‘He hasn’t seen’ – Manager working under Sir Jim Ratcliffe left frustrated by dismissive comment
03/29/2025 01:45 PM
OGC Nice manager Franck Haise has criticised owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe for not watching his side.
Ratcliffe's INEOS have owned the Ligue 1 club, who currently sit fourth in the French top flight, since 2019.
He purchased approximately 17% of the club for £88m. INEOS also own Swiss team Lausanne.
But the billionaire's attention towards the French team has dwindled following his £1.25billion purchase of 27.7% of Manchester United, which has since risen to 28.94%.
United’s participation in the Europa League this season has meant Ratcliffe and INEOS have been forced by UEFA to temporarily distance themselves from any involvement in Nice this season, as they also compete in the same competition.
But Ratcliffe recently admitted in an interview that he didn’t really watch Nice matches anyway.
While Nice currently sit in a Champions League spot in Ligue 1, Manchester United are having another disastrous season as they currently sit 13th in the Premier League.
The campaign has also been overshadowed by their financial situation, with Ratcliffe making several ruthless decisions in an attempt to cut costs.
He ended Sir Alex Ferguson's ambassadorial role, raised ticket prices, made redundancies and cut funding to the club's charitable arm.
Ratcliffe also landed himself in hot water with Nice fans, players and staff after stating he does not enjoy watching his French team.
"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," he said.
A seemingly contradictory statement considering Nice have only not finished in the top five twice out of six seasons since Ratcliffe purchased a stake in the club (if you include this season's current position).
In response Haise said: "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.”
He 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."
Speaking about his ownership of Nice and Lausanne, Ratcliffe said: "We've made some really stupid decisions in both those clubs.
"There are a lot of organisations in the world where, if you make a mistake, you get shot, so nobody ever puts their head above the parapet.
"But at INEOS, we don't mind people making mistakes — but please don't make it a second time.
"So with that, we're much less than sympathetic when they make the same mistake twice.
"We have made mistakes in football, so I'm really pleased that we made those mistakes before we arrived here at Manchester United.”
Many United fans would argue they’ve made plenty of mistakes already during their brief spell in charge of the global giants.
In fact, Ratcliffe has even admitted to making two major blunders within his first 12 months at Old Trafford.
