A duo of coaches accompanies Olympique de Marseille for their next match in Amsterdam.
Marcelino will leave Olympique de Marseille, according to information from the sports department of Radio France, Wednesday September 20. The OM coach will not be on the bench Thursday for Amsterdam-OM, as part of the first day of the Europa Football League, France Bleu Provence and the sports management of Radio France learned on Wednesday, from a source close to the matter. He was not on the bus taking the Olympians to the airport, heading to Amsterdam.
In a press release, the club indicates that “Olympique de Marseille considers that the events of September 18 do not allow Marcelino and his technical staff to carry out in good conditions the function for which they were hired. As a result of this deplorable situation, Marcelino and his staff will not continue their mission at Olympique de Marseille. Given the context, the entire club is extremely disappointed to have to face the departure of a coach and technical staff, who only arrived in Marseille on June 23 and fully committed to the club, for non-sporting reasons. .“
A duo for the interim
To coach OM, a duo will act as interim coach, Jacques Abardonado, former player of the club and current member of the staff, and David Friio, sports director of the club.
Jacques Abardonado, nicknamed Pancho, 45 years old, played for OM between 1998 and 2001. He coached the reserve team then the U17s, and was assistant coach of the first team when Jorge Sampaoli arrived. David Friio, 50, is also a former player but he never played for OM. He first took care of recruitment in Marseille before becoming technical director in 2021, then sports director since 2022.
Succession of crises at OM
Tuesday September 19, it was the management of OM who announced that they would not make the trip to Amsterdam. The president of Olympique de Marseille, Pablo Longoria, as well as three other members of the club’s management took a step back, the day after a stormy meeting with representatives of supporter groups. This temporary withdrawal was decided to show management’s disapproval after the meeting. The management board denounced in a press release “personal threats”THE “unfounded individual attacks and any form of public defamation”.
“A relationship based on intimidation cannot guarantee the minimum acceptable conditions so that the club’s Executive Board can continue to invest in the transformation of OM”specifies the press release.
The members of the management board gave themselves a “reflection period” additional to know if they continue at the head of OM.