Laurent Nicollin was in the spotlight in The After Review for the October/November issue. Questioned by Daniel Riolo, the President of Montpellier Hérault spoke about the lack of media interest in the smaller clubs:
« Even if Marseille is having a bad season, we are talking about them. Montpellier will never make the front page of L’Équipe. If we beat OM 3-0 at home, it's OM who makes the headlines. It's a system, a steamroller. Sometimes it pisses me off. I listen to the Moscato Show, I like Vincent, but they only talk about OM, Lyon or PSG. I understand it, that's what interests the listeners. It's the same abroad. In Spain, it's Barça and Real, in Italy, Juve, Inter or Milan. It's like when you're 14 and you get invited to a party. You dance with the most beautiful girl, you're super happy and the next thing you know, the handsome Italian guy came back and took your place. We don't have the same means.
At OM, they have financial difficulties but they will always be there. PSG, I don't even talk about it, they are on another planet, we don't do the same job. Even with Lille, we don't do the same job. We don't have the same stadium, we don't have the same facilities. When we have 15,000 spectators, they have 35,000.«
Could this ultimately discourage him from his role as president?
« I have Chimène's eyes for my club. We won the Coupe de France, we were champions. Great presidents never have been. Leicester were Champions of England and they went down. We didn't come down. I am content with little. We have the club we deserve, the president we deserve and the public we deserve.
It's up to us to grow, little by little, to stay in Ligue 1. The year we finished 6ththis is the only time when the 6th was not European. Another one, we weren't far from it, and bam, COVID, stoppage of the championship. Do you have to live with it? We get up in the morning, we take blows in the face, we go back into battle. We don't give up. We are people from the South, we may come across as wankers, but we work and we have a certain state of mind. I want my club to go as high as possible. We may have to sell to Americans or Japanese. And maybe in twenty years, Montpellier will be at the top.«
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