The Gym will not appeal the sanctions and is mobilizing “so that it never happens again”, says Rivère



“The disciplinary committee made its decisions, it did its job and we, our duty, is to take responsibility for our faults.” Solemn, the president of OGC Nice announced this Friday that the club would not appeal the sanctions announced by the LFP on Wednesday evening following the incidents, in particular the invasion of the field by supporters of the Aiglons, who marked the Nice-OM match on August 22.

This nightmarish meeting of the 3rd day of Ligue 1, stopped at the score of 1-0 for the Gym, will have to be replayed, behind closed doors and on neutral ground. In total, three matches will have to be played without a spectator. The first was purged before the international break against Bordeaux, as a precaution. The second will be the one against OM to replay and the third will concern the derby against neighbor Monaco on September 19. The club also receives two withdrawal points, one of which is suspended.

“Individuals who have broken absolute rules”

Asked about the extent of these sanctions, Jean-Pierre Rivère replied: “We never find just sanctions that can have big sporting and financial consequences at the end of the season. But the commission did its job, ”he recalled. “We deprive our audience of returning to the stadium, he also noted. It is the fault of a handful of individuals who have broken hard and fast rules. “

At his side, Julien Fournier, the director of football at the Gym, regretted “a decision not necessarily fair for the players”. “This point withdrawal is a big blow to the head. We will look for it in the pocket of the players. It is a point that they have acquired, ”he reacted.

Banned bottles and new low walls

The club now intends to turn the page and ” [s’] improve so that these kinds of images, we never have to live them again, ”said Jean-Pierre Rivère. “We want to draw a line on this without forgetting it. The next day, we were mobilized so that this never happens again ”. In addition to installing anti-projectile nets, including facing the Ray’s stand, the club will purely and simply eliminate the presence of bottles in the stadium. “There will only be cups that we will provide, including for drinks from outside,” said the president.

It was the throwing of a plastic water bottle into the back of OM player Dimitri Payet, whom the latter had sent back to the stands, which had ignited the powder that evening. Several Nice supporters had invaded the field and clashes had broken out, including between the staffs of the two teams.

“The platform is extremely passable. We are considering the possibility of raising the balustrade to 2.64 m by removing the first row, ”also explained Jean-Pierre Rivère, specifying that several complaints had already been filed and that there could be new ones depending on the progress of the investigation. “We will not compromise. All the people who could break the rules of sport and football, we will file a complaint against them ”.

OM is considering appealing

If OGC Nice rejects any possibility of appeal, OM is thinking about it on the sporting front. The club deplores the suspension of two players: playmaker Dimitri Payet (one game suspended) and Spanish defender Alvaro Gonzalez (two games closed).

“We are extremely shocked by the sanctions that have been taken against Alvaro and even Payet,” club communications director Jacques Cardoze told AFP in the evening. We have the impression that we needed a scapegoat on the OM side and that it was he who took the lead. It is violence that must be condemned, not the players in the game. ”

OM physical trainer Pablo Fernandez was suspended until the end of the season after punching a Nice supporter who entered the pitch.

The Nice supporter author of a kick in the direction of Payet, now under judicial supervision, will be tried on September 22. Another, accused of having made a Nazi salute, was remanded in custody this Friday pending his trial scheduled for October 13, for “apologia for a crime against humanity”.



Source link