EDITORIAL - "Between the management of OM and the supporters, contempt on one side, insults on the other"

For Virginie Phulpin, our sports editorialist, the serious incidents that took place at the Commanderie resulted from a deterioration of the situation between the management of OM and the supporters. 

EDITORIAL

In the aftermath of the serious incidents which took place at the Commanderie, the training center of the Olympique de Marseille, the owner Frank McCourt reaffirmed his support for President Jacques-Henri Eyraud, the main target of the anger of the supporters.

But the club will now have to find a little serenity to somehow end a completely chaotic season.

For Virginie Phulpin, our sports columnist, these inadmissible facts result from a deterioration of the situation between the management of OM and the supporters. 

=> INFORMATION EUROPE 1

- Crisis at OM: Basile Boli called to the rescue

"Today, they are opposing camps, and everyone acts as if OM belonged to them. The management and the main shareholder because they are the ones who put the money. And the supporters because they represent the soul of the club. And between the two, the void. Contempt on one side, insults on the other. Nobody talks to each other, and the situation rots. You add to that private fans of stands because of the health crisis, a general tension in the country in the face of uncertainties, bad sporting results, finances in the red, and you get an explosive cocktail.In fact any demonstration of supporters can degenerate today in Marseille. It goes off quickly, especially since there are always clever kids to excite the troops and incite them to commit the irreparable. The group effect does the rest.

Normally, supporters have rights and duties.

The problem is that by letting themselves be corrupted by violent irresponsible people, they forget that they have homework.

And management, by mistreating them every time they speak, forgets that they have rights.

Result, we arrive at these scenes of riots, for football.

Hell, we're in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of a crisis, and we must also attend a pitched attack rather than seeing a football match.

There is still a slight problem somewhere. 

>> Find all sports editorials by Virginie Phulpin in replay and podcast here

The situation will not get better without real questioning on both sides.

On a purely sporting level, coach André Villas Boas was already talking about his departure next summer.

There, if he was packing his bags now, who could blame him?

He is a Ligue 1 coach, not a blue helmet.

And the players who were already bad lately, not sure that this kind of attack frees them on the field.

So yes, the supporters will have to make amends, what happened is serious, there is no debate on it.

But the management of OM cannot stay on the same line either.

When President Jacques-Henri Eyraud reacts yesterday by pointing the finger at OM of the scheming, I quote, he plays more the pyromaniac firefighters than the saviors.

As for the main shareholder Frank Mc Court, he compares the attack on the training center to the invasion of the Capitol in Washington.

But still, the words have a meaning.

And this haphazard comparison has none.

No, the Commandery does not represent the democracy of a country.

We will still have to take an interest in the history of OM, the role of supporters, and involve the club's great alumni in the project.

We cannot manage the Olympique de Marseille like a French branch of an American multinational.

Otherwise, the chaos of Saturday will happen again ".