Relegated to Ligue 2, five points from Nantes before the last day, the Crocos leave the elite three years after having found it.
Like his last match where he seemed resigned, Nîmes ran out of steam in his handicap race, after a complicated first part of the season.
President Rani Assaf has announced his intention to separate from the training center, in a logic of financial profitability, causing strong tensions around the club.
The defeat of Nîmes against Lyon (2-5) opens a period of deep uncertainty.
Relegated to Ligue 2, five points from Nantes before the last day, the Crocos leave the elite three years after having found it.
Three seasons marked by a steady decline.
The sale of the best elements, which today make the happiness of other L1 clubs (Savanier, Bobichon, Bouanga, etc.), was not offset by a sufficiently relevant recruitment.
Saved last season by the stoppage of the championship, when he had slipped to eighteenth place after a series of worrying results, Nîmes this time did not benefit from any boost of fate.
"The march was too high against Lyon, forced to win here to hope for a place in the Champions League," admitted coach Pascal Plancque after the defeat on Sunday evening.
The limits of sacred union and moral virtues
The step was too high, as it has been too often this season.
After a complicated first part of the championship which had led to the ousting of Jérôme Arpinon, Nîmes had experienced a small period of improvement, the success of which in Lille (1-2) marked the climax.
But the moral virtues and the sacred union advocated in the locker room have not withstood the duration.
Like his last match where he seemed resigned, Nîmes ran out of steam in his handicap race.
“It's a big waste for this quality team.
We do not go down on the last matches, but on the whole of the season ”, regrets captain Renaud Ripart.
Sale of Costières and end of contract
With eight players at the end of their contract (but among them, few holders since the arrival of Pascal Plancque), others who will be sold to reduce the wage bill, the Crocs must rebuild in a context marked by incomprehension, even the tensions. President Rani Assaf has announced his intention to separate from the training center, with a view to financial profitability. While the association beats the recall of the supporters to finance it, the communities see this decision with a very negative eye.
In June 2019, the town hall sold the Costières stadium to the boss of Nîmes Olympique, for eight million euros.
His ambition is to turn it into a modern complex coupled with a major real estate operation.
Everything was going for the best between the two parties.
Rani Assaf's unilateral decision on the training center has greatly refreshed relations.
Our dossier on Ligue 1
She questions the very future of the club which could not rely on its players from his training to find the elite.
The last relegation of Nîmes Olympique to the second division dates back to the 1992-1993 season.
It had taken twenty-five years to set foot there again ...
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