The former French international player has decided to put down the microphone and pick up a tactics board to become manager of OGC Nice in a shock move by club chairman Jean-Pierre Rivere. Rumours are rife that it was Rivere's wife who insisted he appoint the Gallic heart-throb but that has been denied vigarously!!!
He also played 17 times for France and scored 3 goals and was voted Player of the Year in France (1994) and England (1999)
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OGC NICE
Founded -1904 Stadium - Stade de Ray (18,696 all seater) Due to move into the Allianz Riviera on 22/9/13 - capacity 35,624 Fierce Rivals - AS Monaco & AS Cannes
Major Honours
Ligue 1 - 4 times
Ligue 2 - 4 times
French Cup - 3 times
So there you have it. After ages I have finally settled and decided my new save. I loaded up over 20 nations and picked several sides and played a week at most before deciding against it. I was very close to going Newcastle and Atalanta.
In the end for some reason I had my heart set on the French league. I dabbled with St.Etienne but decided upon Nice because (a) they have some great young talent, (b) they are in Europe and (c) they are one of the few French teams who dont have excellent youth facilities so I have a bit of rebuilding to do.
So off I go on another adventure. As it is xmas day (my most hated day of the year) I should be able to immerse myself into it. I hope peeps will follow.
Obviously Maupay is the jewel in the crown there and I look forward to seeing how good he can become.
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PLAYERS IN
I immediately felt that I needed a CB, LB and a CM. My first signing was former Juventus, Liverpool and PSG midfielder Mohamed Sissoko. I feel he will add great experience and be a solid player in the French league and his experience will no doubt help in Europe. Next up I spent ?450,000 on Constant Djakpa from Eintracht Frankfurt and he will be my first choice LB. Finally I brought in Gojko Kacar from Hamburg on a season long loan. View attachment 440988View attachment 440987View attachment 440986
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PLAYERS OUT
We got a total of ?550k for Lloyd Palun and Fabrice Abriel while I loaned out Xavier Pentecote. Thats it really!
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SUMMARY
With this squad I feel we may be able to push for a top 8 finish and hopefully get a decent cup run. However we have been dealt a tough draw in the Europa League as we are facing Italian side Udinese. I also managed to get Romanian side Ceahlaul as a feeder side.
I also changed the backroom staff. Damien Commoli came in as my Director of Football, Guy Lacombe as assistant manager and Gian Nicola Bisciotti as a fitness coach amongst others.
AUGUST
Lyon 1 (Briand 29) OGC Nice 1 (Bodmer 43)
We were truly magnificent here and should have won but we missed a load of chances. We were without 3 players who were suspended and a few more were not fit so this bodes well. Unfortunately Eysseric got injured and will be out for the best part of 2 months.
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OGC Nice 1 (Bruins 53) Rennes 0
This was a very hard fought win as both sides had 15 attempts with plenty on target but in the end we just nicked it. They did have a first half goal disallowed too which helped.
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UEFA Europa League Play-off 1st Leg OGC Nice 5 (Cvitanich 16pen, Allan og21, Bautheac 23, Heurtaux og65, Bruls 89)
Udinese 1 (Hernandez 67)
AMAZING!!!!! However it was undeserved. Maybe Udinese deserved a draw and if you consider that we got a penalty and they scored 2 own goals it shows that it could have been a very different story!
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AC Ajaccio 0 OGC Nice 3 (Genevois 24, Cvitanich 45pen, 83)
To say we were under strength here is a bit of understatement. I played several teenagers here and we managed to win comfortably. They will get another outing against Udinese too.........
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UEFA Europa League Play-off 2nd Leg
Udinese 4 (Hernandez 10, Heurtaux 18, Allan 41, Barrientos 65) OGC Nice 1 (Dada 88) (OGC Nice win 6-5 on aggregate)
I knew we were going to lose but this was far too close for comfort. They had a man sent-off late on and we managed to get the goal to take us through.
A very nice introduction to the club! We have started off pretty solidly in the league and have progressed in Europe in a goal frenzy of a tie against Udinese. What was pleasing was the way my youngsters stepped into the breach and for the most part played admirably - this bodes well for the future.
