Why did OM not change the coach of its women's section?

• Christophe Parra has coached the women's section of OM since June 2011.
• Despite the current difficulties of his team, he is not under threat of dismissal.
• Some observers believe that OM leaders still trust him. Others say that it is simply simpler for them to “let it turn” as well the female section.

The doors of the OM Campus will remain closed twice. "Christophe Parra prefers that he and his group remain focused on the upcoming deadlines", we are told to justify the impossibility of interviewing, even ten minutes, the coach of the women's section of OM, who receives Fleury this Saturday (2:30 p.m.). A crucial match for maintaining D1. "Christophe is a bit paranoid, he has the impression that everyone wants to see OM go crazy," says someone who knows him well.

Observers of women's football appreciate, however, the presence of OM in the elite: it offers pretty posters, at least on paper. Because on the ground, the "Olympicos" or "Classicos" women remain one-sided: OM lost 8-0 to OL on February 8 and 11-0 on the lawn of PSG in mid-January.

"Parra should have been sacked in 2018"

With a goal difference of less than 49 and only two wins this season, the team coached by Christophe Parra is in great difficulty. Seven days before the end of the season, the Marseillaises are five points behind the first non-relegation, Dijon. “It would be logical for Christophe Parra to be disembarked. I also wonder why he was not thanked during the winter break, says Philippe Serve, supporter and connoisseur of the OM women's team. He should already have been sacked after the 2017-2018 season, when OM came back down to D2. "

OM: Autopsy of a collapse ... How the women's section of Marseille sank https://t.co/sU2CRfFTqE via @ 20minutesSport pic.twitter.com/jOVVgC6tnz

But OM then made the choice of stability. Andoni Zubizarreta and Jacques-Henri Eyraud did it again in the summer of 2019: they extended Christophe Parra for two seasons, who had just brought Marseille up in D1. His sixth climb with a team which he took command in June 2011, in the district. Be aware: at the time, Didier Deschamps coached the men's team. The men have used eight coaches in nine years. "There is more stability in women's football because there is no economic stake: the women's sections do not bring anything to the clubs", contextualizes Patrice Lair, former coach of the Montpellier, Lyonnais and Parisian women.

This is of course not the only explanation. "There is something that was created in Marseille with Christophe," says former Olympian Anaïs Hatchi, now goalkeeper in Orleans (D2):

“He did a lot for the women’s section, brought him up. Its longevity does not surprise me more than that. As we say in the business world, it has a return on investment: it always has the confidence of its leaders. "

"It's hard for me to say that about a colleague, but sometimes you also have to know how to turn the page," says Sarah M'Barek, a former coach from Montpellier and Guingamp, now coach of Djibouti. "Nine seasons is perhaps one too many: after five, six years, the players get tired of your speech and, with affinities, you are no longer necessarily objective on some", recalls the one who chose to leave Guingamp in 2018, after five years in Brittany.

The easy way?

But for leaders, retaining a coach is also an easy solution. “The management leaves the section running and completely offloads on Christophe Parra, plague Philippe Serve. As if she didn't want to put in the resources, or to ask herself problems… ”

This strategy of immobility suffers from the comparison with the female section of the Girondins de Bordeaux, who also discovered the D1 in 2016-17 ... But has since experienced an opposite trajectory. While the Marseillaises shone in the first year (fourth), before making the yo-yo between D1 and D2, the Bordeaux women follow a logical progression in the elite: tenths in 2017, seventh in 2018, fourth in 2019.

"Maybe he should surround himself"

Despite these good results, the managers decided last summer to part with Jérôme Dauba, elected best coach of the championship for two consecutive seasons. The Bordeaux women are now coached by Pedro Martinez Losa, former Arsenal coach. The bet paid off: they are semi-finalists in the Coupe de France and third in the championship.

@jheyraud The females of @fcgbgirls play as a curtain raiser for boys ... And those of @ OMfeminines? It is true that in Bordeaux, there is a real ambition for its female section, which is not satisfied with empty words, but translates its declarations into actions ... #TeamOM https://t.co/LyWxSCckjO

Could fresh blood save Marseille? “Christophe Parra works a lot on his own, judge Patrice Lair. He has good ideas about the game, but he might need to surround himself with it. Putting a sports director, who could discharge him from recruitment, for example, that could help him. But to do that, OM will have to put in means. "

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• Women's football
• Coach
• Marseilles
• OM
• Soccer