All change at troubled Marseille with new president & coach
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/02/2021 (2016 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Jacques-Henri Eyraud was replaced as Marseille president by Pablo Longoria and Jorge Sampaoli was hired as the new coach amid sweeping changes on Friday.
The upheavals were announced in a statement on the club website and could help appease a tense climate with the fans.
Eyraud was under increasing pressure to leave and unpopular with supporters, who stormed the club’s training complex last month and caused widespread damage, tagging walls there and around the city with insults in a bid to push him out.
Former Argentina boss Sampaoli replaced Andre Villas-Boas after he resigned this month. Villas-Boas was angry after not being consulted over moves in the January transfer window.
Sampaoli steps in for interim coach Nasser Larguet, who took charge for a handful of games after Villas-Boas walked away.
The 34-year-old Longoria initially joined Marseille in a soccer director’s role last August.
Marseille’s American owner, Frank McCourt, who is set to meet with disgruntled supporters groups, said the time was right for change.
“It’s a new chapter for Marseille and I personally commit myself to making sure it’s a true success,” he said in a club statement. “I’ve trusted Pablo with the presidency … His main priority is to bring soccer back to the heart of Marseille.”
The high-octane Sampaoli coached Argentina during an ill-fated World Cup campaign in 2018, when he often stood out for his touchline rants. The 60-year-old Argentine previously coached Chile — winning the 2015 Copa America by beating Argentina in the final — Spanish club Sevilla, and Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro, where he stayed less than one year. Marseille has contracted him to June 2023.
“Marseille is a people’s club and I myself can feel this warmth,” Sampaoli said. “In the world there are calm and intense places. It’s the latter that I want and I accepted without hesitation. This club has a soul.”
Marseille has won a record-tying 10 league titles — the last in 2010 — and is the only French club to win the Champions League, in 1993.
But this season has gone poorly, with Marseille knocked out of the Champions League group stage in last place. Marseille is seventh in the French league and way off the European places ahead of Sunday’s home game against second-placed Lyon.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Related Articles
Canadian international wins Scottish League Cup Bale turns back time at Tottenham as Man U and Chelsea draw
Advertisement Advertise With Us
Advertisement Advertise With Us