By Andrew Warshaw
August 10 – Marseille are looking for a new coach after one solitary game of the new French season. Marcelo Bielsa stunned supporters by announcing his resignation within minutes of their opening-day Ligue 1 defeat by Caen having just started his second campaign in charge.
“I have resigned from my post as manager of Marseille,” the 60-year-old Argentinian wrote in a resignation statement read out to a packed post-match news conference, blaming his decision on the club’s alleged attempt to rewrite his contract. “We had reached an agreement on a contract extension for 2016-2017, which was missing just a signature,” he said.
“I took this final decision as working together requires a minimum of trust, which we do not have. I have finished my work here, I will return to my country. I am sad and frustrated. I cannot accept the situation of instability at the club.”
But the club refused to accept they were responsible for Bielsa’s decision which took everyone by surprise, Marseille skipper Steve Mandanda describing it as a “hammer blow”.
A strongly-worded statement said: “Marseille possess a sufficiently rich history to refuse to surrender to the rule of one man,” insisting the club wouldn’t be “held prisoner by a man who places his personal interests high above those of the club.”
Marseille president Vincent Labrune reportedly had an awkward relationship with Bielsa, particularly over which players to buy, and over team selection. But he, too, appeared shocked.
“I am, like all the supporters, dazed by Marcelo Bielsa’s shock decision,” Lebrune said in a statement adding that it “places the club in a difficult place having started the new season with a home defeat” and confirming that one of Bielsa’s assistants, Franck Passi, would step up as caretaker coach pending a permanent replacement.
Bielsa, who achieved cult status in Chile after guiding them to their first World Cup finals for 12 years in 2010, insisted he had not been tapped up by any other club.
The Argentine, who managed only fourth spot last season, said that at a meeting with club executives last week, “they told me they wanted to change a few points in the contract” and in a veiled swipe at Labrune added. “Even if I don’t think you wanted this, what’s happened comes with your authority, I think you know what’s gone on.”
But Labrune questioned Bielsa’s version of events. “I find it hard to understand how a straightforward meeting about the finer points of this contract could be behind this precipitous decision despite all his demands having been met.”
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