« Bleeding. » The term, distilled by the communication direction of the Olympic de Marseille (OM), Tuesday 19 September, at the end of a long period of silence, is the conclusion of a strange day of crisis with the Marseilla club in a the secret.
At the beginning of a week of key trips in which they will have to successively face Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League, on Thursday, and Paris-Saint-Germain, in Ligue 1, on Sunday, OM announced that four of their main Coaches – the president Pablo Longoria, his right-hand man Javier Ribalta, the director of football, the general director Pedro Iriondo and the financial director Stéphane Teissier – would not travel to the Netherlands and would retire from their duties. The day before, during a stormy meeting with representatives of the supporters’ associations, the four men were brutally accused of their management of the club.
OM’s official press release, published late Tuesday afternoon, does not announce any clear decision. In this long text that carefully avoids mentioning names, the club of American businessman Frank McCourt only remembers that its board of directors “undertook a profound transformation of the organization (…) “in the sole and best interest of the club” and? “All these efforts must continue in the long term”.
OM also specifies “that special attention be paid to ensure that each decision is made with the greatest integrity”. In response to the attacks of the previous day. He also warns that his board “I cannot accept personal threats” and that “a relationship based on intimidation cannot guarantee minimum acceptable conditions” to continue with your investment.
Confusion
During the day, at the rate of the information spread by the French and Spanish media, the Marseille club, for its part, saw the loss of its coach, the Spaniard Marcelino García Toral, who arrived in June, and then its president, his compatriot Pablo Longoria. in force since 2020. Therefore, the two men, whom various sources have initiated, officially remain in their positions. But the climate surrounding the duo has cooled considerably and its maintenance, in the short term, seems difficult.
it’s every day The team who dropped the first bomb by announcing on Tuesday that Marcelino, 58, had informed his squad after training that he was leaving OM. Information neither confirmed nor denied by the club.
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