He had already raised the threat, in the spring of 2020, before, finally, to stay. He had spoken about it several times since the beginning of this year. Finally, Tuesday February 2, the coach of Olympique de Marseille (OM), André Villas-Boas, took the plunge and announced, during a press conference, that he had resigned following a disagreement over the transfer window. . He also said he was waiting for a response from management.
It did not take long: Tuesday afternoon, the Marseille club announced the “Layoff as a precaution” of his trainer. “This protective decision has become inevitable given the recent repetition of actions and attitudes which seriously harm the Marseille Olympic institution and its employees who defend it daily”, explains OM in a press release.
A little earlier Mr. Villas-Boas had explained that he was opposed to the arrival on loan of the French midfielder from Celtic Glasgow Olivier Ntcham, acted on Monday evening, which he learned from the press. In addition, he said he was made aware of the departure of his winger Nemanja Radonjic for Hertha Berlin “At 10:30 p.m.”, on Monday. “My professionalism has been affected and I cannot accept it”, he added.
The coach however said he was ready to continue “Until the management [le] let go “ and assured to stay “Totally focused” on the Marseille match at Lens scheduled for Wednesday. “I am bound by a contract, I respect it”, he said. “The management can be quiet, I have great respect for Franck” McCourt, the American owner of the club, he said at a press conference.
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“I just want to go”
“I don’t want anything from OM, no money. I just want to go ”, however launched the Portuguese the day after the closing of the transfer window and three days after the violent intrusion of some 300 fans exceeded at the training center of Marseille. These incidents, which shocked the club, resulted in the placement in police custody of 18 people and the urgent postponement of the OM-Rennes meeting, scheduled for Saturday evening.
On January 16, after a defeat against Nîmes in Ligue 1, he threatened to resign from his players. Two weeks later, on January 29, he declared that he did not think of remaining coach of Olympique de Marseille beyond the end of his contract, in June 2021. “I think this will be the end” he confided, evoking “Disastrous current results”. “I think this will be the end and I think we all agree”.
Mr. Villas-Boas arrived in Marseille at the start of last season. He qualified OM for the Champions League but the results are much worse this season. OM are currently experiencing a major sports crisis, with three straight losses in Ligue 1 and a 9e place in the standings (with two games late).
A possible contract extension had however been mentioned at the end of 2020 and the agents of Mr. Villas-Boas had then met the management of OM. “I don’t think it could happen. We are 15 points from the best, an abysmal distance. I already told you, next year will be “year zero” at OM. There will be a total cleaning. We have to create a good foundation for the future ”, then estimated the coach.
Half surprise
For a while now, the current no longer passed between the coach and the club management. With his entourage, the Portuguese had expressed doubts in the fall of 2019 on the skills of Jacques-Henri Eyraud, the president of OM. In January 2020, it was the arrival of the Englishman Paul Aldridge who had started to crack the building. The latter had landed in the organization chart with the main mission of activating its network in the Premier League to sell players with high market value.
Furious, Villas-Boas had disowned this presidential choice during a press conference. “If it’s to help OM survive on the economic side, I can understand, but for me, the most important thing is to keep my whole group and achieve the goals that I said I wanted to achieve, to know the qualification for the Champions League. ” In the process, Jacques-Henri Eyraud had summoned the coach for an interview qualified as “Stormy” by some internal sources.
André Villas-Boas had already threatened to leave, in the spring of 2020. It was, in May, after the ousting of the sports director, Andoni Zubizarreta, who had attracted him to Marseille and to whom he had always linked his fate. Back from Portugal, where he had spent his confinement, he had explained to Jacques-Henri Eyraud his position on Zubizarreta and announced, according to The team, that money would not be a problem and that he was ready to find common ground for an amicable departure.
Tense situation
The coach had finally stayed on. Especially under pressure from his players. But the current season has not taken a very good direction. If the autumn and the beginning of winter went rather well in terms of the national championship, this was not the case at the European level with an elimination from the Champions League in the group stage after five defeats and one only victory.
The start of 2021 is now also much more complicated in the league. And, above all, the situation has again become tense for André Villas-Boas following the arrival, in the summer of 2020, of Pablo Longoria, the new sports director, whose one of the missions is to “degrease” l Marseille workforce.
The latter took control of the resale and purchase of players, the coach no longer having a say in the transfer window. The cases of Olivier Ntcham and Nemanja Radonjic are only the latest episodes to date. ” This is not the first time that a player who is not the choice of a coach has arrived at a club, but it is not my way of working ”, decided André Villas-Boas.