Frank McCourt, pictured before a match at the Vélodrome in March 2019 (archives).

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B. Horvat / AFP

  • Frank McCourt has been in Marseille since Monday when he inducted the new club president Pablo Longoria.

  • He also lifted the formal notice sent to groups of supporters.

  • He took the opportunity to reaffirm his desire to win the Champions League and not to sell the club, a speech that does not convince the supporters.

The fire is extinguished but the soup remains tasteless.

The owner of the Olympique de Marseille, Frank McCourt, has been in commando operation in Marseille since his arrival on Monday morning.

He met the seven groups of supporters, players, OM employees and local elected officials in this impromptu visit, organized by Image 7, the famous communication agency which has advised him since his takeover of OM.

But with, in the end, few announcements since most had been made on Friday evening, even before he left for Marseille.

Among them, the replacement of Jacques-Henri Eyraud by Pablo Longoria, as president of OM.

A wish expressed by the supporters for very long months and which led some to invade the Commandery at the end of January.

“He came down with the obligation to put out this fire.

Remember he was confirming JHE not even 15 days ago.

All that was prepared, it was essential for him and for OM ”, underlines Rolland Courbis, ex-coach of OM and voice of RMC.

"The standoff was impossible to win for McCourt"

“He had no choice, it was the last resort.

There was fire everywhere, the politicians got involved, it started to really fear.

But indeed there is no consistency between his comparisons with what happened on Capitol Hill and his announcements ”, judge Najet Rami, historical supporter of OM.

After speaking with the groups of supporters, Frank McCourt regretted this comparison, and announced the cancellation of the formal notice received by the supporters.

The only real announcement made on the spot, in fact.

“A little concrete is positive.

He took the real measure of what was happening because he was completely perched, ”she adds.

“The showdown was over, it was impossible to win for McCourt.

So in the absence of a good solution, he took the less bad one.

On condition that he realizes what he is trying to make us swallow, ”warns Rolland Courbis.

"I'm waiting for more consistent things"

Because Frank McCourt was not content to calm the anger of the supporters, he took the opportunity to reaffirm his desire to keep Olympique de Marseille, in the face of the incessant rumors of the club's sale.

“This club will be accompanied by my children and my grandchildren after me.

It's a generational project, ”he said in his interview with

La Provence

.

Powder for the eyes.

“He takes us for more idiots than we are.

Rather than saying I never had any offers, the club has never been for sale, stop at "I don't sell".

Do not exaggerate things, we are the specialists here in the region, ”recalls Rolland Courbis.

And Frank McCourt obviously did not learn from his mistakes, since he reaffirmed his desire to win the Champions League.

An error that had already left its mark in 2016 with its “Champions project”, widely mocked since.

“When he arrived a few years ago, you wanted to believe him.

There, you get the same soup.

You could be wrong, it happens when you are not a football specialist.

But then you come back and make the same mistake again!

We know that this is not possible so stop talking about it.

I expect more consistent things.

In the current state you cannot aspire to the C1.

Let's build a coherent team, in the long term, with an ambitious project which can be the Europa League.

The problem is, he doesn't know anything!

», Asserts Najet Rami.

Our dossier on OM

“He has not answered the figures once, so before talking about selling or not selling OM ... A budget of 150 million is not even enough to finish in the top three.

Not to mention the deficit each year.

He's spent $ 500 million since he's been here, and every year he has to add more.

Rather than talking about the Champions League, sales, tell us already that OM will not be pissed off by the DNCG to recruit.

But it has never been connected, ”regrets Rolland Courbis.

The good news for some supporters would have been rather the announcement of an imminent sale to a power capable of having the Champions League as a real objective.

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