Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s other outfit Nice endured a horror Europa League campaign, exiting without a win for their eight games as the French side set unwanted records along the way
Sir Jim Ratcliffe‘s French project at Nice is under the spotlight for the wrong reasons with the Ligue 1 club setting an unwanted record in their dire Europa League campaign.
Nice’s time in Europe is over for now after they finished 35th in the standings – just one spot off the bottom. They failed to win any of their eight games, ending with three draws and five defeats.
Even more damning is the fact that the French side didn’t lead for a single minute in the Europa League. They played more than 12 hours of football but never scored the first goal in a single game – which is now a record in the competition, albeit one they won’t want.
Their three draws came against Real Sociedad, Twente and Bodo/Glimt – but on every occasion they were the team coming from behind. Nice’s losses came against the likes of Rangers and Lazio as Ratcliffe was forced to watch another of his clubs underperform.
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A number of fans opted not to attend Thursday’s match against Bodo due to ticket price increases, which led to a record-low attendance. A mere 4,272 supporters were in attendance for the 1-1 draw in a stadium that holds just over 36,000. Even more damning is that 800 of the fans in attendance were Bodo supporters who had made the long journey from Norway.
Ratcliffe has seen Manchester United advance into the next round with the Premier League outfit winning their last five games after a slow start. That eventually saw them end up in third and they will sit back before finding out who they’ll face in the last 16.
Luckily for Nice their domestic form has been far more pleasing. They sit fourth in Ligue 1 and are in with a shout of playing in the Champions League as things stand. Ratcliffe’s INEOS company purchased the French club years ago but they’re yet to win a trophy under him.
Brazilian defender Dante, the captain of the French club, once took a swipe at the Nice ownership as he called on those at the top of the club to stop talking and start backing up their words with actions.
He said: “I think at some point you have to be clear in what you’re saying. To maintain a project, maybe you need to speak less about objectives and work in silence to create an environment of competitors. Because the expectation is even bigger, and then after, people are frustrated.”
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