Grouped in an arc, arms raised to the sky, they sing one of their favorite tunes in chorus: “We’re here, we’re here, even if Rani doesn’t want to, we’re here. » Supporters of Olympic Nîmes give voice, Saturday, May 13 in the morning, on the town hall square. There are nearly 300 demonstrators, with their scarves and jerseys from the city’s football club, repeating the refrains that usually accompany the matches, hoping to disrupt the municipal council which is held inside the building: “Ni-moi! Ni-month! »
In open conflict with the president of the club, Rani Assaf, for months, and a few hours before a crucial match against Caen for the maintenance of their team in Ligue 2 – finally lost (2-4) –, the supporters of Nîmes Olympique came to demand accountability from the municipal team, led by Mayor Jean-Paul Fournier (Les Républicains). “Assaf – City Hall, all guilty”launch the demonstrators.
If anger has been brewing for months, it was only at the end of last week that a collective called “Save the Nîmes Olympique” was born. Bringing together the two clubs of supporters (Gladiators and Nemausus 2013), former professional players, traders and business leaders, the collective has put a petition online which has collected nearly 4,000 signatures in a few days. “We can no longer sit idly by. We want to save the soul of our club.”explains Dimitri Pialat, president of the Gladiators, a historic group of Crocos fans. “Mr. Rani Assaf is not the man for the job, extend trader Corentin Carpentier, one of the founders of the collective. We denounce his mercantile vision and the absence of a real sports project which lead our club to a dead end. And we ask the town hall to act. »
Through this event, the collective is mobilizing above all for the municipality to review the sales agreement for the emblematic Costières stadium – where Nîmes Olympique has written some of its most beautiful pages. Rani Assaf wants to acquire it to build a new stadium, with a large business area, at least one hotel, residences and higher education schools. A pharaonic complex estimated at 250 million euros. “The club serves as a gateway for him to carry out a large-scale real estate project. It is not neither the club nor the sporting results that drive it.assure the members of the collective.
Among them, one “kid of the club”Alain Espeisse. “I started as a chick and ended up in the first division. But I no longer recognize this club… They spit on us, strikes the one who defended the colors of the Crocos between 1983 and 1993, and relates that the former players no longer have the right to access the stadium. Our goal is for the town hall to disengage from this compromise until the owner of the club has put in place a real structure and a sports project worthy of a professional club. »
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