“It was always exciting!” : Colette, Louis Nicollin's wife, reveals the intimate side of the family history

magictr | April 19, 2024 | Sport | No Comments

Colette Nicollin: “I love my sons passionately, it’s my life”. – HDR

Installés à la manade Saint-Gabriel à Marsillargues depuis 1994.

The wife of Louis Nicollin, mother of Olivier and Laurent, agreed to share with Midi Libre readers the dates that marked her life. The meeting with Louis, the birth of her children… and the MHSC, the growth of the family business: between anecdotes and confidences, the guardian of the temple reveals the intimacy of a family anchored in the history of Montpellier. Discover the second article in our series "They made Montpellier shine".

A shadowy figure, she has always shined behind the scenes of the Nicollin saga. Colette, Loulou's wife, played a leading role, rarely putting herself forward. At the dawn of her 78th birthday, she opens her heart to the big dates of her life. His men too. "There was my husband, but I love my sons passionately, it's my life." Today at the head of the Nicollin group and the MHSC, Olivier and Laurent, born in 1970 and 1973 at the Parès clinic, rue Marceau, have become essential figures in Montpellier .

Colette Nicollin between her son Laurent and Marion Torrent.

The couple, all young parents, then rented a furnished F3 in the Cité Saint-Martin. "Laurent arrived in the middle of the night, Louis n' didn't stay. He left at 6 a.m. when the trucks left." Sent by his father Marcel Nicollin to the south of France, Louis is responsible for setting up waste collection in Montpellier after winning the market on July 1, 1967. Colette, she , remembers another very close date, forever engraved in his memory.

Colette, never far from her husband, Louis Nicollin.

December 7, 1967: the meeting with Louis

The student, pioneer on the Hill, finds herself at friends "at a fondue in the Ecusson. I was not planned". The magic happens. She takes Louis to listen to Brassens near Pic Saint-Loup. "He kissed me. A love story, that cannot be explained. He broke up with his fiancée. The wedding was to take place at the Tête d'or park. Instead, his father invited his employees." Colette and Louis married in 1969. Louis wasted no time in taking over the Montpellier Littoral after joining the steering committee. The Richter stadium was living its last hours for the benefit of La Paillade which saw the ;nbsp;birth of the MHSC in 1974. "The offices and the first training center were installed in bungalows", she remembers as if it was yesterday. Her blonde hair tied in a bun, smile on her lips and high-heeled shoes, Madame Nicollin herself runs the refreshment bar on match days. But it is on the training center that she will focus all her attention. Like a fairy above a cradle.

With the MHSC players.

1981: the training center moves to Grammont

It's under the leadership of Georges Frêche, "a man of exemplary honesty" she said, that the MHSC training center is moving to Grammont. "The rooms were above the chapel". Laurent Blanc and many others cut their teeth there. "I joined forces with the Daudet course to set up schooling." She is thinking about their post-career, "so that everyone can get by in life." A brand new center emerges from the ground under the Mandroux mandate . "Grammont is number 1 training center in Ligue 1 several times." A pride that she shares with Bernard Gasset. That year, Colette Nicollin also remembers this victory against Avignon which allowed the MHSC to move into the first division. "I saw Louis' navy blue coat flying on the field." In the background, but always at his side, she shares with him defeats, relegations, cups and victories. It’s not the biggest titles that matter most to him. Rather the memories like a fiesta after a victory or that first match in the European Cup in Portugal. A life based on the MHSC, on the expansion of the company too.

Colette alongside employees of the Nicollin company.

1975: when Nicollin wins the Versailles market

Growing from 300 in 1967 to 10,000 employees in France and Overseas today, the Nicollin Group has built its empire by diversifying its activities. Among the milestones, the year 1975. "We went to Versailles for six months when we won the contract. I had to go door to door to distribute the bags because the previous service provider had not sent us the file. The market renewals are what struck me the most." She prefers to remember the renewals. Even if the loss of Nîmes remains an injury. And for good reason: "Cacharel did not want to take back the employees". Dark dates that&#39 ;she prefers to evacuate from her memory. "You have to have a sense of self-deprecation and only keep the beautiful things. We had so many great moments, it was always exciting! I had a life with quality people. I have no political position but I cannot stand injustice and wickedness." And to specify: "I have a quality which is a fault: I say things!"

Colette Nicollin with the Soleïado brand team in the 90s. Free Midi – RICHARD DE HULLESSEN

June 29, 2017: the anniversary and death of Louis Nicollin

It's become a ritual. Every June 29, the family goes to the cemetery and has lunch at the restaurant in Marsillargues. "He will have done everything to us, go and die in Nîmes!" had let go of Olivier returning from Corsica where he had fled after the ;his father's birthday at the restaurant Chez Alexandre, in Garons. "He fell asleep in his chair after the meal", explains his wife soberly. The funeral vigil takes place at Mas Saint-Gabriel in Marsillargues where the couple has lived since the 1990s. "I didn't shed a tear for four days." She no longer remembers them, the day of her funeral, when she sees the Nicollin trucks parked on both sides of the road to the sea… and the washing machines arriving in Montpellier. "Louis was outspoken, he could be a little heavy-handed. But I don't think there are many employers with their staff on their side like that. He had a big mouth but he had a big heart. I received dozens of letters from people he had helped after his disappearance and I didn't know it." Seven years have passed. And even if she doesn't say it clearly, Colette would like to see a stadium bear her husband's name. "Don't put your professional life at risk to have a stadium in your father's name", she told her sons. The voice of wisdom, inherited from an education stamped with the seal of righteousness. Coming from a modest family – her father was a winegrower in Marsillargues – Colette Nicollin doesn't forget where she comes from. More than a heritage, a moral legacy.