffins and his bogus project? Unfortunately, a glorious past on the field does not make a person a competent sports manager, particularly if the situation is complex and difficult. Experience shows that one should be wary of itinerant homo erectus, these lost souls seeking themselves.
Why should Thierry Perez, who is from Montpellier and deeply involved in the LNR activities as a club representative for Montpellier (There was talk of his candidacy for the President position. Has he abandoned this goal?), invest in Nice? What is the reason for his interest in Nice rugby? Professional (he is a real estate developer)? Ambition to take a club currently in the shadows and bring it into the light?
Who are the investors accompanying him in this adventure? Because while Thierry Perez undoubtedly is a financially well-off person, we do not think he is in a position to invest a lot of personal money in the RNCA. Why do we say this? Because if he could or wanted to, he would have done so in Montpellier, which sentimentally is “his” club. We believe he wouldn’t have left the place for the presidents who succeeded him thanks to a certain level of capital input.
Of course, the financial needs of a Fédérale 1 club are not the same as those of an ambitious Top 14 club… but neither is the appeal.
Good salespeople know that it is easier to sell gold than trinkets, and it is obvious that Nice and Montpellier do not play in the same league, as the results clearly show in almost all sports disciplines. Again, Thierry Perez’s abilities are not in question, but we would just like to understand.
For the record, to date, the RNCA is on probation for demotion to F3 for financial reasons and facing liquidation by the TGI for the same reason. The club is dealing with a significant deficit (partly inherited from previous seasons and largely due to a lack of cash capital for the Deffins-Tordo project’s bogus nature).
Before securing a budget for the forthcoming season that meets its ambitions (+/- 2 million euros), a significant sum (maybe 1 million?) must be found to fill the current season’s budget and continue living.
Will future investors assume such a situation?
For the tumultuous noise that has accompanied the club’s life recently should not make one forget a performance that is, oh, how ruinous (a glaring example: the cancellation of the Vicat Baie des Anges Tournament, the flagship of the rugby school, created by Serge Patuano).
Two other considerations regarding Thierry Perez’s potential arrival, highly desirable if all conditions are met, with the hope of a clear and mid-term project and the establishment of a competent management team.
The first: Is there not a conflict of interest between the Vice-President role of the LNR appointed by the Montpellier club and that of future president or shareholder or strongman of the RNCA? And this, beyond strictly legal aspects, but rather as a matter of fact and morality?
The second: It is known that Thierry Perez is the son-in-law of the President of the General Council of Hérault, Mr. Vezinhet, who is a socialist. It is reasonable to think that the son-in-law politically supports his father-in-law, moreover, known as an influential man in the department. Can we think that the City Hall of Nice, the main funder and indispensable (vital?) financial partner of the club in any case, has not taken this fact into account? Should we think that the City’s supposed withdrawal from club governance goes so far as to support an investor-candidate of (probably) another political stripe?
Of course, we know the answer: Gentlemen, please, do not mix politics with sports… and so be it!
But history can be so amusing: After having fiercely battled against Patrick Allemand for the accusations against him regarding alleged City Hall interference in the “Coste affair,” Christian Estrosi might find the surprise of seeing his socialist opponent having at the helm of the club an investor who might wear a common sensitivity label!
While it must be recognized that the lifespan of certainties is significantly reducing, it is also true that the benefit of pessimism is to have only pleasant surprises!
