After his time at Olympique de Marseille, where he joined the club in the preseason but left after only a few matches, Marcelino has chosen to speak about the situation. The Spanish coach has strongly criticized the behavior of the fans, whom he believes put the Marseille club and its project at risk.
Marcelino breaks his silence. A few days after his departure from OM, he speaks to L’Equipe. And he doesn’t mince his words. “(I felt) Very angry, disappointed, and sad. We put all our enthusiasm into developing a very attractive project in a big club. In any case, we thought it was a big club in every sense of the word,” Marcelino explained. “But these regrettable events demonstrate that it’s not as big a club as it would like to be. Some radical supporters who constantly want to influence events prevent it from being a big club.”
“I’ve been a coach for twenty years, and I played almost twenty years as a professional before that, and I had never seen anything like it in my life. And I think I won’t see it again. At least I really hope not. This way of doing things is very far from what reality should be in 2023, in a civilized country. Football is about passion, okay, but there are limits.”
“My very short experience makes me think that it’s a club where creating a project is absolutely impossible. Because such a big club cannot be manipulated by a few. Serious clubs are run from the top, and every problem, every situation is managed and, if necessary, sanctioned,” Marcelino continued.
“Supporters are supporters, they convey passion, and they are necessary. Experiencing home games at the Vélodrome is magical; it’s truly different from anything I’ve experienced. So supporters cheer, and the leaders work, and at the end of the season, we do the math.”
“But not after two months. It seems to mean that everything was orchestrated well in advance. Clubs must evolve, not regress. And OM, as the results have shown for a while, is a club that, instead of progressing, is regressing.”
