In a very important week in sporting terms, with a European Cup match and a classic against PSG, Olympique de Marseille is going through an internal crisis which caused the departure of its coach and the withdrawal of its management .
We knew Olympique de Marseille was accustomed to internal crises, but the one that has affected it since Monday September 18 is taking on unimaginable proportions. While the start of the season for the Marseille club was not so disastrous (2 wins and 3 draws, but one elimination in the qualifying round of the Champions League), a meeting between its leaders and representatives of the supporters turned sour, Monday evening, causing the withdrawal of the leaders and the departure of coach Marcelino.
OM will therefore enter the Europa League competition, Thursday September 21, against Ajax Amsterdam, with interim coaches on the bench, and without members of management in the stands. A look back at four days that set the club ablaze.
Monday September 18: an explosive meeting between leaders and supporters
While OM remains in two draws in the league, and an important week awaits with a Europa League match against Ajax Amsterdam, and the classic in the league against PSG, the club’s Board of Directors receives the representatives supporters associations, in the evening, at the Robert Louis-Dreyfus Training Center. A stormy meeting during which supporters express their wish to see the leaders resign. “The threat of a ‘war’ (sic) against them was issued, as long as they did not resign”affirms OM in a press release.
“The OM Directory cannot accept personal threats. Its members cannot tolerate individual attacks and any form of unfounded public defamation”continues the club.
Tuesday September 19: management withdraws and will not travel to Amsterdam
The day after the stormy meeting, franceinfo: sport learned on Tuesday that president Pablo Longoria and the other members of management – Javier Ribalta, Pedro Iriondo and Stéphane Tessier – have decided to step back, without however resigning. “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”, affirms the club in its press release. Its leaders will therefore not be traveling to Amsterdam, where Marseille is due to play its first Europa League match on Thursday.
Wednesday September 20: Marcelino resigns and the group flies to Amsterdam without direction or coach
The day before the match against Ajax Amsterdam, the players and part of the staff flew to the Netherlands, but without their coach, Marcelino, temporarily replaced by Jacques Abardonado, one of OM’s emblematic assistants, and David Friio , sports director. A few hours later, a new press release from OM announced the departure of the Spanish technician: “Olympique de Marseille considers that the events of September 18, and the threats received against members of the OM management, do not allow Marcelino and his technical staff to exercise in good conditions the functions for which they were hired. As a result of this unworthy situation, Marcelino and his staff are not able to continue their mission at Olympique de Marseille.”.
Marcelino in turn communicates, in the evening, on social networks, on behalf of his technical staff. “The working conditions are not the most appropriate for exercising our profession with safety and the normality usually inherent in a football club, he writes. The withdrawal of the president and his steering committee due to the serious threats, insults and slander they received, added to the climate of high tension which occurred in this two-month period […] make our retention at OM impossible”.
Thursday September 21: Pablo Longoria comes out of silence
Very affected by the situation, the retired president of OM, Pablo Longoria, confides in the newspaper Provence. An interview in which he believes that “the limits have been exceeded” during the very tense meeting on Monday. “I was able to speak for two minutes, then I was cut off and things got out of control very quickly… We were told: ‘All four of you resign, otherwise it’s war,'” he says.
Accused of financial embezzlement by supporters’ representatives, Pablo Longoria defends himself: “Last season, insinuations that I had stolen money with transfers reached the McCourt group [propriétaire du club]. To protect myself, I had to ask the McCourt group to audit all our operations by an independent firm, to demonstrate that we were transparent. I gave away all my bank accounts, my phones, my emails, everything… The result was that we were clean! I gave everything, even private conversations with my mother”.
He also explains that he was psychologically monitored after this episode: “During the final interview, I cried for an hour. I had to have psychological follow-up because with the values I have in life, I could never imagine that it could go this far”. Faced with this situation, Marseille supporters called for a pacifist rally in support of Pablo Longoria and Javier Ribalta, in front of the training center, Saturday noon.