AS NANCY-LORRAINE (Stade Marcel Picot)

LIGUE 1, AS NANCY 3-1 ST ETIENNE, ATTENDANCE: 17,054

For the second game of the day our merry band of groundhoppers crossed the border into France for a Ligue 1 clash as AS Nancy-Lorraine were hosting St Etienne at the Stade Marcel Picot.

We were very lucky to make the kick off though as our train from Trier plodded along the track to Luxembourg City meaning we had approximately 90 seconds to leg it across the platform to reach our connecting train to Nancy. It was a pretty close thing!

The home ground of Nancy is in Tomblaine on the edge of the city and is easily reached via tram line number 1. The ground is a 5 minute walk from the stop. There was plenty of time for a Merguez and a pint of Amstel en-route to the stadium.

The Stade Marcel Picot was inaugurated in 1926 and was originally known as Stade du Parc des Sports du Pont d’Essey until 1968 when it was renamed in honour of Marcel Picot, who was the former president of FC Nancy. The ground was completely rebuilt between 1999 and 2003 to make the ground all seated with a capacity of just under 21,000. An artificial pitch was installed in 2010.

The ground was earmarked as one of the grounds for Euro 2016 but the funding to extend the capacity to 30,000 could not be found so the application was withdrawn.

Photos courtesy of John Higgins

The current AS Nancy club were formed in 1967 from the ashes of FC Nancy, who were dissolved in 1965. After gaining promotion to the top flight within two seasons of formation, the club were back in the second tier for the 1974/75 season when the club won the title, its first major honour, with the team inspired by a young Michel Platini (who was guest of honour at the ground this evening). The club won the Coupe de France in 1978 with Platini once again playing a major role in the team. By the mid 1980's Platini had gone and the club were back in the second tier.

Nancy are what you could describe as a yo-yo side who have historically spent periods in the top flight followed by seasons in the second tier. The club have won Ligue 2 on five occasions in their history.

The club spent most of the 1990's flitting between the divisions. Irish international Tony Cascarino was part of the team that won promotion in 1998, but again their time in top flight was short lived. The club returned to Ligue 1 in 2005 before dropping down again in 2013. The club were promoted as Champions last year but now face an immediate return back.

Unfortunately after last weekends defeat to Dijon, Nancy's fate was out of their hands as they needed a win, as well as being reliant on other results going their way, i.e Lorient and Bastia losing, and a two or three goal swing depending on the respective scorelines. Even then the best they could hope for was to reach the relegation play-off with the third placed team in Ligue 2. The odds were certainly not in Nancy's favour.

The evening got off to a great start when news filtered through that Bordeaux had taken an early lead at Lorient so, when Nancy made the breakthrough after 17 minutes, Alexis Busin slotting home, the Stade Marcel Picot erupted.

The noise levels went up a notch further when Modu Diagne headed home after 59 minutes as Nancy now had the 3 points and goal swing to lift them into the play-off spot. However this joy was short lived when Lorient equalised after 69 minutes

Any hope of salvation was further extinguished when St Etienne halved the deficit on 74 minutes, Arnaud Nordin scoring. The visitors had a goal disallowed for an innocuous foul in the build up to finding the net but Nancy restored their two goal advantage after 84 minutes when Faitout Maouassa raced clear to fire home.

The home crowd, knowing this game was more or less won, began chanting "Allez Bordeaux" but sadly for them there was no miracle as Lorient held on for the draw and Nancy were relegated. Disappointment for the home supporters but given the history of the club you would not bet against them bouncing straight back in 2018.

The headline - No miracle: ASNL relegated!

The St Etienne fans

The disappointed Nancy fans disappear into the night

UEFA EURO 2016 (St Etienne)

Monday 20th June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Group B
Stade Geoffroy Guichard
Slovakia 0-0 England
Attendance: 39,051

This was the game I had the biggest dilemma with. When this little jaunt around southern France was planned, and tickets obtained, we had no idea who we would be watching. After the draw had been made it then became clear it would be Slovakia v England. However I also had tickets for Russia v Wales back in Toulouse. I factored in that it was 550km back to Toulouse, coupled with the fact that tomorrow we will be heading to Marseille, a further 330km from Lyon, even further from Toulouse, and came to the logical conclusion and stuck with plan A.

After an afternoon chilling with a few beers, it was a 45 minute train journey from our base in Lyon to St Etienne. Upon arrival at Châteaucreux Station there were loads of England fans in the surrounding bars and cafes, so we decided to head off the beaten track to try and avoid the mobs. We stumbled on this backstreet bar, which turned out to be a St Etienne Ultras bar. Once established that two of us were not England supporters they were absolutely fine.

We had a very good chat about St Etienne, who were a major force in European football in the 1970's. They came within a Hampden Park (square) post of winning the European Cup in 1976, eventually losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich. As I one of the chaps I was with is a red, the subject of a famous night in 1977 came up. He was there etc etc. Michel Platini is one of St Etienne's many famous former players, as is current darling of the French team Dimitri Payet. They also gave an insight into their rivalry with Olimpique Lyonnais and told us there is currently an away fan ban in place due to trouble at past encounters.

The Stade Geoffroy Guichard was opened in 1931 and is named after the founder of the Casino retail group, who purchased the site on which the ground was built. It is another ground that has a British feel to it, with four separate stands, though for this tournament the corners have been filled in to increase the capacity to over 40,000.

It was a good 35 minute walk to the ground where en-route we were treated to the finest songs the England fans had to offer. I'll leave it at that. Upon arrival at the ground, despite arriving over an hour before kick off, it took the longest of all the grounds I had visited to gain entry. There were hundreds of fans trying to enter through one gate and the crowd was swelling as the minutes passed. At one stage it was becoming very uncomfortable as crushing started to happen. I got separated from the others but, after a cursory pat down, I manged to gain entry well before kick off.

England had the better chances and dominated the possession, and maybe they were thinking 'Nothing can stop us' but Slovakia keeper Matus Kozacik was in fine form and their solid defence was marshaled superbly by Martin Skrtel. 

Slovakia knew a draw (and four points) would be enough to see them through and they never had any attacking intent whatsoever, apart from the odd counter. It was 'So tough' for England who didn't appear to have any idea how to break down the Slovak defence.

Indeed a mix up between Chris Smalling and Joe Hart could have gifted the Slovaks a goal. However the draw means that both teams go through, however Wales' 3-0 victory against Russia meant that it was Wales who topped group B. No doubt the Welsh were dancing in the streets of 'Tiger Bay' after that result!