Hundreds of angry OGC Nice FC fans confronted the team bus when it arrived back at the club’s training ground on Sunday night following their 3-1 defeat to Lorient.
The loss to lowly Lorient was INEOS-owned Nice’s sixth straight defeat, leaving them 10th in Ligue 1, while they are also bottom of the Europa League table, having lost all five of their matches in the competition.
After the Ligue 1 game, around 400 Nice supporters gathered at the club’s training ground after they’d flown back to the city’s airport from the north-west of France.
The fans gathered at the entrance to the training ground, where the players’ cars were parked, preventing the bus from getting in.
Sources close to the Nice players, who wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, told The Athletic that when they disembarked, some were physically assaulted.
They said there was a sense of shock among Nice’s players who felt let down by what they believed was a lack of protection and security.
The Athletic was told particular anger was directed at Nice strikers Jeremie Boga and Terem Moffi, as well as Florian Maurice, the club’s sporting director.
In Boga’s case, that came after he apologised for inviting a number of Marseille fans into the Allianz Riviera for their 5-1 defeat at home to Roberto De Zerbi’s side on November 21. In an Instagram story post, he said: “At no time, believe me, was it my intention to show disrespect toward Nice supporters. I do not condone the mocking or the lack of respect toward OGC Nice either. However, I understand the disappointment this may have caused. To all those I may have hurt, I offer my apologies.”
Fabrice Bocquet, who became president in the summer, while remaining CEO, a position he’s held since 2022, was not on the bus, having left his car at Nice airport.
Immediately after the defeat in Lorient, Nice midfielder Sofiane Diop spoke with the away fans at Stade du Moustoir.
In a video, uploaded to X, he was filmed telling them: “We’re terrible right now, we know it. You travel thousands of kilometers for us. Do you think we don’t suffer from the results too? Here we are losing in Lorient against a team that should be getting relegated.”
Nice’s Ali Abdi (right) reacts at the end of the recent Europa League football defeat to FC Porto (Miguel Riopa / AFP via Getty Images)
The result left Nice, who finished 4th last season and were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers by Benfica in August, looking nervously over their shoulders.
Manager Franck Haise said the club are now in a relegation battle.
“I’ve been coaching different groups for 23 or 24 years, and this is the first time I haven’t been able to get them to gel as a team,” he said in quotes reported by L’Equipe.
Following Nice’s 5-1 defeat to Marseille, Haise offered to leave to create a “shockwave” but that was not accepted. They followed that up with a 3-0 loss away to Porto in the Europa League, a defeat that marked their 17th consecutive game in Europe without a victory.
“There is work to be done on a daily basis to improve things,” Bocquet told the club’s media. “The winter transfer window will be an opportunity that could help us, but it should not be seen as the solution to all our problems. One thing is certain: letting Franck go is not the answer.”
Meanwhile Maurice, Nice’s sporting director since the summer of 2024 after arriving from Rennes, told the club’s media that the team was “not united”.
“We’re not really satisfied with what we’re managing to achieve with this squad,” he said after the Lorient loss. “It’s now up to us, all together, to find the levers to make it happen, because the situation is very, very bad.
“The situation is very difficult for OGC Nice, for the entire staff, for the players, for me. But I remain determined and I am convinced that we will succeed. We’re struggling to create cohesion with this group. Until we have that cohesion, we won’t succeed.”
Nice are next in action at home to Angers on Sunday.
Nice have been contacted by The Athletic for a response.