Dave Brailsford spoke at length in the pages of both Nice-Matin and L’Équipe last Friday. With a new chapter about to unfold and “having learnt a lot in the last three years”, INEOS’s Director of Sport answered journalists’ questions from Portugal, where he’s currently with the OGC Nice first team. Here are some extracts.

ON LUCIEN FAVRE: “HE’S A REAL GENTLEMAN”

« When you spend time in his presence, you get a sense of his charisma, which you wouldn’t necessarily imagine. He’s someone with rare attributes – his behaviour, his way of life, the joy that he gets from his job – and he’s a real gentleman. He likes football to be played with a smile. »

“SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE THE FANS PROUD”

« Even though Jim offered a lot of money to buy Chelsea, what with Financial Fair Play, he wouldn’t have been able to take that money and give it to Nice. It doesn’t work like that. It’s harder than you might think; we need to increase our commercial revenue. There are several components to a club: the training ground, recruitment, player development, the medical side of things, data analysis… Why can’t we become the most modern club in France? In each area, we need to know what the gold standard is in the world right now. Why can’t we set thatup in Nice? In the world of sport, it’s not about investing loads of money and buying players. A team of stars will always be beaten by a star team. Investing money smartly in order to create something that will make the fans proud is the aim. That’s what we’re going to do. »

“WE LIKE TO WORK DISCREETLY”

« I understand their concern [about the transfer window], but rest assured, here at INEOS, we like to work discreetly. Nice are working on developing a playing style with a manager who has a clear style himself. We decided that it would be smarter to wait for Lucien’s opinion to guide us and help us target the right kinds of player. It might be frustrating for the fans, but I’d rather walk towards a good decision than run towards a bad one, and in the last six or seven weeks, a lot of people have wanted me to run (smiles). »