FACT OF THE DAY Nîmes Olympique, 2024 the year of maintenance

The time has come for the traditional end-of-year reviews. That of Nîmes Olympique, like these previous ones, will not be remembered. For the fifth time in six seasons, the NO is only playing to maintain its division. No way to put them on the tables or turn the napkins. Frédéric Bompard’s players finished 2023 in 15th place (and relegated during a season which included six descents) in National. A year later, the team led by Adil Hermach ranked 13th in a 17-club division with two relegations. A situation which has very slightly improved, but which remains worrying.

Adil Hermach replaces Frédéric Bompard in April

The only change therefore concerns the position of coach, Frédéric Bompard was replaced in April by the former Crocodile, then coach of the reserve team, Adil Hermach. For his first press conference, on April 10, the new coach highlighted local values: “ My DNA is from Nîmes. This city is so special when you know it. Being from Nîmes means loving to suffer together, it’s a strong identity. The Nîmes does not shy away from anything, he is not afraid of anything and if he does not get there through Football, he uses something else. With his strength of character, he doesn’t give up. The players didn’t see anything, they didn’t see the stadium full, but they’re going to see that it’s a fucking football town.”.

The technician loves his city and his club, that is undeniable, but he knows enough football to know that the recovery will be complicated. However, the famous “psychological shock” still works. The Moroccan international offers the only ray of sunshine of the year with a series of four victories, between April and May, which keeps the club in National and lets people dream, sportingly, of better days. But it doesn’t take long for the wave of Nîmes hopes to crash against the cliff of reality. Without means, or even a presidential compass, the club must downsize and recruiting new players is not easy.

Rani Assaf with absent subscribers

So the NO struggles in the thankless games of the old French D3. As for Rani Assaf, he went through the year without speaking publicly and without honoring the Antonins stadium with his presence. In these conditions, it is difficult for the field workers not to feel a little abandoned. The president-shareholder, who arrived in 2014 with the Conrad-Kasparian duo, is not in the habit of filling the newspapers with his confidences. We know that the Franco-Lebanese businessman is not a fan of pretenses or promises of a bright future. Finally, relations with the town hall are now non-existent.

In this harmful and uncertain context, there remain, in the Bastide, people of good will who are trying to save what can still be saved, the place of the NO in National. “We are missing a few points and I am not satisfied, but we will do better and I will get there. My team is right,” insists Adil Hermach. The mission is crucial, because it is difficult to see how the club could recover from another relegation. If it is not very sexy, this struggle to maintain itself is no less vital. At the end of the year, Nîmes Olympique, through its president, stood out by being the only professional club not to have participated in the vote for the election of the president (Editor’s note Philippe Diallo) of the FFF ( French Football Federation), on which it nevertheless depends.

The Gard club lives a little on the fringes of its peers in French football. The year 2024 will be classified as a dark period, alongside its close predecessors, hoping that what happens next will not be worse.