In the Europa League group stage we have been drawn against Real Betis, St. Gallen and Tottenham Hotspur!!!! So that mean Mr. Ginola will be going back to his old club where he got inducted to their hall of fame.
Another good victory and performance. Mathieu Bodmer has been brilliant for me so far!
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Lille 1 (Kalou 67) OGC Nice 2 (Puel 7, Cvitanich 11)
A great performance here. We got off to a flying start and were pretty solid until the final 25min. Sissoko went off injured and with Bodmer not playing we did begin to crumble a bit due to the lack of experience but we held on.
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UEFA Europa League Group A OGC Nice 1 (Cvitanich 70) Real Betis 0
We were truly exceptional here and could have got into double figures but as it was we only scored after they had a man sent-off.
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OGC Nice 2 (Genevois 5, Kacar 17)
Valenciennes 0
Our first game in our new stadium.
Once again we had over 20 attempts and we restricted them to 2!!!! Cvitanich missed a penalty but its another 3pts for the early season pace-setters.
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FC Nantes 2 (Veigneau 12, Thomas 31) OGC Nice 1 (Pied 14)
This was a harsh defeat. We were pretty poor in the first half but played them off the park in the 2nd half but we just couldnt find the equaliser somehow.
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OGC Nice 3 (Hernandez 21, Bautheac 38, Kacar 51)
Guingamp 3 (Yatabare 14, Atik 54, Kerbrat 85)
Not happy here but we rode our luck regarding putting in our rookies for far too long and it was the sending off of Rougeaux which proved to be costly here.
A momentous month this as we moved into our brand spanking new stadium. Results were pretty good also although we did tail off towards the end but I am happy with us sitting pretty in 2nd place.
Off the pitch I managed to get a parent side to partner the club. I rejected AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus and ended up plumping for little known Barcelona lol. Hopefully they will help us out in the future.
UEFA Europa League Group A St. Gallen 0 OGC Nice 2 (Cvitanich 37, Eysseric 90)
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Toulouse 1 (Jouffre 65) OGC Nice 2 (Bruins 28, Cvitanich 89pen)
This was a must win for 2 reasons - (a) I slagged off their manager beforehand and (b) we have some really tough fixtures next!!!
Marseille extend their lead at the top of the table after winning this derby. We were pathetic in the first half but turned the corner in the second but it was not to be.
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UEFA Europa League Group A Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Defoe 89) OGC Nice 1 (Bodmer 26)
An excellent result especially considering we had Digard sent-off after 10min. Cvitanich then missed a penalty but I am happy with a point.
This month was pretty tough and we came through relatively unscathed. Sure we lost to Marseille but we are still in the European places in the league which I am sure Monaco would be jealous of as they are amazingly currently in a relegation battle!!!!
I have just noticed that in the youth ranks I have the younger brothers of Hugo Lloris and Kevin Constant.
Goals galore here but we gifted them 3 goals and we were never going to win doing that. Kacar had a shocker.
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OGC Nice 2 (Pied 38, Bautheac 54) AS Saint-Etienne 1 (Erdinc 56)
Back to winning ways in the league and it was quite pleasing as I forgot to start Bodmer and am giving a run in AMC to Maupay so he can get a run of starts.
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UEFA Europa League Group A Real Betis 2 (Castro 1, Verdu 12) OGC Nice 4 (Fofana 21, Constant 78, Bosetti 80, Pejcinovic 90)
What a comeback this was!!!! This win secures our qualification into the next round and it was achieved despite being 2 down and fielding a side full of youngsters.
Plenty of goals this month with us scoring 13 in 5 games which is decent and conceding 12 which is a worry. We are still challenging at the top of the league and have progressed in Europe which is good while we have been given a home draw in the League Cup.
We have 6 games in 20 days in December so that looks as though it will be a tough month!
FC Lorient 3 (Coutadeur 16pen, 55, Aliadiere 55) OGC Nice 2 (Pied 21, Bosetti 81pen)
Not happy here. Lorient are doing brilliantly this season but I was expecting a point here.
