The off-season is in full swing everywhere, and obviously for the Gard clubs. The resumption of training is approaching: it will be Monday for Nîmes Olympique and Olympique d’Alès in Cévennes. A quick overview.
NO, Hermach at work and a first friendly match against Toulon
“Yes, that’s it, I am the coach of Nîmes Olympique, with great pleasure, and I will make sure to stay there as long as possible. We have no news from the Federation for my VAE (validation of acquired experience)but I’m already working on it. And the big boss (Rani Assaf)with whom I get along very well, spoke: we’re starting like this, I’m the number 1 coach, we’re moving forward with my staff, and we’re working to take a number 2, which would be preferable, but if we don’t take one, we’ll do without! As for the VAE, the rules have changed, we can submit a file every three months, and it will be accepted at some point.”
Adil Hermach, here we go (again)! The coach who kept him in the National League last spring is hard at work. Training is set to resume on Monday morning, July 8, very early. The players will have two sessions that day, in addition to medical tests. The VMA test will also come very quickly. “We’re going to play a lot of football, but it’s going to be very tough. We’re going to run with the ball. The new kids aren’t going to discover every nook and cranny of the Bastide by running, but they’re going to visit our playground.”
The first friendly match will ultimately not be played against OM, the arrival of Roberto De Zerbi having changed the plans. It will be a little later (to be specified). A match has therefore been added to the program, against Toulon, from Tuesday July 16 (location to be defined).
OAC, waiting and hope
N3 or N2? Following the recent decisions of the DNCG, the financial policeman of French football, the OAC is now the next on the list of clubs likely to be drafted into National 2. Hope is growing, but it is also slowing down preparation for next season: recruitment, just like the budget, will not be the same depending on the division.
Six days before the resumption, scheduled for next Monday July 8 (normally late morning at Moulinet) with Hakim Malek still at the head of the team, Alès is therefore waiting.
Note that Iafrate, who is no longer a member of the Oacian, will be making his return to Nîmes Olympique, in reserve (R1).
FCBP, relegation and new coach
Forced to play a play-off to stay in Regional 1, FC Bagnols-Pont was finally relegated. After a defeat (0-2) at L’Union Saint-Jean, the Gardois rhodaniens got back in the saddle on June 15 by easily dominating Pibrac (5-1). But L’Union’s result on the ground of the same Pibrac (1-1; winner 4 tab to 1) on June 22 confirmed FCBP’s relegation to R2.
This (new) trying season could have left its mark if the desire of the club on the banks of the Cèze to roll up its sleeves in the lower division had not been demonstrated with the president Amar Kouadri Henni at the helm, surrounded by a team of united leaders loyal to the association.
Thus, the arrivals of Philippe Morel on the bench from Uzès, with his two sons Jules and Léo as a nice duo of recruits, have just been made official. We can therefore expect that Bagnols-Pont, supported by the two municipalities and which has no major departures to deplore, will play the leading roles in R2 to go back up, with its captain Nasser Abarkan at the helm and the reinforcement of the U20s who were recently crowned regional champions.
