OGC Nice manager Franck Haise has hit back at Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s criticism of the French Ligue 1 club.
Ineos invested in football long before Sir Jim Ratcliffe became co-owner of Manchester United. They also boast having minority stakes in Ligue 1 outfit Nice and Swiss Super League team FC Lausanne-Sport.
The 72-year-old billionaire has been tasked with turning things around at United, which is an incredibly difficult task after 20 years (and counting) of Glazer ownership. United fans have continued the anti-Glazer movement with more protests planned, including Saturday as The 1958 fan group unify with FC United of Manchester.
Ratcliffe’s role involves making difficult decisions. Some were deemed more controversial than others, such as shutting off funding to a United club charity that supported former clubs and cutting around 450 jobs.
However, it turns out Ratcliffe is causing a stir in Nice as well as Manchester.
After a dismal 2024/25 campaign on the pitch, Ratcliffe will hope that Ruben Amorim and United’s first-team players can finish the season strongly.
Photo by Sylvain Dionisio ATPImages/Getty Images
Photo by Sylvain Dionisio ATPImages/Getty Images
OGC Nice manager Franck Haise has not shied away from hitting back at Sir Jim Ratcliffe after the co-owner admitted he didn’t enjoy watching them play.
Ineos has owned Nice since 2019 but it hasn’t been the easiest of journeys for the chemical company founded by Ratcliffe.
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Earlier this month, Ratcliffe told The Times that he doesn’t get excited watching Nice.
“I don’t particularly enjoy going to watch Nice because there are some good players, but the level of football is not high enough for me to get excited.”
Haise, manager of the French side, didn’t take kindly to Ratcliffe’s comments. He responded during a press conference, saying: “The article that [the comments] appeared in was a lot more complete than that. But he hasn’t seen a Nice match this season.
“He’s speaking a bit more about what he saw at another time.
“With the people who are here at the club, we are here to make the club progress in order to be even better.”
Haise added: “It’s not that serious. We can be annoyed, that’s obvious.
“But is it really worth staying annoyed for a long time? We have got to keep working, enjoying ourselves and we have got to be doing the best possible. We have to move on and continue on our path.”
Nice enjoying better season than Manchester United
Based on United and Nice this season, Haise makes a valid point that Ratcliffe isn’t fully aware of what has been happening this season. The British billionaire has been busy trying to clean up the messy situation at Old Trafford while announcing plans for a new 100,000-capacity stadium.
Nice currently sit fourth in Ligue 1 – a Champions League qualification place – meaning they have a better chance of securing a spot in Europe’s most prestigious competition than United.
Meanwhile, United are 13th in the Premier League.
The only way Amorim can lead the team into the Champions League is by winning the Europa League outright. That remains a distant possibility after beating Real Sociedad to reach the quarter-finals.