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Former captain Didier Digard took over the reins of OGC Nice as the team, of which he was assistant coach, was in disrepair. Since taking power, the Aiglons have revived and chained good performances, to the point of displaying their ambitions in the Europa League Conference, before receiving Basel on Thursday in the quarter-finals.
Lille, Lens, Marseille, Monaco… In just over three months at the head of OGC Nice, Didier Digard has already built up an impressive list of players. Thursday, April 20, he will try to add a place in the semi-finals of the European Cup while his Aiglons have all the cards in hand after their draw in the first leg on the lawn of Basel (2-2) .
Not bad for a coach who didn’t even have the compulsory diploma in France to lead a professional team. At the start, the 36-year-old coach did not have his professional football coaching certificate (BEPF). Consequence: the leaders of the club had to pay 25,000 € for each meeting until Didier Digard finally obtained a place in the prestigious formation of Clairefontaine, on April 6th.
???? Lucien Favre is no longer the coach of OGC Nice! The defeat in the Coupe de France against Puy en Velay sounded the death knell for the adventure of the Vaudois. He was not really helped by the management of the club during this season!
???? Where would you like to see it bounce?
(@lequipe) pic.twitter.com/UYM62EEJnx
— Swiss Football ???????? (@SwissFoot) January 9, 2023
In any case, he has fully won the trust of Ineos, the petrochemical group that owns the club. While he was initially only to act as interim until a replacement for Lucien Favre was found, he was finally confirmed as head of the team until the end of the season. And the discussions are going well to extend it beyond.
Former captain of OGC Nice
Born in Gisors, Normandy, in 1986, Didier Digard cut his teeth at the Le Havre training center and then in the first team from 2004. After spells at PSG and Middlesbrough, in the Premier League, the Normand settles in the south of France, as a midfielder for OGC Nice.
A city he adopted and where he established himself as a safe bet in the championship: he played 165 games with the Aiglons between 2010 and 2015 and even became captain. His last adventures as a player took him to Spain, but serious injuries forced him to hang up his crampons.
As part of his retraining, he returned to OGC Nice, first in charge of the U17s, then he was given the reins of the reserve team. At the end of 2022, he joined the staff of the first team as an assistant, before being pushed to the front of the stage the day after the immense disappointment of Nice in the Coupe de France, falling against Petit Poucet du Puy-En- Velay in 32e of final.
Close to the players and champion of intensity
Didier Digard has not lost his habits by moving from the reserve team to the first team. He remains very close to his players, never hesitating to room them as when he was just a staff member. And don’t forget this incongruity: he is three years younger than his captain, Dante, 39.
At the helm of OGC Nice, Didier Digard has changed the training formula. The sessions are shortened but more focused on intensity. On the field, he opted for simple ingredients but applied seriously by his players: a classic 4-3-3 with pressing on the raise, a solid collective withdrawal and a lot of runs in front and on the wings. What to compose the tasty Niçoise salad for this first quarter of 2023.
“The staff and the coach have put in place something very serious. We feel that the state of mind is much better. We all help each other, between players. And that shows, in the matches that we plays, that we are better in the ‘juice’, that we are more beating, that we are better in the envy… What they have put in place works very well”, explained mi -February Jordan Lotomba, full-back for the club during a press conference. “Tactically, mentally, Didier Digard is very close to us, he knows how to talk to each player. It’s not rocket science but we have a very good feeling at the moment, and I hope we will keep him for a very long time. ”
On the front line of the case Galtier
If sportingly, everything is going well for Didier Digard, he finds himself – despite himself – on the front line in the Christophe Galtier controversy. The current PSG coach is accused of having made racist remarks during his time on the bench at OGC Nice.
>> To read also: Suspected of racism, coach Christophe Galtier in turmoil despite the support of PSG
According to a survey by the local daily Nice Matin, the two men would hate each other. If there were never any professional hooks between the two because of Galtier’s lack of interest in young people on the reserve, it was criticism aimed directly at Digard that would have set the powder on fire. Galtier would have made “violent remarks” on the beard and the conversion to Islam of the former midfielder. The latter would have been tempted to go to the physical confrontation with the coach, but also to submit his resignation before Julien Fournier, director of football at the time, convinced him to stay.
Far from settling his accounts, Didier Digard follows the careful communication of the owners of Nice on this affair, referring the facts to two people no longer working in the club (Julien Fournier and Christophe Galtier). At a press conference, the OGC Nice coach cannot hide but remains very measured, assuring that “the investigation is underway” and that the “truth will come out”. The players, for their part, have still not spoken, officially to focus on the European Cup match.
