2023-09-21 12:36:00
It’s not that he’s angry, “Titi”, it’s just that he’s “frowning”. In Marseille, to “marron” is to grumble, sulk, moan quietly. A paradox as the low noise is an incongruity here, especially if it is OM. As the team opens its European ball this evening, led from the start by one of its former emblematic players, “Pancho” Abardonado, the club is going through a crisis of which it has the secret. “You play Europe, you don’t lose a match and they set you on fire,” protests “Titi”, the broom placed in a gutter opposite the Vélodrome stadium. “I’m not saying that Marcelino was Guardiola. It does not make any sense. You know what, I can’t stand them anymore. »
The supporter, a subscriber for more than twenty years in the South Bend, has experienced crises. “But this one is beautiful. It’s like you’re driving in the sun, straight, calm, and you turn around. Like that. » He turns the palm of his hand, the cigarette falls on the asphalt, violated by Thierry’s angry sneaker.
“OM is people’s reason for being”
Which makes his “colleague” Souleymane laugh. Fluorescent yellow jacket on their backs, the two fifty-somethings are cleaning agents. Leaning against a flashing red light, “Suley” uses metaphor. “Sportingly, the lights are green. Longoria has put together a big team, the results will come, it takes a little time. But this is not Africa, there is no time for anything. The club is magnificent, the stadium is like a basilica. OM is people’s reason for being. And they put themselves in the red. There, it still flashes, but it will turn red. I don’t know why, but I feel it, Longoria, poor guy, he’s going to give up. »
READ ALSO Ligue 1: Olympique de Marseille faces yet another crisisAfter the shock of the announcements of the resignation of Marseille leaders, after dark stories of blackmail and threats emanating from still influential groups of supporters, lovers of Olympique de Marseille are wavering. “We wonder what’s going on,” Michel Teboul tries to calm down on the terrace of a café with a view of the Vélodrome, on the other side of the Prado. “We don’t know the ins and outs, but funny things are happening. We would think we are reliving the confusion of the Tapie era, but with a president who does not have his big mouth or his charisma and who complains in public. »
If they decide to come together to bring down the godfather, they will kill him.Marion, an OM supporter
Pablo Longoria, since it is him, is rather popular in Marseille. The Spaniard, who arrived at the club in 2021, after the departure of a hated Jacques-Henri Eyraud, is recognized for having rebuilt the team, having given it the thrill of the Champions League while cleaning up the finances. It’s difficult to find enemies for this affable and well-bred man, a fine connoisseur of football and its mysteries, where money flows freely, not always transparently.
The American owner of Marseille Frank McCourt gave his support to the president of the club on Thursday and judged that a “profound change” was “necessary” to allow the development of the club. According to Frank McCourt, Monday’s meeting between OM management and representatives of supporters groups “turned into an alarming display of aggression, with members of the OM Executive Board having been threatened of violence. »
Illegal practices
“If some of the supporters want to make him leave, it’s because he cut them off,” continues Michel. They don’t eat like they used to, so they want to take back their share to stuff themselves. It’s always the same cinema. » The Marseille lexicon is infinite. “Eating”, “gorging”, two terms to designate those who receive sums of money secretly from operations linked to the sale of tickets, derivative products or player transfers.
Illegal practices, but often glimpsed in football, sometimes brought to justice, OM knows something about them. “Look at what the groups of supporters call each other,” says Marion, who has placed her coffee and glass of water at the table next to her. They are called the seven families. It looks like the seven clans of a mafia, Don Corleone and all that. If they decided to come together to bring down the godfather, they will kill him. They made all the coaches leave, even Sampaoli who pleased me with his crazy face. They scared them all over money issues. » “We will say that it has always existed,” she continues, emptying two sachets of sugar into her steaming glass. But there, they abuse it. I don’t agree, they go too far. »
READ ALSO Tapie and OM: the Icarus complexThe discussion is heated between those who staunchly support the OM president and those who have learned to distrust everyone. “I like him, this Longoria,” smiles Yannis after having supplied the brewery with barrels of beer and bottles – there is the Rugby World Cup at the Vélodrome this Thursday evening. “He’s smiling, he’s done a good job, but you shouldn’t think he’s an altar boy, even with his top-of-the-class look. He too must eat and make his friends eat. » “If that were the case, he wouldn’t react like that,” interrupts Vanessa, who had been listening until then, sitting opposite Marion, old Ocampos flocked jersey on her back. “Thugs earn respect by banging on the table. He looks like a penguin, he’s all white when Zeroual [Rachid Zeroual, leader du groupe de supporteurs des South Winners, NDLR] and the others put pressure on him. But, if you look at what he has done for the club, you have to respect him. » The discussion could last for hours. Vanessa invites you to initial the petition in favor of Pablo Longoria, which has already gathered nearly 30,000 signatures. This evening, everyone will return to the game. OM plays against Ajax Amsterdam; nothing else should matter.
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