Nice reach Champions League in the one season Jim Ratcliffe stays away

“He hasn’t seen a Nice match this season,” retorted Nice manager Franck Haise to denigrating comments from the club’s own owner Jim Ratcliffe. Had the Manchester United shareholder watched Nice this season, he would have seen a team that has instilled principles and structures that have thus far failed to take hold at Old Trafford – and a side not reliant on a one-game shootout to secure their place in next season’s Champions League.

When Manchester United and Nice both qualified for the Europa League this season, Uefa stipulated that no one involved in one club’s management, administration or sporting performance could have a decisive influence in the other club. Ineos concentrated on Manchester United and left Nice to their own devices. It has worked out well for the French club.

“I don’t particularly enjoy going to watch Nice because there are some good players but the level of football is not high enough for me to get excited,” said Ratcliffe in March. When asked about the owners’s comments, Haise said the Englishman was referring to what he saw “at another time”.

Indeed, there was a radical shift at the club last summer. Haise replaced Francesco Farioli, who left for Ajax. The Italian manager had taken the club into the Europa League but in a way that did not enthuse fans. Haise arrived with a completely different philosophy, style and formation.

Despite meagre investment, he quickly had Nice playing more direct and less passive football, like his Lens side that had finished just one point behind PSG two seasons before. One of the pillars of that team, Jonathan Clauss, was the only major arrival at Nice in the summer. That one signing was all Haise needed to successfully implement his 3-4-3 system on the Riviera.

Not that Haise has adhered religiously to that formation throughout. “It has been a gruelling season,” he said before his team’s 6-0 win against Brest on Saturday – a result that secured fourth place in Ligue 1 and a spot in the Champions League qualifiers next season. An injury crisis stretched the squad to its limits. Haise’s response was pragmatism, something that is in short supply in Manchester. At times he cobbled together a side while missing as many as 12 first-team players. Results fluctuated, naturally, but Nice were never out of touch with the European places.

On the final day of the season, it was simply a question of which European competition they would be playing in next season. Nice struggled in the Europa League this season, failing to win a game and finishing second bottom in the league phase. Those struggles, coupled with a perception that playing in the Champions League qualifiers is a poisoned chalice given the early start to the season and the potential physical consequences, led to a debate about whether it was best for Nice to miss out on fourth place.

That argument was angrily refuted by Haise. “Do these people want us to finish 14th? How can you expect competitors to want to finish fifth? Nonsense. How can you say that?” The response inside the Allianz Riviera on Saturday told its own story. “We want the Champions League,” chanted the fans about a competition they have not graced since the 1950s, despite Ineos promising to lead them back there upon their takeover in 2019.

Six years later and Nice have reached the qualifiers, at least, but Ineos cannot take too much credit – as Ratcliffe admitted a few months ago. “The best season that Nice has had is this one where we’ve not been allowed to get involved,” he said. “They’ve been so much better without our interference.”

Jim Ratcliffe watching Nice in 2019. Photograph: Sébastien Nogier/EPA

And Ineos may be forced to keep their distance again next season if Manchester United beat Tottenham on Wednesday night in the Europa League final and qualify for the Champions League. A continuation of the status quo may be no bad thing; Ratcliffe’s comments did not go down well in the south of France. “We can be annoyed, that’s obvious, but is it really worth staying annoyed for a long time,” said Haise at the time.

Ineos’ lack of interest, however, will hold Nice back in the transfer window. “Like other French clubs, we have to sell to buy this summer,” admitted Haise over the weekend. Despite the wealth of their owners, Nice are not immune to the financial crisis plaguing the French game.

Some of their brightest talents will probably leave, including Evann Guessand, who scored his 12th league goal of the season on the final day. “We know he will be one of the players that is highly sought after,” said Haise, who may also lose Marcin Bulka, one of the finest goalkeepers in Ligue 1 in recent seasons.

Nice have been more than the sum of their parts this season thanks to Haise. Left to their own devices by their estranged owners, they will have to do it again next season if they are to continue their success.

Talking points

Will Still was emotional on Saturday as he announced that he was leaving Lens. He leaves his post after just one season due to personal reasons and with a desire to return to England to be closer to his partner, the TV presenter Emma Saunders. He has been strongly linked with the vacancy at Southampton. Still hasn’t done his reputation any harm this season. Despite losing key players in the summer – Abdukodir Khusanov, Kevin Danso, Brice Samba and Elye Wahi – he led Lens to eighth. They will even qualify for the Conference League if Uefa ban Lyon from European competition.

Strasbourg were in contention to qualify for the Champions League after going unbeaten from 2 February until a fortnight ago, but their charge collapsed at the wrong time. “We didn’t have any fuel left,” said Liam Rosenior after their season finished with defeats to relegation-threatened sides Angers and Le Havre. Strasbourg need PSG to do them a favour by beating Reims in the Coupe de France final. Reims may be distracted, with that final coming in the middle of a two-legged relegation playoff against Metz. It was Abdoulay Touré’s last-minute Panenka penalty that gifted Le Havre the 3-2 win, guaranteeing their safety and pushing Reims into the dreaded playoff.

The final weekend marked the LFP’s annual anti-homophobia campaign, which, depressingly, was met with controversy once again. Mostafa Mohamed, a conspicuous absence in recent editions of the campaign, publicly stated his opposition to the cause and refused to play for Nantes, drawing criticism from across the political spectrum in France. Nemanja Matic also displayed his opposition by taping up the pride flag on the sleeve of his Lyon shirt; last year, Mohamed Camara drew fierce criticism for doing the same while playing for Monaco. It is a case of different season, same sad story.

This is an article by Get French Football News