first European test for Didier Digard, the surprise face of the Ineos project in Nice

When Nice secured its ticket to the final phase of the Europa League Conference in early November, the leaders of the Riviera club were certainly far from imagining that Didier Digard would be their coach. For his very first experience as coach of a professional team, the former midfielder will discover the European Cup, Thursday, March 9, during the round of 16 first leg of the C4 that Nice will play in Moldova, against the Sheriff Tiraspol.

At 36, Digard does not really reflect the image of the project sold by Ineos when the British group arrived on the Côte d’Azur in 2019. The Champions League is the competition that the Aiglons would like to play every year and Lucien Favre arrived last summer with this in mind. A few months later, Digard took over the reins and convinced his leaders to trust him. At least temporarily.

When he is called to replace the Swiss technician on January 10, Digard is inducted as interim coach “until further notice”. A month and a half later, after bringing down Lens for the first time this season at home (1-0), defeating Marseille at the Vélodrome (3-1) and Monaco at the Louis-II stadium (3-0), the young coach is confirmed until the end of the season.

Dream beginnings

To obtain this confidence and these few extra months in a position he considered “surrealist” a few weeks ago, Digard was able to convince everyone. The Nice players have regained more intensity in training and more aggressiveness and dynamism during matches. Add to that a more playful team and you have Digard’s OGC Nice, undefeated in nine games (six wins, three draws) since arriving on the bench.

This success for his debut, the one who played for several seasons in Nice during his playing career (2010-2015) owes it first of all to his character. “I have always been a leader of men, coaching was necessarily something that interested me“, he assured The Team in April 2020, a few months after returning to Nice as a manager in the youth teams.

“We are not going to say that it was written, but he had predispositions to become a coachconfirms Éric Roy, current coach of Brest, who recruited Digard in Nice in January 2010. He already had a thought about the game, he wanted to understand. And above all, he was interested in others, in the collective. When you’re a player, you’re selfish, you think about yourself, about your preparation because you care about your performance and that’s normal in a way. He had other values, he was a big brother for some.”

Incarnate precocity

Influential upon his arrival in Nice, Digard even wore the club’s captain’s armband under the orders of Éric Roy and then Claude Puel. A leadership role that helped him quickly convince his new group of players in Nice, even though his captain Dante, 39, is older than him. “He is a reference for others. He has a quiet strength that allows him to be listened to and respected”analyzes Éric Roy, who will meet his former player during the match between Brest and Nice on April 16.

His two stints as assistant, first with Adrian Ursea for a few months between 2020 and 2021, then with Lucien Favre the months before his promotion, allowed him to get closer to several players in the group. It is also to fill the gap between the Swiss and the workforce that Digard was called up to the first team. His appointment as interim coach was finally a no-brainer.

It now remains to be seen whether Digard can embody this ambitious face of OGC Nice led by Ineos in the long term. A heavy load to carry for a 36-year-old novice coach. But the Normand is a precocious: dad at 16, he stopped his playing career at 32 before starting his retraining as a coach very early. “He was always very mature. At 23, when he arrived, it was. It’s innate“, says Eric Roy.

€25,000 fine for each match

Asked by The Team on his ability to embody the new Nice, Digard did not hesitate: “I can’t control it, it’s difficult to position myself. But yes, of course, otherwise I would have refused to take the team. It’s not the results that make me think that. It is the investment of my staff and my players.”

Satisfied to see that everyone is on board, the leaders of the Riviera club have therefore decided to continue the interim until the end of the season. While paying a fine of €25,000 for each match that Digard leads on the coaching bench, because he does not yet have his professional football coaching license. To convince its leaders to continue the adventure, Digard could not do better than an epic in the Europa League Conference.