In the morning, the newspaper L’Equipe reported that Marcelino had informed his players that he was going to leave the club. On the other hand, Eurosport Spain announced that Longoria was about to resign after receiving « death threats » during a meeting with club supporters on Monday.
The AFP has not received confirmation of these two pieces of information, but has learned from a source close to the case that a crisis meeting is taking place at the Commanderie, the training center of OM.
C’est également à la Commanderie que s’est tenue lundi soir une réunion entre la direction du club et les responsables des groupes de supporters. Celle-ci s’est tenue dans une ambiance décrite à l’AFP par l’un des participants comme « très tendue ». Un autre a démenti à l’AFP les menaces de mort évoquées par Eurosport Espagne.
Unhappy with the obtained results, the proposed game, and overall, the sports policy of the club, the supporters demanded the resignation of the entire management team, which includes Longoria, his close Spanish collaborators Javier Ribalta (football director) and Pedro Iriondo (general manager), and the financial director Stéphane Tessier.
La crise en cours intervient alors que le début de saison marseillais est très mitigé. Arrivé au club cet été en remplacement d’Igor Tudor, Marcelino, qui est un proche ami de Longoria, n’a pas réussi à qualifier son équipe pour la Ligue des Champions, butant dès le 3e tour préliminaire sur le Panathinaïkos.
In the championship, Marseille is currently in 4th place with nine points from five matches, but they are struggling in terms of gameplay. On Sunday, the disappointing 0-0 draw against Toulouse was met with a huge uproar, with both sets of fans urging the players to « give their all » or « get lost ».