-- OGC Nice 2 (Cvitanich 9, 76)
AS Monaco 1 (Joao Moutinho 71)
We pile on the misery for Monaco as we came out on top and deservedly so. They did have a first half goal disallowed but we won this derby match.
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Stade de Reims 0 OGC Nice 1 (Pied 40)
Back to back league wins and this was a tough one - especially when Genevois got sent-off with 20min to go.
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UEFA Europa League Group A OGC Nice 5 (Constant 25, Bosetti 50, Bruls 67, Maupay 76pen, 88) St. Gallen 3 (Varini 2, Besle 54, Benedetti 90)
Once again my youngsters do me proud here and finally Maupay gets his first goals for me and he also set up 2 goals. Real Betis beat Spurs so we win the group! View attachment 440600
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Coupe de la Ligue 4th Round OGC Nice 1 (Soumaoro og90)
Lille 1 (Kalou 46) (AET - OGC Nice won 5-3 on penalties)
We got lucky here as we only took it to extra time thanks to an own goal in the 6th minute of stoppage time. However we were ruthless in the shoot-out and scored all 5 of our penalties.
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OGC Nice 2 (Cvitanich 51, Maupay 90) Evian 0
A good win but Bodmer got injured and is out for 3 months!!!!
A very successful month as we topped our group in Europe, progressed in the League Cup and did quite well in the league. That being said our run in Europe wont last much longer as we have been drawn against Lazio and even if we beat them either Napoli or Arsenal await.
Looking ahead I very much we will do anything significant in the January transfer window (not forgetting that in France you can sign 1 player between Sep and Dec) as money is a bit tight.
Coupe de France 9th Round OGC Nice 4 (Bosetti 22, Afellay 29, Bruls 38, Maupay 85) MDA Chasselay 1 (Bantiti 30)
A comfortable win - even though we had a man sent-off after 5min. New on loan signing Afellay got a debut goal here.
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OGC Nice 2 (Maupay 23, Kacar 73) Sochaux 0
Thats 4 league wins in a row now and we move into 3rd place with a game in hand.
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Rennes 2 (Alessandrini 35, 47) OGC Nice 0
This was a horrible performance and we got what we deserved - nothing. This was the first time where we failed to get on the scoresheet too.
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Coupe de la Ligue QF AS Saint-Etienne 3 (Hamouma 32, Mollo 51, Cohade 77pen) OGC Nice 4 (Bautheac 3, 67, Genevois 40, Bruls 108) AET
A thrilling cup tie in which we just come out on top in a seven goal thriller.
-- OGC Nice 4 (Kacar 3, Maupay 14, 49, Pied 33)
AC Ajaccio 3 (Mutu 13, 24, Barazite 67)
Another crazy game as the bottom side gave us a bit of a scare. I thought they would nick an equaliser when Sissoko got sent-off but we held on. Afellay was superb and got 3 assists.
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Coupe de France 10th Round Paris Saint-Germain 7 (Lavezzi 20, Kacar og27, Pastore 61, Matuidi 89, Ospina og97, Lucas Moura 104, 106) OGC Nice 4 (Bautheac 24, Eysseric 41, 73, Maupay 86) AET
This was a very harsh scoreline (even though they had 2 disallowed) and I thought we had won it when Maupay scored but it was not to be. Bit ****** off really.
Bastia 3 (Boudebouz 42, Haddad 48, Maoulida 81) OGC Nice 4 (Bosetti 3, 60, Kacar 15, Romaric og52)
For the 5th time this month we score 4 goals and for the 3rd time we win 4-3. Our defence is pretty shocking to be fair.
We finish the month 2nd in the table and in the League Cup semis which aint at all bad. Sure we lost to PSG in the cup but I suppose that was to be expected. We have no problems scoring goals but we are conceding far too many.
Regarding the transfer window I let a couple of players leave on loan and brought in a loanee myself. IbrahimAfellay came in from Barcelona until the end of the season and we arent even paying anything towards the deal! Obviously this is due to our link up. View attachment 440432
