With ‘incompetence at every level’, Nantes are staring down the barrel at relegation

Back in the 1990s, Nantes were defined by their distinctive playing style, le jeu à la Nantaise, characterised by flair and attacking thrust. There was substance in addition to the style, with the Loire club winning a league title and reaching the Champions League semi-finals. The modern-day incarnation are not distinguished by anything that happens on the pitch, but more by the way they have been managed. La gestion à la Nantaise has consisted of the implementation of a revolving-door policy when it comes to managers and, in the words of their current head coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, “improvisation and incompetence at every level”. It means the eight-time Ligue 1 champions are staring down the barrel of relegation to Ligue 2.

Those comments from Halilhodzic came back in 2021, two years after leaving Nantes which, incidentally, was his last gig in club management prior to his return in March. At 73, he became the oldest person to lead a Ligue 1 side. “I’m done with football,” he said recently after a draw against Brest, and given that he had been out of work since 2022, many thought that he already was prior to his unexpected return.

Halilhodzic billed saving Nantes from relegation to Ligue 2 for the first time since 2012 as “mission almost impossible” and he has never been truly enthused by the mountainous task that he accepted nor ever believed in the chances of success. The damage, in truth, was already done, not by Luís Castro, who started the season in the dugout at the Beaujoire, nor by Ahmed Kantari who replaced him.

Waldemar Kita, who bought the club back in 2007, has sought to place much of the blame firmly on Castro’s shoulders. Brought in after his excellent work at Ligue 2 side Dunkerque last season, the Portuguese manager was highly rated but he was offloaded in December following two wins in 15 games. Kita ruthlessly tore into him in an explosive interview last week. “He’s a youth coach. He can’t succeed [...] I said that we had to get rid of him after the friendlies,” said Kita, who pointed out that Castro could also take Levante down. When Castro joined, however, the Spanish side were bottom of La Liga; a win over Espanyol on Monday night could take them out of the relegation zone entirely.

It is a deflection. Kita is under fire and rightly so. Since taking over the club, he has made 23 managerial appointments; only two have presided over 50 games or more. In two of the last three seasons, Nantes have had three managers in the space of a single campaign. Are all 23 bad managers or is there a common denominator? Even in his attempt to save face, Kita’s spin doctor tactics opened up a world of contradictions. Simultaneously, this season’s ills are the result of him “letting everything slide”, aka empowering those with expertise in the field.

Valentin Rongier (centre) and Rennes’ players celebrate their victory. Photograph: Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP/Getty Images

Previous seasons, where they narrowly flirted with but avoided relegation are twisted as success stories owed to his greater influence. And yet he acknowledges that football is “not [his] profession”, but his “stupid hobby”.

Kita showed more fight in the interview than Nantes have all season. No team has scored fewer this term than Les Canaris, who have only four wins to their name. None have come since Halilhodzic was brought out of retirement to save the club.

Antoine Kombouaré, who saved them from the drop back in 2024, was reportedly the preferred candidate. A specialist in the art of avoiding relegation, he instead opted to lead Paris FC to safety. He did so with a seven-game unbeaten run following his arrival in February. But if you have to call in a firefighter every year, the problems run deeper and having circled the drain year after year, Nantes are now on the brink.

Nantes president Waldemar Kita has been deflecting blame for the club’s struggles. Photograph: Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP/Getty Images

It was one of their own, Valentin Rongier, who dealt the potentially fatal blow. Rennes came into Sunday’s derby with two objectives: “Rennes in Europe, Nantes in Ligue 2,” demanded the fans with a pre-match banner. Rongier came through at Nantes and his injury-time goal, which secured a 2-1 win for Franck Haise’s side, is a huge step in Les Rennais’ bid to return to Europe. With three games remaining, Nantes are five points off Auxerre, who occupy the relegation playoff spot. Halihodzic’s side must still face Marseille and Lens, too. Due to their inferior goal difference, Nantes would have to win one of those, as well as their game against Toulouse on the final day, all while hoping that Auxerre don’t pick up any points themselves.

The odds are stacked against Nantes; it is Kita’s gestion à la Nantaise that has brought them here. When he left the club in 2021, Halilhodzic warned of the impending doom. “In a sporting sense, it cannot be like that,” he said. Other recent Nantes managers, Pierre Aristouy and Kombouaré, notably, have made similar remarks. The warnings were not heeded. They will now almost certainly arrive at their inevitable destination, Ligue 2. It will be Halilhodzic, who continues to sound the alarm about the club’s management, who takes them there. But this shipwreck is not his making. He will leave at the end of the season having failed in his mission; Nantes will be left toiling.

Talking points

Pierre Sage said he felt “betrayed” on a night in which Lens’s title hopes were dealt a blow. The Frenchman was disappointed with his starters as they conceded three in the first 42 minutes against Brest. It was a similarly sluggish start against Toulouse last weekend. On that night, it was a goal in second-half injury-time that completed the comeback from 2-0 down. Les Sang et Or did come roaring back into this one, too. A quickfire double around the hour mark sparked a sense of deja vu, only accentuated when Allan Saint-Maximin netted a third in injury time. This time, Lens’s third of the night was only good enough for a draw, and with a rotated PSG side sauntering to a 3-0 win against Angers the following night, Luis Enrique’s side now prepare for the game against Bayern Munich with one hand on a fifth consecutive Ligue 1 title.

In 2024, a year after relegation from Ligue 1, City Group-owned Troyes only remained in Ligue 2 due to Bordeaux’s administrative relegation. Two years later they have secured promotion back to the elite. It was earned thanks to a 3-0 win over Ligue 2’s biggest spenders, Saint-Étienne. Mathys Detourbet, a native 18-year-old Troyen, already heavily linked with a move to Manchester City, was one of the architects of their promotion. Detourbet had been highly rated coming through, but the surprise this season came in the form of Tawfik Bentayeb, brought in on loan from Moroccan side Touarga. His 18 league goals, enough to make him the top scorer in the division, have him dreaming of a place in Morocco’s World Cup squad and have taken Troyes back to Ligue 1, two years after their league finish had consigned them to the amateur divisions.