50 years of the MHSC: “He was more Camargue than the Camargue people”, Colette Nicollin reveals her intimate Loulou

“Behind every great man, there is a woman”, the proverb says. An obvious fact for Loulou and Colette Nicollin, 50 years of life together to the rhythm of garbage trucks and a capricious balloon.

“I was there.” All the time and in all circumstances. Colette, the wife, the mother, the pillar of the Nicollin family. One day when coach Aimé Jacquet was dragging his sorrows over a steak at home before his imminent dismissal, she heard everything, without getting involved in the conversation, but a few glances at Loulou were enough. Another time, one evening of relegation, when her husband was copiously insulted by the supporters, clinging to the hands of his two sons-heirs Olivier and Laurent, she saw everything and on the pillow, absorbed everything. Or those eternal mornings when the boss got up in overalls at 4 o'clock, she prepared the coffee – “he didn't know how to do it”, she smiled -, because yes, she “managed everything”. “To live with a man of character, you also have to have a lot of it. I have always been independent-minded, I was educated that way by a strict father, who was a winegrower. When he (Loulou) had problems, he withdrew into his shell, he was very modest, but I knew. I was there, and he knew. It reassured him.”

Listen, Mr. Nicollin, you should still go to work in a suit

“Behind every great man, there is a woman”, the proverb says. Loulou-Colette, Colette-Loulou. The marriage of the brush and the sponge, fueled by the rhythm of garbage trucks and a capricious round ball. Fifty years of life together crossed “as if it were obvious” and “at present”. Colette would casually summarize the original identity of La Paillade, nourished by the convictions of its man, with a family anecdote:“I remember the technical department director telling him: “Listen, Mr. Nicollin, you should still go to work in a suit”, but no. When my son Olivier was born, the employees all came to the clinic in blue, there were very emotional relationships. And in sport, it's the same. There is no performance without emotion. I think that's the meaning of the thing.”

He would have liked to have brothers and sisters, it remained a regret

The president's office where she welcomes us, at Mas Saint-Gabriel, in Marsillargues, has remained identical, a museum room where sports books, family photos and match souvenirs are piled up. Loulou's benevolent spirit still pervades the place seven years after his death.“He loved Mitterrand – which was not my case – because he was fascinated by great men, that's why he wanted to kiss him on the cheek in the final of the Coupe de France. And then, he read all the sports press, he knew everything about all sports.”

A black and white photo shows Louis Nicollin surrounded by his two smiling teenage sons. The nostalgia for childhood strikes the visitor as much as it devoured the builder of the largest private museum in the world dedicated to sport. “As a child, he loved to re-do the Tour de France with his little lead bikes at his grandmother's house in Romans-sur-Isère. At that level, he remained a big child. He would have liked to have brothers and sisters, it remained a regret. It is this childhood that he recreated through his substantial collections”, she supposes today.

Hug in the locker room. Colette and Loulou Nicollin savor the victory.

Most players don't know the history of the club

Colette had warned us. She doesn't remember dates and gets some exploits mixed up. Her head is full of football, which she has cherished since she was fifteen, when she went to matches with her friends. Buttering sandwiches at La Mosson, doing the accounts, playing nannies at the training center, the MHSC holds no secrets for her, so much so that today she regrets the general lack of culture of the new generations.

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A plea for Laurent Blanc and the Passi brothers, the first shoots of a center then composed of a bungalow and six beds. “We hung the curtains with Mrs. Gasset just before the parents arrived. There was someone who did the cooking and then we took care of everything. Now, most of the players don't know the history of the club, but those at the training center, they are part of its history. That is the deepest meaning of its creation. Knowing where you come from is important. My husband never did forgotten.”

More Camargue than the Camargue people

As the minutes tick by on this sunny November Tuesday, she tells of an intimate Loulou who has become “more Camargue than the Camargue people”over the years lived in the haven of Mas Saint-Gabriel, surrounded by olive trees, where the family settled in 1993. “We made olive oil and planted four hectares of vines. Everything that was synonymous with the south, he appropriated, like the bulls… He had an addiction to this region, he even took on the accent of the people he spoke to, he identified with the things and people he loved.” Loulou the Lyonnais replayed the destiny of Colette, originally from Marsillargues on the edge of this wild and peaceful Petite Camargue. “He brought me back to my starting point, it's almost a spiritual story, a path that we traveled while supporting each other the other.”

A loop was closed when other vertigos were offered, starting with the most unimaginable of them all, the title of champion of France 2012. “We experienced it as a family apotheosis, for Loulou, it was something stratospheric. It was unthinkable that a small club like us would get ahead of PSG and its team of stars. What joy on the Comédie!” And what a crest! An orange and blue Iroquois crest that thumbed its nose at the opponents and went around all the screens. Because Loulou had bet on him and, as always, kept his word.

He lived his life and pissed off all the grumpy people and those who refused him

He said rude things, was angry, but didn't gossip about others. People adored him

A self-mockery, the character's trademark, which always charmed his wife.“Even in the most beautiful tributes, he didn't take himself seriously. In any case, I preferred his crest to the horrible perm he had after the victory in the Coupe de France!” , she says ironically, before falling for this traveling companion who, deep down, lived his life and pissed off all the grumpy people and those who refused him. “He was anything but bitter. He said rude things, was angry, but didn't gossip about others. People adored him” , Colette states, her eyes shining.

We ask to take her photo for the needs of the article. She refuses, out of coquetry, a hidden facet of “Nicollinian” elegance, continuing to multiply musical and cinematographic anecdotes with her Loulou. “I have always loved the arts, I love reading, painting, music, he less. But one day, when he came back from Romania, he brought me back a magnificent painting. I was surprised and moved”, she confides, inexhaustible, until this link between the eras: “I only remember the good things. You have to keep believing in them”. To believe it, while since the 2020s “the world has changed”, in an economic context “very difficult”, so much so that the club “has regressed”.

The club is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, I want to say that fifty years is the prime of life

The guardian of the temple

It is now the mother who speaks: “The club is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, I want to say that fifty years is the prime of life, the age of maturity and energy. Whatever we build in life, if we can continue to build, we must do it. I will always be by my sons' side, I never separate them. When their father was suffering, he would go back to the fight because he loved his club. You know that at the beginning he played rugby in Palavas ?”

What we did not know, like Colette before going through the countless letters of condolence, is the extent of Louis Nicollin's generosity, which was not limited to the professional football circle. “When he died, I discovered for example that he had sent some little girls to United States for treatment, I was not aware. I was very touched by all these letters, to which I responded. He was a man of the people.” A club boss who, since then, has been celebrated in the 74th minute of each match at La Mosson. “I knew he wouldn't leave. He didn't want to leave.” He's here.

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