Claude Puel Returns to Manage Nice After Haise Departure

On Monday, Claude Puel was appointed as the new head coach for the underperforming Ligue 1 outfit Nice, succeeding Franck Haise.

Puel, who managed Nice from 2012 to 2016, begins today his key role in enhancing the teams results, the club announced in an official statement.

Nice expressed gratitude to Haise and his support staff for their dedication and the efforts put in while wearing the red and black, and offered best wishes to Puel for his return to the sidelines.

Puel completed his full playing career at nearby Monaco before stepping into the managerial position there.

Following that, he took charge of Lille, Lyon and Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1, along with Southampton and Leicester in the English Premier League.

Nice are currently positioned 13th in Ligue 1.

The seaside club overcame second-tier Saint-Etienne in the French Cup last week, halting a club-record sequence of nine straight losses.

Puels appointment follows closely, within under 10 days, the reappointment of ex-manager and president Jean-Pierre Rivere, who has replaced Fabrice Bocquet as the clubs chief executive officer.

The club belongs to INEOS, the enterprise of British businessman Jim Ratcliffe, who possesses a 25 per cent interest in Manchester United.

In November, the players, coaches and executives faced off against about 200 supporters who had congregated outside the training facility to show their dissatisfaction with the team upon its return from a 3-1 defeat by Lorient.

The team comes back from its short winter recess with a Ligue 1 home encounter against Strasbourg on 3 January.