Pablo Longoria, withdrawing from the presidency of OM, assured Thursday in the daily La Provence that he had not resigned, but judged that “the limits (had) been exceeded” during a very tense meeting Monday with representatives of supporter groups. “What happened on Monday is unacceptable. (…) What happened is the consequence of things that have been happening for a long time,” declared the Spanish leader in a long interview, during which he also assured that he was “naturally” still the president of the Ligue 1 football club and that he had not offered his resignation to owner Frank McCourt.
In the hours following Monday’s meeting, the entire OM management took a step back and none of the club’s main leaders are present in Amsterdam, where the Provençal club will face Ajax in the Europa League on Thursday. Coach Marcelino, a close friend of Longoria, has left the club. “I was able to speak for two minutes, then I was cut off and it got out of control very quickly… We were told: Resign all four (Longoria, football director Javier Ribalta, general manager Pedro Iriondo and the financial director Stéphane Tessier, editor’s note), otherwise it’s war,” said Longoria. “The limits have been exceeded. In 2023, a manager of any club cannot suffer these threats. I don’t accept them. I was not afraid, but I was shocked, I consider that it is not normal,” he added.
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The president of OM also dismissed any accusation of “cronyism” and financial embezzlement. “To protect myself, I had to ask the McCourt group (owner of the club, editor’s note) 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… It came out that we were clean!”, he explained. “I represent an institution. I have a mandate given by the owner and the supervisory board. I must assume my responsibilities,” he also said.
But, he also estimated, it is “impossible to work with the current status quo” and it is necessary that “all those who love the club move in a direction which makes it become a football club which, while keeping its DNA, can function with a minimum of normality. And Longoria evokes recent episodes, such as that of the departure of Jorge Sampaoli: “Sorry to say this, but when Jorge Sampaoli left, we had a very long conversation. They say I made him quit… So let’s keep talking and be close! He said to me: I’m leaving, you have to leave with me because they’re going to come and take you. I was unconscious and didn’t see the situation coming. He was talking about the system in general.”
The successor of the Argentine coach, Igor Tudor, is also quoted by Pablo Longoria in his interview: “What Igor suffered, I would not wish it on my worst enemy. He found himself in a club where everyone was against him: inside and out. Many people were organizing to raise tension against him. People called on Jorge Sampaoli to come back, others asked to give power to the players. There were calls to supporters groups to remove the coach. When I returned to Marseille, I felt that the pre-season resembled the 37th day of the championship, where you stake your life. That’s not normal. And, again, I didn’t see the situation coming.”
For their part, supporters’ group leaders denied to AFP on Wednesday any death threat or demand for Marcelino’s resignation, and asked to meet club owner Frank McCourt. In 2021, the anger of the supporters took away Jacques-Henri Eyraud, Longoria’s predecessor. But the context today is completely different, Longoria retaining a good popularity rating with a large part of Marseille supporters.