Mystery football fan found
Fan at English Premiership game who was wearing an old Nice shirt invited to a match on south coast of France
A cross-Channel search for a mystery football fan who was spotted wearing an old Nice replica shirt in the terraces of Bournemouth AFC's Vitality Stadium has ended in success.
As reported, the search kicked off when an eagle-eyed viewer spotted someone wearing a replica shirt from the 2002/03 season in the stands during a broadcast of SFR Sports' PL Zone football magazine show.
Just a few days after the Ligue 1 side issued its appeal, their counterparts in the English Premiership tweeted to say they had tracked down the mysterious man.
He turns out to be Jim Attridge, a history teacher and Bournemouth season ticket-holder, who lived in Nice for four years while working in Monaco between 2002 and 2006, who quickly became a fan of the local side, which had won promotion to the top flight after five seasons in the second tier the year he arrived.
He told the club's website that he alternates his old Nice shirt and a Bournemouth shirt when he attends games.
Mr Attridge returns to Nice every couple of years - but has never visited the multimillion-euro Allianz Riviera. When he was a regular in the Nice terraces, the club played at Stade Municipal du Ray.
But the offer of tickets to a match still stands, so he will be able to head to the Allianz Riviera for the first time when next he visits.
