OM “is on a tightrope”, believes Christophe Bouchet, former president of the club

The former president of Olympique de Marseille, Christophe Bouchet, deplores the absence of a club strategy and welcomes the announced arrival of Jean-Louis Gasset as coach.

Marseille Olympic “is on a tightrope”, assures Monday February 19, on franceinfo Christophe Bouchet, former president of OM from 2002 to 2005, while the club separates from its coach, the Italian Gennaro Gattuso, the day after the defeat against Brest. OM are 9th in Ligue 1, six points behind Europe, and 13 points behind the top relegators.

OM does not have “no club strategy”deplores Christophe Bouchet who also regrets “the absence” of the main shareholder, the American Franck MacCourt, who remains “a riddle”. The former president of OM welcomes the arrival of Jean-Louis Gasset, announced on the Olympians bench, “a man of experience”, “experienced in the role of firefighter on duty”.

Franceinfo: How do you analyze the current situation at OM ?

Christophe Bouchet: This is a fundamental problem, there is no club strategy at Olympique de Marseille. There is an absent shareholder (Franck McCourt), a president (Pablo Longoria) who only makes transfers, which is always a little surprising. There is no fund, no club strategy, and no team either. You cannot achieve sporting results in football by changing teams every six months. It doesn’t work and it never has. Football requires true sporting stability. Big clubs only succeed through stability. Olympique de Marseille is the opposite of that, it can’t work. You can have the best coach in the world, Pep Guardiola (Manchester City coach) can come to OM, it will not change anything about the quality of the Marseille squad. And above all, it won’t change the fact that the players don’t know each other. I am a former president of OM and I don’t know a single player. It’s a constant merry-go-round that is counterproductive at every level. OM are six points from Europe, and 13 points from the relegation zone. We are on a tightrope. In five to six days, OM could indeed be in the European places, but they could also be in a relegation position. You have to be careful, don’t forget that all clubs are deadly.

What do you think is the responsibility of managers? ?

It is total. I don’t know how to sort between those who manage the day-to-day business and the shareholder who has completely disappeared. Today, the real enigma of French football is: where has Franck McCourt gone? This is the real subject. Considerable deficits have been announced at OM for years. There is someone who fulfills them. But at the same time, we see no direction, no policy, no identification, incarnation of the club by a management team. It is troubling. Franck McCourt is an enigma. He is a two-faced shareholder. He is constantly bailing out the club, but we are incapable of giving OM a policy, of saying what its policy, its roadmap, its desire could be. It’s complex.

What is the solution ?

There is one, but no one wants to hire her. I mentioned it a few months ago during the tragicomic episode with the supporters. If all the forces around OM – economic, political, the mayor of Marseille, the shareholder, the supporters – if everyone does not sit around the table for a general meeting, it will never happen Nothing. One day, it’s the leaders who change all the time, one day it’s the supporters who break out in hives, even if we can understand them. It’s unmanageable. Any club requires stability. It takes enormous power to impose that on the club over two, three, four years. This is the only possible solution. You have to make a plan, tell yourself that things might be lean for a while, but you have to build something.

What do you think of the arrival on the bench of Jean-Louis Gasset ?

He is an experienced man, he is experienced in the role of firefighter on duty. But it is not Jean-Louis Gasset at his age who will enter the field. Fortunately in football, you have to count on the number of players. We have a somewhat French disease where we have to change the coaches to mask the absence of a solid, serious and stable sports policy. This is the case at OM, but also in other clubs.