As quoted by L’Équipe, the now former Marseille coach, Marcelino, explained his decision to leave the club after just seven games in charge amid a worsening crisis at the Velodrome, which also saw four leading directors, including President Pablo Longoria, offer their resignations.
Speaking via a post on his website, the Spanish coach explained that he and his staff felt the “obligatory respect” due to those who manage the club had not been given by supporters who reportedly threatened staff during heated meetings earlier this week. As a result, Marcelino continued, such an “unstable situation” means the project he and his team had been appointed to do “cannot be carried out.”
Marcelino explained that the aggression aimed at club directors amounted to “severe threats, insults, and slander,” as well as “intimidation and individual attacks,” and that this, alongside the climate of “tense climate,” makes a continued stay at the club impossible. The former Valencia and Villarreal coach, whose functional style of play thus far has frustrated OM fans, also highlighted his uncertainty over future “safety” and even the “normality” usually seen at a football club.
Marseille currently sit third in Ligue 1 and remain undefeated, but travel to Ajax for their opening Europa League group stage game without a permanent coach or much of a hierarchy present to make a new appointment, a situation striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang described as “one hell of a storm.”
Adam White | GFFN
