It has been storming at FC Nantes for a long time. The club that became champions of France eight times (most recently in 2001) only finished 18th this season and therefore had to play barrages for preservation. That was the last straw for the ultras, which have been targeting the policy of the Polish owner Waldemar Kita for much longer.
By the end of the season, ultras had symbolically buried Kita’s policy. A coffin with “FC Kita” written on it was literally put into the ground.
Last Sunday, Nantes managed to maintain its position in the Ligue 1 in the jump-offs. It lost 0-1 at home to Toulouse (the club of Sebastien Dewaest and Brecht Dejaegere), but Nantes had won the first leg with 1-2.
Mogi Bayat and another real estate agent (Bakari Sanogo) thought no better than to excavate the coffin again in the euphoria of conservation with the help of some club employees. When photos of that surfaced, the fence was off the dam.
Ultras invaded the stadium to recover. Two employees of the club were slightly injured and seven people were arrested.
The ultras’ initial action has also been criticized because burying the coffin is gruesome. The ultras defended themselves by saying that “FC Kita” was not a reference to the chairman himself, but to his policies.
It is an open secret that Mogi Bayat is Nantes’ real estate agent. According to some, he is even unofficially the sporting director. From Belgium he guided Guillaume Gillet, Kalifa Coulibaly, Yassine El Ghanassy, Anthony Limbombe and Kara Mbodj to the French club.
